CIELA
7:41 AM
I arrive at school earlier than usual, forcing myself out of bed despite barely getting any sleep. My head still aches from exhaustion, but I don’t care. The only thing on my mind is Huxlee. I even force myself out of bed just so I can talk to Huxlee before classes start.
I need to hear the truth from her directly. I refuse to believe that video without listening to her side first.
The moment I step through the school gate, my eyes immediately search for her in the crowd of students walking around campus. My chest tightens anxiously as I scan every corner, hoping to catch even the smallest glimpse of her. A minute later, I spot a familiar figure standing near the pathway.
Even from behind, I know it’s her.
The oversized hoodie, the way she stands, the slight tilt of her head—I already know her well enough to recognize her instantly.
“Huxlee!” I call out loudly.
I’m not sure if she hears my voice, but she suddenly runs.
My eyes widen in surprise. “Huxlee, wait!”
Without thinking twice, I chase after her. Students turn their heads as we run through the hallways, my footsteps echoing against the floor while I struggle to keep up with her. But the moment she turns around the corner— she disappears.
I stop abruptly, breathing hard as I try to catch my breath. Frustrated, I rake my fingers through my messy hair while scanning the empty hallway.
Where did she go?
“You looking for your friend?”
I glance to the side and instantly grimace.
Great. Him.
I raise an eyebrow at the guy leaning lazily against the wall. “Don’t bother me, asshole.”
It’s Cyprus Rosewood—the campus troublemaker himself.
Everyone knows him. He skips classes, gets into fights, flirts with literally every girl he sees, and somehow always manages to avoid getting expelled. He’s usually late every single day, which makes it even more shocking to see him at school this early.
Wow. What a miracle.
I roll my eyes and start walking away, but his next words make me stop.
“I’m serious,” he says casually. “I know where your friend went.”
I slowly turn back to him, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. “Where?”
Cyprus lifts his chin and points down the hallway. “Over there.”
I follow the direction of his finger toward the girls’ locker room before looking back at him.
“I’m warning you right now,” I say firmly. “If this turns out to be some stupid prank, I swear I’ll deal with you later.”
He only shrugs like he couldn’t care less before walking away with his hands inside his pockets.
I stare at his retreating figure for a second before finally heading toward the locker room.
I’m still catching my breath when I reach the door, my chest rising and falling heavily from running down the hallway. My trembling hand hovers over the doorknob for a second as I force myself to take a deep breath, trying to steady the panic building inside me before I slowly push the door open.
The room is dim and painfully quiet, but not completely silent. The moment the door creaks open, I hear soft, muffled sobs coming from inside. Someone is crying quietly, desperately trying to hold the sound back as if they don’t want anyone to hear them.
My heart tightens instantly.
Huxlee…
I bite my lower lip as I slowly close the door to the girls’ locker room behind me. The cold metal handle slips from my fingers with a soft click, and I lean against the wall outside, letting out a quiet breath. I decide to wait for her here until she finishes crying.
Honestly, I still don’t understand why she comes to school today knowing everyone is already talking about her. Almost the entire student body is probably part of that group chat by now. The video spreads so fast that it feels impossible for anyone not to know.
She should have stayed home.
But then again… this is Huxlee Mendez we’re talking about. No matter what happens, she never backs down. She never skips school. Even when the whole world seems to be against her, she still walks in with her head held high.
I sigh and cross my arms while waiting outside the locker room. The hallway is quieter now since most students are already heading back to their classrooms, but I can still hear distant chatter echoing through the corridor.
The bell suddenly rings, sharp and loud enough to make me straighten up immediately. I know she’ll come out eventually, so I quickly compose myself and try to act normal.
Then, after a few more seconds, the door finally opens.
Huxlee freezes the moment she sees me standing there. Her eyes widen slightly in surprise, and my chest tightens at the sight of her. Her eyes are swollen and red, and the tip of her nose is flushed from crying too much. Even though she tries to hide it, it’s obvious she’s been crying inside for a while.
“Ciela… what are you doing here?” she asks softly.
I shrug, forcing a small smile onto my face.
“I waited for you. What else?”
She looks away almost immediately, avoiding my eyes. Her fingers tighten around the strap of her bag, but she doesn’t say anything.
Not wanting the silence to grow awkward, I gently cling to her arm and pull her beside me.
“Come on,” I tell her lightly. “We’re going to be late in class.”
We start walking down the hallway together, our footsteps echoing against the tiled floor. The silence between us feels heavy, almost suffocating.
Neither of us dares to speak.
I know I told myself earlier that I wanted to hear the truth from her directly, but now that she’s beside me, I suddenly lose the courage to ask. What if I upset her more? What if bringing it up only makes things worse?
The quiet stretches between us for several seconds before Huxlee finally breaks it.
“Aren’t you going to ask me?” she suddenly says.
“H-Huh?” I quickly turn to her. “A-Ask what?”
Damn it. Why am I stuttering?
She glances at me before lowering her eyes again.
“You know…” she says quietly. “About that video.”
“Ah…” I let out an awkward laugh, trying to ease the tension building between us. “You don’t have to explain anything to me right now.”
I look at her properly this time, making sure she hears every word I say.
“You can talk to me whenever you’re ready,” I continue softly. “You know I’ll always stay by your side.”
She slowly lifts her head and looks at me. Then, for the first time since coming out of the locker room, she smiles.
“Thank you, Ciela,” she says.
The moment I see that smile, something warm melts inside my chest.
I grin back at her, trying to ignore how fast my heart suddenly beats. “You’re always welcome.”
Ting!
Ting!
Huxlee and I immediately stop walking the moment our phones buzz almost at the same time. The noisy hallway suddenly feels heavier as we exchange uneasy looks before reaching into our bags and pulling out our phones.
There’s a new message from the admin.
Admin: A professor and a… student? Who could it be?
A few seconds later, another notification appears. The admin sends a photo, but the image is blurred badly enough that I can’t recognize the people in it. More pictures follow right after. Some of them are screenshots of private conversations, while others look like stolen photos taken from a distance.
I slowly lift my head and glance at Huxlee. Her face has gone pale, and she’s biting her lower lip so hard that it almost trembles. Without thinking, I gently rub her back, trying to calm her down.
“Are you okay?” I ask softly.
She lets out a shaky breath and clenches her phone tighter. “What does this prick even want?” she mutters under her breath.
“What?”
Huxlee looks at me, and this time I can clearly see the anger building in her eyes. “What’s the point of this group chat?” she says, her voice cracking slightly. “Why did the admin create it? Why are they exposing people like this? And why…”
Before she can continue, tears suddenly spill down her cheeks.
“Shh…” I quickly pull her into a hug, holding her carefully while people continue walking past us in the hallway. “I can’t answer those questions because I honestly don’t know either,” I whisper. “But… I do have a proposal.”
She slowly pulls away from the hug and wipes her tears with the sleeve of her uniform. “What proposal?”
I stare directly into her eyes. “Let’s find out who the admin is,” I say firmly. “And once we do, we expose them. What do you think?”
Huxlee shakes her head, her lips parting like she’s about to say something, but before a single word comes out, another voice suddenly cuts through the conversation.
“I’m in.”
I freeze for a second before slowly turning my head toward the familiar voice.
Seriously? This asshole again?
“What the fuck?” I snap, glaring at Cyprus. “Did you even hear what I just said to Huxlee?”
A grin spreads across his face like he finds this whole thing entertaining. “Yeah,” he says casually, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “And honestly? I think it’s a pretty good idea.”
I stare at him in disbelief. The nerve of this guy.
“Back off,” I warn coldly.
Instead of leaving, he steps closer with that stupid confident expression that makes me want to punch him in the throat.
“Let me join,” he says. “I know I can help you.”
I let out a dry scoff and cross my arms over my chest. “Help with what exactly? Fucking girls?”
Huxlee quietly chokes beside me while Cyprus bursts out laughing, completely unbothered by the insult.
“You’re brutal, Ciela,” he says, shaking his head with amusement. “But jokes aside, I’m serious. I want to expose the admin before they expose me. I already know some scandal about me is eventually going to leak in that group chat.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “Please. Even without that admin GC, the entire campus is probably going to hear about your scandals anyway, so what’s the point?”
For the first time since he arrived, Cyprus goes quiet.
His eyes drift toward Huxlee, who has been silently standing beside me the entire time, awkwardly watching us argue like divorced parents. A slow smile forms on his face before he looks back at me again.
“Okay,” he says with a small shrug. “So maybe that excuse sucks.”
My brows furrow. “What are you talking about?”
He scratches the back of his neck before speaking again, and somehow, his voice sounds unusually genuine this time.
“I have a crush on Huxlee Mendez,” he admits with a grin. “And I want to get to know her better.”
Disgust immediately twists in my stomach.
Yuck.
Out of all the girls in this school, he chooses Huxlee? Absolutely not.
“Fuck you,” I mutter without hesitation before grabbing Huxlee by the wrist. “Come on. We’re already late.”
Before Cyprus can say another word, I pull Huxlee away from the demon himself while he laughs behind us like this entire situation is amusing to him.