Yikes. 🙈🙈

I know it's been very long. I had to go through the draft all over again. Because my previous phone got spoilt. I apologize for the long wait. That's why I'm uploading 2 chapters tonight. Oh, one other thing. Online classes just started last week. I am drowning in lessons and assignments so updates will be slow. I hope you guys understand. I really appreciate all the support for this book. Thank you guys.

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AJ's POV

I woke up feeling annoyed and it wasn't even a Monday. Why was I annoyed? Because I had to wake up extra early, get ready extra early and go to campus extra early. Why? Because some dumbass decided to leave his order on the damn counter.

I had to go through all this trouble just to look at his stupid face again.

Once I reached campus, I almost immediately spotted the sorority gang members. The infuriating part was, they were across the damn field. I had to walk all the way. Begrudgingly, I began my journey towards the alpha queen bee.

The more I walked the more I realised just how big the field actually was. I mean, was it necessary for a field this big? How many students nowadays love sports anyway?! Here I go again. Complaining about every single thing just to ease my annoyance.

I grumbled to myself as I stomped my way towards Rylen. He was talking to some other dude who I have never seen before. What are random people doing here?

"Hey Rylen! Get over here!" Rylen raised a brow in surprise while his friend sent me a scrutinizing gaze. I guess no one actually spoke to him like that. He then motioned for me to wait for a minute. That's when my anger spiked up.

"Sailorman?"

Oh, fuck this bitch.

"Not in the mood Jax," I growled out, making him freeze in his position. He was lazily laying on the grass before I gave him my attitude.

"Go get a hot drink before you kill anyone and......ah.....um...what are you holding...?" Jaxon's tone went from worry to suspicion.

"I wouldn't be holding this if your friend had decent working brain cells." I grumbled again.

Before both of us could say anything further, Rylen made his way towards me.

"What's up nerd? I always knew you secretly had a crush on me. Can't hold it in anymore huh?" There was a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. He always had a more serious, uptight personality when he was with his friends but this time, I didn't miss the way his eyes shined with mirth.

This asshole.

"Listen closely dimwit." I gritted my teeth. Jaxon was right. I needed a hot drink. "You have wasted enough of my precious time. Next time you wanna buy something, make sure you understand the whole idea of buying. I knew you were dumb but not this dumb."

Completely unaffected by my insult, he took a step closer to me. "But still, you came all this way to deliver the package. That's kind of sweet, don't you agree nerd?" He came closer as he stared down at me. This way, the Sun was shining directly on his face making his grey eyes brighter. I'll admit they were pretty but sadly, his mouth spoilt it for him.

"Hold up, that's not on me. Nuh uh. Mr. Bernard is the one who insisted that I give it to you. Since you paid and all. If it was up to me, I wouldn't give two shits about the package or you." That being said, I turned around and walked towards my lecture hall. I swore to myself that I would get physical if anyone pissed me off after this.

I didn't miss the way Jaxon looked between Rylen and I.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cora's POV

I was frantically writing down notes in my Theory of Counseling class. Dr. Finley was the kind of professor where every sentence he says is informative. So I had to write fast. Willow and AJ always tell me to simply record but I knew myself quite well. If I recorded the lecture, I wasn't going to listen to it again after class.

Scoffing at myself I continued to scribble down notes and pay close attention to his lecture. I quite enjoyed this class.

Two hours had already passed and he had ten minutes before his lecture was supposed to end. Just as he got to a few important stuff, there was this light whispering going around. It was weird but I didn't think anything of it. Seconds passed and the whispering got louder. I irritatingly rolled my eyes and continued to listen to Dr. Finley. Even he glared around the lecture hall. All the whispering was clearly distracting him as well.

I looked around again and saw that some students were looking at me strangely. Not expecting it, I awkwardly tucked a strand of lose hair behind my ear. As more students started staring at me, I suddenly began to understand that something was very wrong. I immediately started to feel embarrassed and self conscious.

What the hell was going on?

"Okay, that will be all for today. Since everyone here decided to distract the peace of this learning environment, I will be conducting a test next Wednesday. That test will carry a certain amount of marks for your finals." The moment he uttered the word finals, the entire hall was filled with groans and 'No's'.

"I don't care if you hate it. It's too late now. You guys should have thought about this before you started getting into whatever drama it is that you involve yourselves in." Dr. Finley then walked out of the hall.

Once he left, the whispering became louder than ever and all I wanted to do was to close my ears. I couldn't help but feel the gossip was all about me and it was something horrible. That alone brought me down and I couldn't stop the voices from invading my mind. It was even more difficult for me to block out everything because Yi Zing was absent.

I quickly gathered my belongings and strode out of the damn hall. Unfortunately, those disturbing whispers followed me all the way.

Maybe she's always been this way.

Maybe she needs money to pay for school, we all do.

But I still wouldn't do what she's doing.

Some are more desperate than others.

Some are cheaper than others you mean.

A laugh rang out. Then another and another after that. Soon the whispers turned into loud words.

"Hey Cora! Is your service for everyone? It should be. I would give you more tips than anyone else!" A random girl shouted behind me. I turned around and saw that she wasn't even taking the same course as me. She was a student that I had never seen before.

What is going on? I just want to go back to my room.

I continued to walk fast as I neared the field. The entrance was right after the field. As I speed walked, a group of students suddenly came in front of me and blocked my path. There were about five of them and two were guys. I've seen the girls before but I never spoke to them. These were the type of students who buried their faces in their phones 24/7. Their phones and social media controlled every aspect of their lives.

"Can you guys please move?" I said politely. I was slowly beginning to lose my temper and I still wasn't able to understand what was going on. What was this? High school?!

"Just one picture darling." A lanky brunette girl chirped. "This will look so good on my account. You're gonna make this whole University famous Ms. Charles. Oh! We can also sell it to the person in charge of the University's Magazine. Everyone will buy it just for your story. Oh my God! You are also going to help raise money!" Her friends snickered at the stupid comment she made.

"Do not take my picture. Just move out of the damn way already." I raised my voice a little.

"Ooooooooh, the famous call girl is fiesty now. Guys start recording." She giggled at my face. Everything went spiraling down for me when the two boys obeyed her command. They put their phones in front of my face as if all the insults weren't enough for me.

"Leave me alone!! Get away from me!!!" I pushed one of the guy's phones away from my face. I guess I was a little harsh because the phone fell to the ground with a loud crack.

"You ugly ass bitch!!" The owner of the phone snarled at me. He glared at me with so much hatred before walking closer to me. By then, there were already a number of onlookers. They did nothing to help. I wished my friends were here but they were all in class. I was alone which was alright under normal circumstances. Today however, I've never felt more abandoned in all my life.

I nervously looked up at the boy whose phone I pushed. His brown eyes still continued to stare daggers at me. His friends were simply amused at the whole scene. They didn't care about anything. As long as they got to upload an amusing video online.

"Look, I'm sorry but I had to-"

"Shut up." He growled at me. I was aware that I pushed his phone but he shouldn't have invaded my personal space and proceeded to take pictures of me.

I gaped up at him and before I could comprehend the situation, he grabbed my shoulders and roughly pushed me to the ground.

"Fuck you! Do you know how much the repair is gonna cost?! Fuck!" He yelled down at me and walked away. His group of friends only left when they finished their stupid recording. Once that was done. The onlookers decided to go about their day. Some laughed, others gossiped.

Should we do something?

Nah the bitch deserves this. Attention seeker.

I can't believe how she managed to put on this good girl look.

Everything about her is fucking fake. There's just too much prove online. She won't get to pretend anymore.

I was on the verge of bursting out but I held it in and walked all the way to my room.

~~~~~~~~~~

Once I was behind close doors, I could feel every part of my body tremble. I pressed my back against the door and slid down to the ground. The tears were continuously running down my cheeks as I broke down. Why were they doing this?

The group of students I ran into earlier today don't normally harass people this way. What went wrong with them? Day after day, it was only getting worse. I could no longer experience a normal day as a normal student here. Studying was becoming increasingly harder for me and it takes me longer to focus on my subjects. I needed this to end. Wiping away my tears, I tried to recall the last time I had a good night's sleep.

I don't remember how long I sat on the floor crying but at some point, I felt my body burning up. Having had enough crap for one day, I quickly took two tablets, one for the fever and another to sleep. Then, I found my way to my bed and curled up on it.

~~~~~

The next thing I knew I heard soft whispers. There were people in my room and I didn't want to face them.

Whoever they were.

My body felt weak and I had to gather every bit of strength left in me to just open my eyes. I felt so disoriented once I woke up.

"We have to file a complaint, this has gone too far."

"I agree with you Noah. Maybe we should ask AJ. Her parents could help."

"Why her parents? Who are they...?"

They had no idea I was already awake.

I groaned effectively gaining their attention. "Wh....what are guys doing here?" I asked in my sleepy voice.

"Cora, we're so sorry we weren't there sweetie." Willow rushed to me and engulfed me in a tight hug.

"Yeah, how are you holding up? We were so damn worried and pissed when we heard what happened." Noah genuinely looked concerned for me and it warmed my heart.

"I'm better now that you guys are here."

"Here, we bought some food for you. You must be starving. It's already 8.00pm." Noah opened up the food pakage while he glanced at his phone to see the time.

"I didn't know I slept so long." I held the side of my head. Looking up at Willow again, I saw her arms crossed over her chest as she stared down at me.

"Mind explaining this?" She held the small bottle filled with sleeping pills.

"It's all written on the bottle Willow, no need for me to explain." She glared at me the second those words escaped my mouth.

"You're taking sleeping pills?! Since when?!"

"Will calm down," Noah held her shoulder gently. Then he slowly turned to me.

"Seriously Cora! You better answer Willow right now!!" I could only gape at the two people angrily standing before me.

"Wait you guys-"

"This is going too far Cora!! What the fuck?!! You could've at least opened up to AJ!!" Noah was furious. His eyes blazed with anger and his body was so tensed. I couldn't take the way he was looking at me. None of us have witnessed this side of him. He was angry and disappointed. He didn't stop yelling at me. I already went through a horrible day so I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't need this from my friends too.

"Shut up!!! It's too much okay! I can't just.....talk about it. Do you have any idea how exhausting it is?!!" I burst out, bringing out my own rage. "Everyday it's the same. Someone shouted at me, someone pulled my hair, someone threw my bag away, someone did this, someone did that! I was so scared but there was nothing I could do!!" I bitterly faked a child's voice. "I am in constant need of someone's help. Totally incapable of taking care of myself!!"

Noah dropped on my bed while Willow looked away for a short moment. She then took slow steps towards me.

"Cora, I know it sounds childish to complain every single day. The complaining might make you feel like a petty little thing but what you're going through is no longer childish. It's serious. Different people tolerate things differently. The level of endurance for each individual is different. One person's pain is not greater than the other. I thought you learn this in class." Willow spoke softly as she engulfed me in a hug. "Cora, if anything can mess a person up like this, it is serious." I knew they weren't happy with everything I did but I didn't know how else to handle my situation.

"They posted disgusting, indecent pictures of you. You hear hateful comments about you almost everyday. They violated you in public. They humiliated you out in the open and no one did anything to help. These are not childish claims Cora." This time Noah spoke up. "Plus, I don't know what else you're hiding from us." He glared at my sleeping pills.

I looked down in shame, they were right. I was letting this get too far.

"Guys I don't know what else to do. AJ and I already complained. I really don't know what to do. Besides, today wasn't Elizabeth's doing." Willow and Noah scoffed at me.

"Of course it was her doing! The Internet obsessed gang don't really confront anyone outside their circle. They've never done this before. I'm a hundred percent sure that Lizzie arranged for it to happen." Willow confidently said.

"We'll think of something, I promise." Noah came up to me and held my hands. "We will make them pay Cora. What they're doing is low and stupid." I weakly smiled at him, appreciating his strong words.

"AJ needs to know about this." Willow commented and Noah was quick to agree.

"Yeah, she does. She's my best friend, I'll tell her. Only if she doesn't already know. The whole campus know what happened. Hah, campus." I looked down and scoffed. "Campus sounds funny. This is more like high school." I buried my head in my hands.

Seconds later there was a knock on the door. I froze while Willow and Noah got on to their fighting stances.

"Hey Cora, you in there? My keys are somewhere inside the sea of garbage in my bag. Please open." AJ spoke.

I ran to the bathroom to bathe while Willow opened the door. I couldn't let her see me like this. She would freak out and kill Elizabeth and the Internet obsessed gang. Yes, AJ is more than capable of doing it. More. Than. Capable.

"Willow! Noah! Finally, civilized company! Friends!" She sounded so damn happy to see Willow and Noah. I almost laughed out loud in the bathroom while taking my shower. I wonder who she was stuck with the whole day.

"AJ where the hell did you go? Why weren't you in class?!" Noah demanded.

What???

"Sorry buddy, I actually skipped. Buuuuuut before you get mad, I bought you all food. So don't be mad at me." When the word food was mentioned everything began to feel much lighter. They spoke about a few things and in that time, I got out of the shower fully dressed.

"Cora, I bought your favourite strawberry coated doughnut. Eat." I'm not going to lie. My mood instantly improved.

"I love you AJ. You know that right?"

"You can keep saying it." She winked at me.

"Soooooo, since I wasn't in campus, anything interesting happened? Something always happens while I'm gone." AJ asked nonchalantly.

"How about you explain your day. It looks like you went on a food hunt. You only do that when someone pisses you off." I carefully eyed the table filled with all sorts of food. I didn't mean to avoid her question, I was genuinely curious about her day.

"Well, I was kinda pissed all morning. It was a bad morning so I decided to head to the mall and do some window shopping. I lost track of time and somehow found myself in the supermarket on the ground floor." She fiddled with the chocolate cookie in her hand.

"Did I mention alpha queen bee found me there and tortured the hell out of me?! He was such a douce bag." She threw her hands up in exasperation. When she was met with silence, she looked up to find Willow, Noah and I gaping at her. What else did she expect? This was new. And surprising as hell. She really needed to spill that tea.

"What?" She asked awkwardly.

"Rylen Gael Cameron? The popular hottie?!" Willow squealed and I didn't miss the way Noah smirked at her.

"I don't understand your need to confirm who alpha queen be is. His identity is pretty much understood. Alpha queen bee or sorority mother. You don't have to confirm that it's Rylen." AJ replied in a bored tone.

"Whatever." Willow rolled her eyes. "Tell us everything!"

AJ began to explain how he found her in the food section and how they fought and bickered about which snack was better and which junk food was good for the body. Doesn't make sense I know but they argued and bickered anyway. Until they earned a few nasty looks from the shoppers around them. We laughed at her story.

"And then when I got back, I ran into Elizabeth near the sorority house. She said something and I screamed at her until she ran away." AJ giggled and ate more cookies.

Uh what?!! Oh hell no!!

"AJ why do you always run into her?"

"What? I didn't ask for it. She's everywhere. I've learnt to accept that but she has this poisonous hole on her face which just can't seem to stop spitting out shit and garbage!" Noah laughed at that while Willow and I just shook our heads at her.

"So that was my day. Now, your turns." She smiled widely. I guess she was happy that she chased Elizabeth away. And I know for sure a certain hottie was also interested in our AJ.

My best friend was in a good mood which was rare. Why would I want to spoil her day?

Willow looked at me and we quickly understood.

The drama that is my life could wait a few more days.

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Well, what do you think?

Why do you think Rylen is following AJ?

What should Cora do?

Share your thoughts 💭💭💭