Chapter 31: The Wrong Day

Hannah's POVNo one tells you how much a school changes after an epic win.Walking down the hallway is hard enough for me on a regular day. But now I had to deal with bristling past crowds of students giving high fives, fist bumps, and chanting. It felt like everywhere I turned I either heard "Go Hudsons!" or "We did it, man."Green balloons littered the hall, and I couldn't even see the floor anymore as I made my way to class. A part of me hoped the class would be cancelled to celebrate our big victory against Westfield. But of course, that was too much to wish for. Knowing Mr. Lawton, he would have made our class two hours longer."Isn't it amazing, Hannah?" Serena asked me, her eyes lit up like fireflies as she looked around.Someone behind us sprayed confetti. It fluttered down through the air like ashes. Green and white paper fell on our shoulders and in our hair, causing giggles to escape our lips. I brushed it off gently, turning to Serena with a smile perking up my lips."Well

Chapter 32: Wildfire

Hannah's POV"Please come out, Hannah. It wasn't that bad, I swear," Serena assured me, though her voice said otherwise.Her knuckles rasped on the bathroom door, begging me to come out or at least let her in. But that wasn't happening. Not anytime soon.The school bathroom was my hideaway — a habit I'd picked up since middle school. Anytime I got bullied by seniors, I'd run here to let the tears spill down my cheeks. I didn't like it when people saw me cry. They wouldn't do anything but take videos and laugh.But in a bathroom stall, you're alone.Back then, it wasn't that bad. There were doodles etched into the walls that I'd stared at to take my mind off things. But in this bathroom, the tiles were bare. No doodles. No writing. Just plain white porcelain.Maybe it's for the best anyway.I don't want to forget.Crying is all I want to do.I rubbed my eyes with the back of my sleeve, sniffling as I did so.I hate everything. And everyone. I hate myself for even thinking of trying to

Chapter 33: Danny Wheeler

Hannah's POV Maybe going back to my room was a mistake. I should've stayed in the toilet till the end of the day. Heck, the end of the semester if I had to. But after my legs started to fall asleep and my arms grew tired, I decided to make the painful walk back. If I was lucky, it'd be empty and I could fall asleep without having to answer any questions from Tiffany or Maya. I could curl into my blanket and pretend everything that happened today was nothing more than a bad dream. Oh, well. I should've known my roommates would be in their beds by the time I arrived, preparing themselves for what to say when I walked through that door. "I'm going to kill Zachary!" Tiffany exclaimed, her features hardening so quickly it frightened me. Maya on the other hand was barely moved. She slid her headphones so they rested on her shoulders and gave Tiffany a blank stare. "You've said that three times already." "And you think I don't mean it?" She asked, her voice piercing my ears li

Chapter 34 : Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

Hannah's POV"You need to stop worrying, Hannah."Tiffany didn't even look up from her phone when she said it. Her fingers were moving fast across the screen, typing to someone she clearly wasn't going to tell us about. The irritation she was trying to hide was bleeding into her voice anyway.I watched her from across the room.Who was she texting? That Danny boy? The thought alone made something uncomfortable settle in my chest and I had absolutely no idea why."Just show us who you're talking to," Maya said, reaching for the phone. Tiffany pulled it away fast — too fast — and looked at both of us with a sharp, warning look. It almost made me flinch."No. I'm doing this for you," she said, turning to me specifically."You literally said earlier that you wanted to take your anger out on someone," I reminded her. The edge in my own voice surprised me. Maya blinked, looking between us the way she always did when she didn't know which side to land on.Tiffany was her best friend. But eve

Chapter 35 :The Kind of Pain You Don't Expect

Hannah's POVI don't like the sound of sirens. When ambulances scream past with colours of red flashing like a blur, it brings a wave of sickness to me. But when this ambulance arrived, I didn't even hear it. It was one of the things my mind tuned out. Because all I could see was the blood dripping down Zachary's temples as he was carried out on a stretcher. All I could hear was him groaning in pain. He had mud and grass in his wounds, in his hair, on his face. My heart sank and I couldn't seem to swallow the nausea ready to overwhelm me.His friends raced to his side like loyal soldiers. And when the responders hauled him into the back of the ambulance, their faces were pale and fallen. Why wouldn't they be? I don't think anyone was expecting the match to turn out this way. I wasn't.But did Tiffany?My eyes slowly moved to her and my heart pounded like a drum. Her expression was too unreadable. Blank. Almost as if she'd been expecting something like this to happen. No. It's not poss

Chapter 36 :Stay Away From Her

Hannah's POV "I can't believe you actually went," Tiffany cried on the other end of the line. I had to hold the phone away from my ear while she spoke. Otherwise I'd need a new set of eardrums. She and Maya had gotten on the phone with me the moment I texted them that I'd come back from the hospital. Maya knew I'd go through with the visit like I said I would. Tiffany had hoped I wouldn't. "You should be smarter than that, Hannah," she pressed. I could almost see her groaning in disappointment, grabbing fistfuls of her hair the way she did when we'd watch movies and the main girl did something stupid. Like pay a friendly hospital visit to the boy who'd made her life miserable. "What's done is done," I said, heading back to the hostel despite the stares I was getting along the way. A sick feeling hit me and I thought I was going to throw up right then and there. I felt like a bug underneath a microscope, patiently dreading the scientist that would poke and prod me before rippi