Semua Bab His To Hear, His To Hold: Bab 71 - Bab 80

I was still at the mall. Still trying things on. Still wondering why anyone would voluntarily subject themselves to the sensory overload hell of fashion retail when sweatpants exist.I stepped out of the changing room in an outfit Katy picked for me. It wasn't bad—black fitted top, high-waisted pants, some structured blazer thing that made me feel like I worked at a bank and also hunted vampires on the side. Katy beamed like a proud stylist, and together we walked over to Victor and Aureliano for the Grand Reveal.Both boys went quiet. Simultaneously. Like synchronized idiocy.'Damn she's hot.' Victor thought."The shirt's too tight," I muttered to Katy."It's not tight, it's fitted. It's cute," she said, fluffing my hair like I was a Barbie she'd claimed in a custody battle.I didn't argue. I never win fashion debates with Katy anyway. She has more Pinterest boards than I have patience.Eventually we changed back into our normal clothes. Katy got distracted by a display of bags—proba

Me leaving school definitely helped. Not a lot, but enough. The kind of enough where I didn't feel like I was going to randomly explode into violence again if a some random person looked at me funny. I hadn't meant to black out like that. One minute Lara was talking shit about my dad, and the next she was bleeding all over the place. Not my most composed moment, but... satisfying. In a deep, visceral, need-a-little-therapy kind of way.Thank god for Katy. Her voice snapped me out of it before I turned Lara into a dead fish. And dragging me out of the building like she did? Genius. If anyone called home about this, I swear I'm going to fake my own death and live in the woods.She's lowkey sent from heaven.I was about a block from school when I heard the shrill voice again. The same super loud girl from the stairs."Anne!"Her thoughts hit me before she got too close.'This drama between Lara and Anne is just getting more and more juicy. She doesn't even know I helped post that earlie

"I can't believe that bitch Elena really gave you my address," I said, crouching beside her, voice low. I yanked the sweat-soaked gym shirt from her mouth, and she sucked in air like she'd been drowning. "You had to know this wasn't going to end well for you, right?" She glared, breathing heavy. Her wrists strained against the jump rope. "It's all your fault." I blinked. "My fault? What did I even do to you? You were the one who bullied me for years. I kept to myself. I didn't start shit with you." "You stole everything," Lara spat. "You were supposed to disappear. After my accident, after Jackie, you were supposed to be done. But then Victor—" her voice cracked. "He was supposed to be mine. I was supposed to be untouchable." I tilted my head. "So all this is about a guy? You're seriously doing all this over a boy who doesn't even like you?" "Everyone liked me until you crawled out of your pity corner and started acting like you mattered." "You liked being feared so much people

It was probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done. I posted. I actually posted. A whole damn expose with Elena, live-streamed and everything. We laid it all out—what Lara and her crew did to me, what they did to a lot of people. Elena backed it up too, which is the only reason no one thought it was just me being petty or hopping on a bandwagon. Still... the trouble was it worth it? Right? Right? God. Am I an idiot? We're getting the video that will end Lara today. That was the plan. A stupid, reckless, possibly-suicidal plan. I had to get ready without thinking too much or Anne would've talked me out of it. She would've known if she could still read my thoughts. And honestly? She's done enough already. She got the pictures deleted. She protected my mom's salon. She's the reason I'm not some trembling little pet anymore. She even made me feel like maybe—maybe—I deserved a good guy like Aureliano. Like I wasn't just like a pet dog. Like someone could still like me.

I watched the video in shock. I mean, Katy showing up to school wrapped in gauze like a post-apocalyptic mummy was terrifying enough—but this? Seeing what was going on in her mind the moment Lara went feral with a broken chair? That threw me. It was... loyalty. Real loyalty. The kind people write poems about and never mean. She helped me out in the worst possible way. And she still did it. Took the fall. Took the beating. Took everything. And since her mom didn't have the money to sue, Aureliano stepped in to do it for her. I didn't even ask. "Katy, you really are my best friend," I said, hugging her as gently as I could. Her ribs were bruised. Her shoulder looked like someone had tried to drive a nail through it. "Aww, bestie," Katy muttered, wrapping her arm around me carefully. 'What a fucking showoff. I'm way more loyal than her. Stealing my damn hugs,' Victor's voice cut in, sour and jealous like always. I ignored him. This wasn't about him. This was dedication. The real