Avery
I checked my reflection in the car window one last time, instantly wishing I'd just stayed home.The confidence I'd felt on Noah's porch—the fire that let me snap back at Jax—was gone. In its place was the familiar, heavy knot in my stomach. At home, it was easy to be brave. In these hallways? I was just the girl who tried to stay invisible.As I walked through the double doors, the silence didn't last long."There she is! The tutor!"The voice belonged to a girl in a varsity jacket I didn't recognize, but the snickering that followed was unmistakable. I kept my head down, clutching my history project to my chest like a shield. My locker felt a mile away."Hey, Avery! Did Noah give you a gold star for last night ?" someone else shouted.I felt the heat crawling up my neck. Last night .Jax hadn't wasted a second. He'd taken our study session and twisted it into something dirty, something the whole school was now chewing on.I reached my locker, my fingers trembling so much that I couldn't unlock it. I could feel the eyes on me—hot, judging, and hungry for a reaction."Ignore them," I whispered to myself. "Just get to class."But then, the crowd shifted. The wall of students near the gym entrance parted, and I saw Noah. He was walking toward me, looking taller and more intense than usual. Behind him, Jax was leaning against a trophy case, wearing a smirk that made me want to scream."Avery!" Noah called out.Everyone stopped. The lockers stopped slamming. Even the whispers died down to a low hum. My heart skipped a beat—was he going to tell them it was all a lie? Was he going to tell me to stay away so he could save his reputation?
The air in the hallway suddenly felt too thick to breathe. Every whisper sounded like a shout, and every pair of eyes felt like a physical weight pressing against my chest."Avery!" Noah called again, his voice closer now.I looked at him, but his face was a blur. All I could see were the smirks of the people behind him and the flashing phone cameras of students recording the "drama." My vision started to tunnel, the edges of the hallway turning dark and fuzzy.They're all looking. They're all laughing.My fingers went numb. The heavy history project—the one we'd spent hours on, the one that represented the best night of my life—slipped from my hands. It hit the linoleum floor with a deafening thud, the posters scattering everywhere."Avery? Hey, look at me," Noah's voice was right in front of me now, but I couldn't find my breath. My lungs felt like they'd been filled with lead.I didn't answer. I couldn't.I turned and bolted.I shoved past a group of cheerleaders, ignored the startled "Hey!" from a teacher, and ran. I didn't stop until I slammed into the heavy door of the girls' bathroom at the end of the science wing. I scrambled into the furthest stall, locked it, and collapsed against the cold tile wall, gasping for air that wouldn't come.The silence of the bathroom was a lie. In my head, Jax's laugh was still echoing, and the image of Noah walking toward me ,surrounded by the people who hated me was burned into my eyelids.I put my head between my knees, trying to stop the world from spinning. I shouldn't have gone to his house. I should have known better.Then, the main bathroom door swung open with a loud creak."Avery?"It wasn't a girl's voice. It was noah, that idiot litrally came into the girl bathroom."Avery, I know you're in here. Please... just talk to me." Noah, go away," I choked out, my voice cracking so hard it barely sounded like me. "You can't be in here. You'll get suspended. Just... go back to your friends."I pressed my forehead against the cold metal of the stall door, my chest heaving. I could hear his footsteps stop right outside my door. He was so close I could hear him breathing—steady, unlike my jagged gasps."I don't care about the suspension, Avery," Noah said, his voice dropping to that low, soft tone he only used when it was just the two of us. "And those people out there? They aren't my friends if they're laughing at this. I don't care about any of them.""You should!" I sobbed, finally losing the battle. I slid down the door until I was sitting on the floor, pulling my knees to my chest. "You have a reputation. You have the team. I'm just the girl who makes you look 'weak' or 'boring' or whatever Jax called me. If you stay here, they'll never let you forget it."The lock clicked.I hadn't realized I'd bumped it with my shoulder, or maybe I just didn't have the strength to hold it shut anymore. The door swung open just a few inches.I looked up, my vision blurred by hot, stinging tears. My mascara was probably ruined, my face was definitely blotchy, and I felt like a complete disaster.Noah didn't look disgusted. He didn't look embarrassed. He looked like his heart was breaking right along with mine.Without saying a word, he dropped to his knees on the grimy bathroom tile, ignoring the fact that his expensive jeans were getting ruined. He reached out, his hand hesitating for a second before he gently cupped my face."Let them talk," he whispered, his thumb brushing away a stray tear. "Let them say whatever they want, Avery. I'm not leaving."The wall I'd built up around myself for years—the one that kept me "invisible" and "safe"—didn't just crack. It shattered. I leaned into his touch, a fresh wave of tears hitting me, and for the first time, I didn't care who was watching or what the school would say tomorrow.