They Bet I Would Leave, I Proved Them Right Chapter 03

They Bet I Would Leave, I Proved Them Right Chapter 03

I went back to school early the next morning to pick up my last piece of paperwork.

I’d barely stepped inside the building when I heard laughter behind me.

“Well, well. The genius with the 1580.”

“I heard she wanted to stay in Bellhaven with Nolan, but all four of them got into Kingsley. She’s the only one getting shipped off to Westreach.”

“Shipped off? She threw herself at him, got rejected, and now she’s crawling away with her tail between her legs.”

A group of girls was blocking the stairwell.

The one in front was a new friend of Brielle’s.

She looked me up and down, then grabbed for the camera around my neck.

“Is this the camera you wouldn’t let Brielle borrow?”

I caught her wrist.

“Let go.”

“God, what’s your problem?”

She raised her voice so the whole hallway could hear.

“Brielle was right about you. You grew up with four guys and you actually think you’re hot shit.”

Another girl piled on.

“Too bad they all picked Brielle over you.”

“And someone had the nerve to confess her little crush, got one whole day of dating out of it, and then got dropped. I can’t.”

A crowd was starting to form.

I looked down the hallway.

Nolan and the others were right there.

Grant had Brielle’s documents. Graham was double-checking her paperwork. Reid was holding her breakfast.

Nolan saw me.

He frowned. He didn’t come over.

Once, a kid at school said I only got by because my four friends propped me up. Nolan cornered him in the AV room and made him apologize over the intercom to the whole school.

Now someone was grabbing my camera and closing in on me, and he stood there like he hadn’t noticed a thing.

Brielle rushed over.

“Don’t be mean to her. Mara’s just having a bad day.”

The girl clutching my camera scoffed.

“Brielle, you’re way too nice.”

“She’s jealous because you actually have people who care about you. She wouldn’t even let you have a few childhood videos, and you’re still sticking up for her?”

Brielle’s chin started to tremble.

Nolan finally walked over, but only to pull Brielle behind him.

“Mara, if you’re pissed, come at us. Leave Brielle out of it.”

Before I could say a word, the girl behind me ripped the camera strap off my neck.

The camera hit the floor.

Another girl “accidentally” kicked over a mop bucket, and dirty water splashed all over me.

The hallway broke into laughter.

“Oops. My foot slipped.”

I wiped the water off my face and bent down to pick up the camera.

Nolan looked at me, irritation all over his face.

“Your clothes are wet. Go home and change. Stop making a scene.”

So when they humiliated me in front of everyone, it was an accident.

But if I tried to stand up for myself, I was causing trouble.

I didn’t look at any of them again. I grabbed my paperwork and walked out.

Half an hour later, I’d just finished changing when someone started hammering on my front door.

All four of them pushed past me with Brielle in tow.

“Where’s the pendant?”

Grant didn’t waste any time.

“Brielle had it on earlier, and now it’s gone.”

I leaned against the doorframe.

“So?”

Reid’s face was ice.

“You were the only one who touched her at school. Who else could’ve taken it?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He walked straight into my bedroom and yanked open a drawer.

The rest of them started tearing through my closet and desk.

For eighteen years, they’d walked into my room without knocking.

I used to think it meant we were close.

Now I saw it for what it was. They just believed everything of mine was theirs to take.

Grant opened the closet. Almost everything was gone.

“Why are you packing?”

Something in my chest clenched.

Graham glanced at my suitcase and answered before I could. “She’s trying to scare us.”

Reid snorted.

“Mara, seriously? How old are you? Still pulling the runaway act?”

They all laughed. Not a single one of them was worried.

It didn’t cross any of their minds that I was actually leaving.

Nolan found the binding Early Decision agreement. He looked at the cover, then shoved it under my desk leg to stop it from wobbling.

“Normal schools don’t start until late August. You think you’re just gonna vanish today?”

Right then, Brielle fished the pendant out of the gap between the desk and the wall.

“I found it!”

She’d dropped it herself.

Brielle turned to me, face flushed. “Mara, I’m sorry. I jumped to conclusions.”

But Nolan just smoothed her hair. “Hey, you found it. It’s fine. Don’t cry.”

Not one of them thought they owed me an apology.

Brielle’s eyes drifted to the video files still open on my computer.

Us burying a time capsule at ten. A trip to the coast at fifteen. Every birthday, year after year.

“So the full versions are on here.”

Her whole face lit up.

“Can I use these for my birthday video?”

“No.”

I stepped past her and shut the laptop.

Brielle’s face fell.

Grant got in my face.

“What’s the big deal? Didn’t you already say you’d edit the video for her?”

“I changed my mind.”

Brielle’s tears came instantly.

“Do you really think I’ll never be good enough to be your friend?”

Nolan’s face went hard. He shoved the screen back up and grabbed the mouse.

“She wants the videos. If you don’t want to be in them, just delete yourself.”

“Nolan, don’t touch that.”

He ignored me and highlighted every file with my name on it.

I lunged for the mouse, but Reid grabbed my arm.

“It’s just some videos. It’s not gonna kill you.”

Nolan hit delete.

The progress bar filled in seconds.

My first bike ride. My first competition medal. A sixteen-year-old Nolan looking into the camera, promising he’d marry me someday. He’d sent every single memory straight to the trash.

“See? Was that so hard?”

He let go of the mouse, his face blank.

“You’re never showing up in any of our videos again.”

He only said it to hurt me.

But he didn’t know how right he was going to be.

A message from the Federal Energy Research Institute.

[Transport arrives in two hours.]

I closed the laptop and picked up my suitcase.

Eighteen years of my life, and it all fit in a single twenty-eight-inch suitcase.