I walked around and outside the school, finding any signs of that asshole but I wasn't able to. I walked back inside the school and entered my first classroom. There I saw Cole and a girl I never met before, sitting on my seat.

I approached them and Cole, who I expected to look at me with judging eyes, still looked at me with the same expression before standing up to offer me his seat.

"You can seat here, I'd tell the custodian to bring another chair later," he says and I just look at him with surprise.

He could've heard about the scandal by now but why isn't he talking about it?

"That's your seat, just stay there," I say, glancing at the girl who was sitting on mine.

She doesn't seem to notice my statement and just smiles at me. I looked away from her just so that I won't accidentally roll my eyes at her.

"No, really, just take it," he says, before grabbing me by my waist and seating me on his seat.

"I can't seem to win an argument with you," I comment.

"Thank you," he says and I just roll my eyes at him as he laughs.

He pats me on the head and plays with my hair as he sits on the desk.

"You guys are adorable," the girl says, resting her chin on her palm.

We both shoot her a look.

"I think she's the only one adorable between us," Cole says right away, leaning in to squeeze my cheeks and placing his head next to me.

"I suppose she is actually really pretty," the girl continues to talk.

I remove Cole's hands away from me as I shoot him a 'who is this girl' look.

"I'm Eliza," she says as if she heard my question. "You can call me Liza if it's too long," she adds before offering her hand.

"Amelia," I say, shaking her hand with no enthusiasm at all.

"Come to think of it, I think your face is familiar," she mentions as I pull away my hand.

"Maybe you met her sister," Cole interferes as my whole body goes rigid.

"Oh, you have a sister?" she asks, her eyes shining.

"Y-yeah," I stammer.

"But," she says, scratching her head innocently. "I think I saw you in a recent video."

I was finally relieved that the sister subject dropped but then she had to mention the video. I looked at Cole who looked just as frozen as I am and that's when I knew right away.

Cole knew about it but decided to just keep silent.

For that split second, I wanted to kiss him for being the kind man he is but then at the same time I wanted to slap him for not becoming honest with me.

"Oh, I remember now! It was a video of you naked, doing a blow—"

I covered her mouth as people around us watch whatever's going on. Eliza's voice was loud enough for everyone to hear after all.

"S-sorry!" she says, her voice muffled against my palm.

I remove my hand away from her mouth before standing up and leaving the classroom. Cole rushes to follow me.

I went inside and went to the parking lot before finally stumbling down on the ground, crying.

"Amelia!" Cole calls out, kneeling beside me.

"F-fuck that A-Avery," I say through gritted teeth.

"Is he the one behind it?" he says and I just nod my head slowly.

"I'm pretty sure," I say and he just kept silent.

"Let's go to my car," he says before helping me stand up.

We walk silently to his car and went inside without any sound coming out from our mouths.

"Was it really you?" he asks after a few moments of silence.

I didn't know what to tell him. I didn't want to talk about Chelsea. I didn't want him to know anything about her at all.

"N-no," I just say. Wiping my eyes with the back of my hands.

"I knew right away," he softly says and I just look at him. "Who is it then?"

I kept silent, looking away, and burying my face against my palm.

"Never mind," he says before pulling me. "Come here," he says patting on his lap.

I climbed on his lap absent-mindedly and buried my face against his shoulder as he wraps his arms around my waist.

"I'm going to beat Avery's ass for you, so stop crying, okay?" he says, hugging me tightly.

"You don't have to," I say and that's when my anxiety kicked in.

Why am I sitting on Cole's lap?

I'm not supposed to do this shit.

"I think I'm going home," I say, getting off him.

"What do you mean?" he says trying to reach me as I get out through the door of the passenger seat.

"I need some alone time," I say before closing the door against him.

He immediately got out of the car and tried to follow me.

"Are you actually walking home?" he asks, jogging to catch up with me.

"Yes, now leave me alone, won't you?" I say, walking as fast as I can.

"What? I'll drive you home, come on!" he says, grabbing my hand.

I removed it away and stared at him with furious eyes. He backs away a little, looking at me straight at my eyes.

"A-Amelia," he says.

I can feel his eyes soften and his body tremble.

"I just can't take any more of these shits happening," I say with a surprisingly firm voice even though I could feel the dam inside me filling up.

"I just want to help you, Amelia," Cole says with a soothing voice and I knew right away that my heart was about to accept him but on the other hand my brain didn't.

"I better go. Please stay away from me," I say as if it's a warning.

I walk away and I felt Cole walk after me.

"Leave me alone!" I shout, turning around abruptly.

Cole looked at me with the most hurt expression I've seen ever. I wanted to take back what I just said but at the same time, I know that if I didn't do that, he'd continue to chase after me and I wouldn't be able to live without him anymore.

I know that this is for the best. If I cut my ties with Cole, maybe I'll no longer feel the fake happiness I'm feeling ever since I met him.

He might have brought happiness but I know that it would only be temporary for nothing is permanent in this world.

"Okay. I'm sorry," he says before turning around to leave. "But," he says as he turns around. "Don't expect me to stop caring for you."

He walks away casually as if nothing happened and that's when I felt my tears coming out of my eyes.

I can hear my heart say to chase after him. But I can hear my brain say that this is for the best.

I found my heart and brain debating. I can feel how much my heart yearns for Cole when he's only a hundred meters away. But I can also feel my brain say that things would become better this way. After all, ever since Chelsea died, I was supposed to suffer throughout my whole life.

That's why I ended up siding up with the wrong one, my brain.

And that's when I knew right away that I made the worst mistake ever.