Chapter 4

After the assembly, the school day finally ended. I was walking towards my beat-up old car in the student parking lot, my shoulders slumped.

Ethan pulled up beside me in his shiny truck. "Sarah, let me give you a ride home. You look exhausted." He sounded genuinely concerned.

I hesitated. Part of me wanted to scream at him, but another, colder part saw an opportunity. Keep him close, let him think he still had some hold on me.

"Okay, Ethan. Thanks."

Just as I reached for the door handle, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID. Chloe.

"One sec," he said, then answered. "Chloe? What' s wrong? You sound terrified."

His face changed, concern hardening into alarm. "Brenda' s friends? They' re threatening you? Where are you? Stay there, I' m coming right now!"

He hung up and looked at me, his expression torn. "Sarah, I... I have to go. Chloe' s in trouble."

Before I could say a word, he slammed the truck into reverse and sped out of the parking lot, leaving me standing there in a cloud of exhaust fumes. Abandoned. Again. For Chloe.

A sick feeling settled in my stomach. This was how it would always be.

I turned towards my car, my vision blurring with angry tears. And then I saw them. Brenda Lexington and her clique, Sauntering towards me, smirks on their faces.

"Well, well, look who it is," Brenda drawled, blocking my path. "The little cheater, all alone."

Her friends fanned out, surrounding me.

"Heard your scholarship is gone, Miller," one of them sneered.

"And your mommy' s sick, right? Too bad you can' t afford her medicine now," another chimed in with mock sympathy.

Brenda stepped closer, her eyes glinting with malice. "You thought you could mess with me? Steal what' s mine?"

"I didn' t steal anything," I said, my voice shaking despite my efforts to keep it steady.

"Liar!" Brenda shoved me hard. I stumbled back against my car.

Then, one of her friends pulled out a can of spray paint. My old car wasn' t much, but it was ours, Dad' s last gift to Mom before he died in that fire.

They started spraying it, laughing. "CHEATER" in big, ugly red letters across the windshield. They kicked the tires, dented the doors.

I tried to stop them, to push them away, but there were too many. Brenda grabbed my backpack, emptied it onto the asphalt, my books and papers scattering. She stomped on my astrophysics textbook, grinding the heel of her expensive boot into the cover.

The verbal abuse was relentless, each word a fresh stab. I just stood there, helpless and humiliated, as they destroyed my property and my dignity.

Finally, laughing, they got into Brenda' s convertible and sped off, leaving me amidst the wreckage.

I sank to the ground, my body trembling, tears finally streaming down my face. But through the tears, a cold, hard resolve formed. They would all pay. Brenda, Chloe, Ethan. They would all pay.

I was still shaking when Ethan' s truck pulled back into the parking lot twenty minutes later. He jumped out, his face etched with worry.

"Sarah! Oh my god, what happened? Are you okay?" He rushed to my side, trying to help me up.

He saw the car, the scattered books. "Who did this?"

"Brenda," I whispered, my voice hoarse.

"I... I am so sorry, Sarah. I shouldn' t have left you." He looked genuinely distraught, his eyes scanning my face for injuries. "Chloe was just so scared, I..."

He was playing the part of the worried protector, the hero.

Just then, my phone buzzed. A notification from Instagram. Chloe had just posted a new picture: her and Ethan, beaming, his arm around her, captioned "My hero! Always there for me! ❤️ #bestboyfriend #savedtheday".

The picture was time-stamped ten minutes ago. While I was being tormented, they were taking selfies.

The hypocrisy was suffocating. I pulled away from Ethan' s touch.

"I' m fine," I said, my voice devoid of emotion. "Just take me home."

He looked confused by my coldness but helped me gather my things. The ride home was silent, filled with unspoken accusations and bitter truths.

When I got home, Mom was in the kitchen, her face pale. Chloe was there. Sitting at our kitchen table, sipping tea, looking perfectly calm.

"Oh, Sarah, honey, you' re late," Mom said, her voice weak. "Chloe was just telling me how brave Ethan was, standing up to those awful Lexington girls for her."

Chloe gave me a small, saccharine smile. "It was really scary, Sarah. But Ethan handled it."

She then looked at my disheveled appearance, the tear tracks on my face. "Goodness, Sarah, what happened to you? You look like you' ve been through a hedge backwards."

She was taunting me, subtly, in front of my sick mother, knowing Mom couldn' t handle any more stress. Knowing I wouldn' t dare reveal what really happened to me in the parking lot, not with Mom' s fragile health.

The anger inside me simmered, threatening to boil over.