A Childhood Promise, A Cold Comeback Chapter 01

A Childhood Promise, A Cold Comeback Chapter 01

I’d promised to transfer schools with my childhood best friend over his bullying—or so I’d believed—until he backed out the day before our paperwork was finalized.

His buddy snickered, “Nice move, faking the bullying for weeks just to get Hazel out of your hair.”

“Won’t you regret ditching her at a new school? You two have been thick as thieves since you were kids.”

Lucas Sullivan’s voice was ice-cold. “It’s just another school in the same city—not like she’s moving to another country.”

“Besides, I was getting sick of her shadowing my every move. This works out perfectly.”

I stood outside the door for what felt like an eternity before finally turning away. Back home, I crossed out Ridgewood High School on my transfer application and filled in the name of the overseas academy my parents had always wanted me to attend.

Everyone had forgotten: Lucas and I came from two completely different worlds.

My heart plummeted the instant the truth slammed into me.

For a month, Lucas had been jumped in hallways, framed for things he didn’t do—countless incidents that sent me scrambling to protect him, even when I couldn’t be everywhere at once.

I remembered one time, after he’d been doused with ice water, his handsome face pale and pitiful as he clutched my hand..

“Haze, I can’t do a new school alone,” he’d pleaded, his voice trembling.

We had been inseparable since kindergarten—walking to school together, sharing lunches, side by side for over a decade. And I’d been secretly in love with him for just as long.

So I’d acted on impulse, promising him, “Don’t be scared. I’ll go wherever you go.”

But now I knew the truth: every bruise, every tearful plea for help was a part of crafted act to drive me away.

I couldn’t help but wonder—did Lucas hate me that much?

The voices inside the VIP booth droned on. “Hazel’s totally hung up on you, man.”

“Not worried she’ll move on once you ship her off to another school?”

“Her?” Lucas scoffed like he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world. “She took a beating for me once, stepping between me and a group of jocks even when they got her black and blue. You really think she’d ever stop caring about me?”

Someone muttered, “You never know—Hazel’s got a spine. She doesn’t just rorll over.”

Lucas’s tone turned lazy. “There’s no ‘never know.’ Central High’s full of rich guys throwing themselves at her, and she’s never given any of them the time of day.”

Contempt dripped from every word. “She follows me around like a lost puppy. Hell, even my dog has more independence.”

The raucous laughter from inside felt like a physical slap. I wanted to run, but my feet were rooted to the floor, forcing me to listen, to feel every shred of pain he’d inflicted.

One of the guys whistled, impressed. “First time I’ve seen someone push away a girl who’d die for them. That’s cold.”

“Why the whole bullying act? Why not just tell her you need space? Hazel wouldn’t beg.”

Lucas clicked his tongue, annoyed. “Hazel’s too stubborn. If I just told her flat out, she’d demand answers, make a whole thing of it. It wouldn’t be clean.”

He changed the subject, his voice softening slightly. “Besides, Coco gets so nervous around her. She only calms down when I’m around.”

“I had to do this for Coco. Hazel can suck it up.”

Everything clicked into place then. Lucas had started faking the bullying exactly one week after Coco Mitchell transferred to Central High.

Someone laughed and punched Lucas’s arm. “You sly dog—hooked on the new girl that fast?”

“Can’t blame you, though. Coco’s total eye candy—sweet, fragile, the whole package. Totally different from Hazel with her ice-queen act and ‘back off’ aura. What a waste of a pretty face.”

A flood of insults and snide comments about me washed over the room. And Lucas—my childhood best friend, the boy I’d loved for years—did nothing to stop them. He even nodded along, adding his silent agreement to their cruelty.

I stood frozen outside, my heart plummeting into a bottomless pit of emptiness and agony.

For one wild moment, I wanted to kick the door open and scream at Lucas. Why the lies? Did he feel any guilt when he saw me getting hurt for him? Did our twelve years of friendship mean nothing while he schemed to get rid of me?

But then my mother’s voice echoed in my mind, Don’t waste your energy on thosse who don’t deserve it.

People don’t rot overnight.

I turned and walked away, leaving Lucas and everything we’d ever been behind for good.