024

  Jenna Brooks's POV

  "Do you always have to close your eyes shut?" he whispered and I felt him pull away.

I slowly opened my eyes and he was now standing a few meters away from me, a smirk on his face. Why did he pretend like he was going to kiss me? Why did he get my hopes up?

"I…"

He cocked his eyesbrows as he stared down at me, "You didn't think I was going to kiss you, did you?"

My gaze shifted slightly as I nervously tried to avoid eye contact. Of course, I thought he was about to kiss me. Why else would he bring his lips so close to mine?

I let out an exaggerated "What," then told him I was used to closing my eyes whenever someone was too close to my face. I wasn't sure if he bought it because his face was too unreadable. With clammy palm, I held on to my script and bade him a quick 'good night.' before dashing off to my room.

************

  The following day, I tried to avoid Conrad because of what had happened last night. It was kind of embarrassing for me. That morning, I stayed in my bedroom until I knew he had already left for school on his bike. During lunch period, I stayed away from the cafeteria. I ate my lunch in the empty drama club room and spent the rest of the time practicing my lines.

Liam wasn't in school because of a football match and I didn't have any other friends to hang out with either. I was also the only one in the drama club room and I missed him at that moment. 

The door flung open and Lisa dashed in, clutching her phone in her hand. "Jenna, I've been looking all over for you." she said.

She walked up to the stage I was standing on, still clutching her phone tightly in her hand and that was when I knew something was wrong.

"Something bad happened, Jenna."

"What?"

"Did you also know that Olivia is working as a maid? The whole school is talking about it, Jenna. They're going wild on the school's group chat." she handed me her phone to see the comments and messages.

'I knew she was fake.'

  'She always acted so high and mighty but in reality, my driver is richer than her.' 

'She deceived us all. Shouldn't she be sued?'

'Where does she get all those expensive bags and shoes from? Is she stealing them from her employer? She's such an ingrate.'

'If I were her, I would never show my face in this school again.'

'She's so shameless. I'm pretty sure she gets all those expensive bags and shoes from her one night stands. She's a slut.'

'I once spotted her leaving a motel with an old man. She must be offering him sexual favors.'

'She doesn't deserve to be a student of Foxlane High. Someone like her would only taint the school's image and…'

I felt a lump come to my throat. I couldn't read any more of the mean comments. My heart clenched at the thought of what Olivia might be going through and also who leaked the information. 

"I need to find her," I dropped my script and raced out of the club room. When I got to the class, Olivia was busy parking some of her stuffs into her bag in a haste. Was she leaving because of other people'sjudgment of her? She didn't need to feel bad, everyone else was supposed to apologize to her for suddenly stereotyping her because she tried to survive in high school. 

I held her wrist to stop her from parking any more stuffs but she roughly yanked my hand off and I fell to the floor on my butt and then my side. 

I was now on the floor and the whole class was now staring down at me, including Olivia. Her fists were clenched and her nose flared up.

"This is all your fault, Jenna!" she screamed and pushed the desk behind her so hard that it's legs scraped against the black linoleum flooring with a shriek that made me wince. 

"If you hadn't come into my life, all this wouldn't have happened. I should never have trusted you, Jenna. You're a terrible friend. A really terrible friend. I wouldn't wish for my enemy to have you as a friend. You're so unlucky and you bring bad luck to everyone. I know you did all this and you're happy to see me like this, heartbroken and hated by everyone. I hate you, Jenna. I hate you." she grabbed her bag and stormed out of the classroom.

I was still on the floor as tears threatened to trickle down my face. I sniffed and buried my face in my palms. I had never felt this shaken to the extent of not being able to stand up. Everyone else just stared down at me which made the situation a lot more worse for me until I couldn't control the sobs anymore.

I heard someone stop beside me but I didn't look up, what was the point? 

"Don't cry, Jenna." that masculine voice whispered as he dropped down beside me and pulled me up.