Kora

"I still can't believe he did that to you, and in front of all those people."

I was barely paying any attention to Grace's words. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I had forgotten we were on our way to the football field, as a matter of fact, we were there already. Don't blame me, I had a lot to think about. A lot about Jeremiah. Something didn't just feel right, something about what happened during math class didn't feel right, and I just couldn't point my finger on it.

"Thank God I wasn't there to witness what happened. I don't know what I'd have done to him if I was. Can you imagine? How could he be so ruthless? I always knew he was going to do something like this eventually. I just wished he had the decency to at least not be so loud about it."

We got to the front bench. I dropped my gym bag first, and then Grace followed, taking a quick look around the bleachers. I was looking for him. He usually sat at the fifth row towards my right- I froze the moment my eyes met his. Jeremiah's. Just like I had expected him too, just like I had hoped he did. He was sitting right there with his eyes glued on me. I could count about six members of old money sitting right around him. Gosh, he looked so cool sitting right in the middle of them, in his jersey, with his racket on his thighs. I could hear his friends laugh amongst themselves, but he just had his eyes on me, and it made me really nervous. I could feel a chill pass through me. How could he still look at me, after what he did? Why did I even care?! He slowly looked away, and then turned to his friends. I watched him laugh along with them as they told him whatever it was that amused them. I sneered, tucking the strands of my long straight weave behind my ears.

"Look at him," Grace continued. "Look at all of them. Demons. I feel like ripping them all apart with my bare hands."

I smiled.

It felt so good that Grace was at least trying to cheer me up. It looked like she was even more upset than I was, and her jokes were to die for.

"Look on the bright side, it was never going to work between you two. It's a good thing that we know his true intentions now that he showed his real colors, before you went in too deep. At least now, everyone would let you breathe." She gave me a soft tap on my arm. I slowly raised my head back to him. He was still talking to his friends. He looked so comfortable, so happy too. Was it true? Was it real? Was this really him? Did he really take advantage of me all along? But what for?

Why did he have to go through all that for me, just to turn his back on me now? To what end were all the sacrifices that he made? Fighting with Charles? Something was definitely not right. I could feel it in my heart. I slowly turned to Grace, and the rest of the girls. It was our class' turn to play hand ball. The girls anyway. I'd really have preferred not to join in, because sports wasn't really my thing, but Grace had pulled me all the way to the field, and now I just had to play, so everyone didn't think I was a snob, or that I felt that I was bigger or better than them.

I knew my team, even without anyone pointing me to it. Besides, it was pretty clear what team Grace and I belonged to, since only Old money and just a few from young money were playing team A. I took my place with my team, right across team A, coincidentally standing in front of Oma, close enough to see her glare at me. In as much as I tried all I could to avoid eye contact with her and just mind my business, I couldn't shake off the feeling that she was always watching me, staring hard enough to dig a hole through my forehead. Someone threw the ball at us. The game had started.

The game of handball was quite easy. That was why I ever played it. Apparently all I had to do was just, you know, catch the ball or wait for it it get to me. I mean, everyone loved to show how good they were at sports, especially since the entire boys in old money were watching. You should have seen the girls in the shortest shorts ever, taking postures that highlighted their curves and butts, just to gain the attention of the boys on the bleachers, and they seemed to be watching them.

It was obvious they were really entertained. Ever since Old money was merged temporarily with the rest of the school, since their building was under some kind of development, all the girls in NAUN always wanted to show off. I mean, it'd be fun to get a member of old money hook up with you, or even fall in love with you before everyone got separated again, and it was hard to even catch a glimpse of them. He was watching too, him, Jeremiah but I didn't know who he was watching. Me? Oma? Or everyone else. Somehow, I wanted to show off too. In my mum's words, "show him what he missed." God, I could not believe I was actually quoting my mother. Focus Kora, I bent my knees a little bit, trying to keep my eyes on the ball. You need to focus-

"Kora watch out!"

Grace called my attention to the ball flying in my direction. Too late. It hit my face so hard, even before I got the chance to dodge it. Ouch. It felt like I had lost an eye with the way I was hurt. Was it supposed to hurt that much?

I stood straight just so I could check myself. I needed to be sure I was okay. I could feel blood in my nose. Someone blew the whistle.

"Kora!" Grace ran to me as fast as she could, while I just stood there, trying to stop my nose from bleeding. Whoever it was that threw that ball had to really be strong. "Are you okay?"

I turned a little bit just so I could have a look at the rest of them. I could see some of the girls, smirking amongst themselves in front of me. What was that? Had someone hit me intentionally with the ball? Was I the target? I scoffed. Unbelievable. Of course I should have known this was why they wanted me to be a part of the game so badly. They wanted to make a fool out of me, in front of everyone. In front of old money.

"Kora, I'm really sorry. I didn't know you were in the way." one of the girls called me. "Are you okay?" She wasn't even trying to hide the wry smile on her face.

What should I do? Should I call her out, or should I just ignore her and continue with the game? I really didn't want to cause a scene. I mean, that was what they wanted, wasn't it? To make me so upset to want to give up on the game. I couldn't give them that satisfaction of knowing that they actually won.

I forced a smile on my face, right after I took a deep breath.

"I'm fine." I waved my hands in the air as I made my announcement. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Grace asked me. "Do you want to take a break?"

"But the game just started." I told her. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

I turned around to the rest of the team, taking my position and stretching my hands towards the ball, I could tell he was watching me from where he sat. They were all watching. I wasn't weak. I had to show them that I wasn't weak at all.

Someone threw the ball, and then the game started again. I tried so hard to stay out of the balls' way, but I also tried to at least make myself useful to my team and grab the ball. I did, once, when someone threw the ball so hard at me that it first hit my chest before I caught it, and then I threw it back, and then they threw it back at us. Someone from my group caught it and before I could turn to see who it was, she threw the ball at me again, harder than the first time. It hit me on my face, yet again. God, what was wrong with all of them? This time, I didn't try to pick the ball, I watched it fall because I was hurt in a lot of places, not just my face.

"Oops." I heard her say, even before I had summoned the energy to turn to her. "I forgot I was supposed to throw the ball in the opposite direction."

I scoffed. The first and second time, I could tolerate those times because they came from the opposing team, so it kind of looked like it was unintentional, but this time, this time it was obvious that this was team work, and I was the opposing team. I swallowed hard, and could feel a sharp pain on my throat, where the ball had hit me earlier.

"It's just a game!" Oma yelled from where she stood. I slowly turned to her. "Accidents happen during a game. It's never that deep, just let it go and pass the ball."

Was she serious? Did she really think I was stupid to not notice that this was her idea?

"Come on Kora," one of her friends said. "Pass the ball."

You have to hold it in Kora. I kept on telling myself. Don't give them what they want. I was definitely going to ignore them, but I was done playing their stupid game. I was done with the game. I turned to leave. I had to get changed, but for some reason, my eyes drew to the bleachers. To him. He had his eyes on me, and I couldn't even tell if he was looking at me that way because he felt sorry for me, or because he liked what was happening to me. He must have had a good laugh watching them treat me like that. I scoffed. What was I even expecting?

I looked away quickly.

I was done playing all their games. I took a step to my bag, then I tripped on someone's foot. Yes, someone had also intentionally placed her foot in my way. I fell to the ground in such a hurry, and with such a loud thud, bruising my knee in the process. I had felt that I had hurt myself, even before Grace ran to help me up, pushing the girl that owned the foot that fell me down out of the way, and calling her out for what she did. I had to let Grace help me, even though I knew I could stand up on my own.

"It's okay." I had to make it look like it wasn't that much of a big deal. I tried to dust myself off, while Grace was trying to help me.

"You're hurt." She noticed how my knee was bleeding. "I can't believe they'd do this to you."

"Don't react." I whispered to her, as I started to notice everyone was walking towards me now. "It's what they want. Don't get mad." I had to make her understand. I hoped she did.

"Well, well, well." I could hear one of the girls say, as they all gathered around us. "It looks like you're actually useless at everything. You can't even play a sport as easy as handball."

"I guess the rumors are true then. The only thing you know how to do is throw yourself at people, and then accuse them of rape, or threaten to accuse them of rape if they didn't pay you to keep your mouth shut."

What? What did they just say? I glared at the girl talking.

"You're so shameless. I can't believe someone like you was let to school here. Someone like you gets to walk with her head up high, after trying to destroy someone's life."

"I always wondered why Charles was never around. Why he was never home. I had no idea that it was you and that parasite mother of yours that made him run away from his own country." Another one said. "And you dare make members of Old money fight him on your behalf? You dare deceive them into fighting for you? You really have no shame."

"W-what are you even-" I started to talk now, because I was hurt by the words they were saying. I didn't understand. I couldn't understand. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes. "Who said that?" I asked them. "Who is spreading such false rumors about me?!"

One of them scoffed right before she kicked me on my leg.

"How dare you raise your voice at us?" She asked me. "How dare a mere thief like you-"

"A thief?" I asked them as the tears in my eyes got worse. "Who is spreading those rumors. How dare they? How dare they lie about something so sensitive? How dare they accuse me of this?!"

"You must think we are stupid." Oma stepped forward. "It's all over the school's website, and all social media platforms." She folded her arms. "Everyone knows what you did to Charles and his family. How you blackmailed them for thirty two million-"

"That's not true!"

"But it is. Your mother and you tried to threaten him and that was why he left."

"That's not true, my mother and I didn't threaten anyone. If there was anyone that was hurt or threatened, it was us. We are the victims, and not them."

She scoffed.

"Liar."

"Liar?" Grace asked her. "How dare you call someone a liar without knowing the real story? Without hearing from both sides!"

"Why do we need to hear her story?" One of Oma's friends asked. "Everyone knows the kind of person that she is. We know she likes to take things that aren't hers, so why do we need to listen to anything she has to say?" She turned to me. "Lying about getting raped is one thing, a big laugh to those that have actually been sexually assaulted. You have no idea what it feels like to be a victim, and then you lied and tried to ruin someone else's life because of it. What kind of a shameless person are you?"

I held my breath. It was useless. It was useless trying to defend myself, because it looked like they already had their minds made up. I sobbed.

"Thank goodness Jerry saw the light." Another girl said. "He was able to leave you before you entangled him in your messy life. I can't believe he ever kissed someone like you."

"That's enough." My voice broke, even though I was talking in a whisper now. I could barely even speak. My tears and sobs were clouding my senses.

"Aww. Now she's going to cry." Someone else said. "Can someone please give her a towel."

"Is this funny to you?" Grace asked her. "Does this look like it's a joke?"

The girl scoffed.

"What's your problem?"

"How can you all make fun out of something like this? How can you all be so heartless?" Her voice broke. I could tell she was just as heartbroken as I was. She slowly turned to me. "Come on Kora." She grabbed my arm, and then tried to help me up. "Let's just leave this place."

It was so hard. It was so hard getting myself together after hearing all those sad things. After watching all of them make fun of me, and say those horrible things to me. I had never felt so cold, so scared and so ashamed of myself. I sniffed, the moment a drop of tear fell from my face. I couldn't hold it in anymore, and then another one. I waited for the third one to land on my thighs, just as the first two did, but something happened. They fell on a hand instead. A masculine hand that looked really familiar. I stared at it for a short second, the rest of the tears in my eyes taking a quick pause, as I raised my head just so I could confirm it was him. So I could confirm it was Luke. I sniffed the moment I saw his bright eyes look right into mine.

"Come on." He tried to smile a little bit, stretching his hand even further. "Let's get you out of here."

"L-Luke." I whispered his name.

I could tell how he exhaled after he got tired of waiting, and then he bent over to grab my arms, just so he could help me stand properly. I let him. I needed to leave that place anyway. I just couldn't face all those people anymore. I limped right before I turned back to the bleachers. I could still see him. How could he just sit there like that and watch them do that to me? Why? How could he? Yet again Kora, you let yourself get fooled yet again. You let your expectations run high. I watched him get up from one of the chairs quickly, and then turn to leave. So now he was leaving? He was just going to leave right after watching his fiancée treat me like that? Why did he even come anyway? Why did he have to come all the way to watch all of that. To watch them treat me like that? Did he plan this? Did he plan this with Charles? Was this the plan all along? To make me trust him, just so he could humiliate me again?

"Can you walk?" I slowly turned back to Luke.

"W-what?"

He turned around slowly, and then bent a little bit in front of me, curving his back in an arc. He wanted me to get on his back.

"Go on." Grace encouraged me. "It looks like you sprained your knee."

I turned to look at the crowd. They all had their eyes on me, and then I slowly turned back to Luke. It wasn't the first time anyway. It wasn't the first time I was going to be on his back, besides, the faster I was away from all those hating and judging eyes, the better it was going to make me feel. I slowly got on his back, trying not to ruin his perfectly ironed uniform, and turned my face around, biting on my lower lip hard to stop myself from crying out loud, while I buried my face on his shirt. I could hear the girls laugh from behind us, the moment Luke started to walk. He was walking as fast as he could. It was like he could read me. Like he knew I wanted to be out of that place so fast. He knew I wanted to run away.

He knew me.