"You were the last person I slept with before I found out?!"
The words echoed with a raw desperation that cut through the low roar of the crowded hallway. Emma stopped at her locker between classes, her hand on the cold metal. Apparently her and Blake's relationship wasn't the only thing that developed over the summer. She had just finished opening her locker when she heard the yelling. Emma turned her head, watching Reina jab a trembling finger at Chan's chest.
"I tried to call and text you after I found out, ad you completely ghosted me! For fucking real, Chan?!"
He pushed her hand out of the way with a casual flick of his wrist, whispering something that made a lazy grin spread across his face. Whatever he said only made Reina angrier, causing him to take a step back and hold his hands up in a dismissive gesture.
"I will not calm down, and the reason I'm confronting you here at school is because this is the only place I knew you had to actually show up to. I tried to come to your house, but you wouldn't even open the door for me. I'm pregnant, and you're acting like you don't give a fuck!"
Emma's eyes widened, her books clutched in her hands. Sure, she hated Reina, but she wasn't heartless. Hearing that Reina was pregnant was a genuine shock. A small crowd of students had already formed a tight circle around them, their faces a mix of giddiness and surprise. Most of them held up their phones, ready to record everything.
Chan was a truly awful person. All he did was grin and shrug, his smug demeanor unchanging. "How can you be sure I'm the one who got you pregnant? Don't you fuck half the football team?"
The cruelty in his voice was met with a sickening eruption of laughter from the crowd, a sound that made Emma's stomach turn.
His teammates laughed behind him, patting him on the back as if he'd just delivered a punchline. Reina’s mouth opened and closed, completely speechless, her face contorting with humiliation. Tears welled up in her red-rimmed eyes and began to roll down her cheeks. Emma had never seen Reina cry before, not even when they were little kids growing up.
This was too much. No one deserved this, to be publicly humiliated this way. It took two people to get someone pregnant, after all, and public slut-shaming was completely messed up, especially on the first day of school.
Emma slammed her locker closed, the sound echoing in the tense air. Her books were held so tightly to her chest that her knuckles were white.
She wanted to say something, to make this end now. She took a step forward, ready to intervene, but then a memory flashed in her mind: Reina's sneering face, the cruel words she used, the way she had made Emma feel small and invisible for years. Emma stopped herself, physically recoiling from the crowd. She wasn't willing to put herself on the line for someone like Reina.
Licking her lips, she turned and walked the opposite direction, into a nearby open classroom. A teacher was sitting at her desk, checking her phone, and looked up as Emma rushed inside. "Help! This guy hit a female student in the hallway. People are even recording, please hurry!" Emma said in a rushed voice, the lie feeling heavy on her tongue.
The teacher's eyes widened. She stood up and rushed out the door. Emma smiled softly, following a few feet behind so she wouldn't be blamed for calling on her.
The teacher marched quickly through the crowd until she was in the center. Her authoritative voice cut through the remaining murmurs as other teachers, alerted by the commotion, began confiscating phones.
"What is all this, young man?! I heard you hit her," the teacher said, facing Chan. His smug expression instantly vanished, and his eyes widened as he shook his head furiously.
She turned to look down at a now-sobbing Reina. "Did he hit you?"
Reina wiped her eyes, looking around the dispersing crowd. Her eyes, red and swollen, finally met Emma's across the chaos. Emma held her books tightly to her chest and gave a slight, subtle nod, a silent message passing between the two of them.
"Yes," Reina whispered weakly before meeting the teacher's eyes again.
Chan glared at Reina. "You liar! I didn't fucking hit you!" he yelled, full of rage.
The teacher faced him again. "We'll just see about that. I can't believe this is happening on the first day back. I'll be escorting you both to the principal's office now."
She turned, leading them away just as the bell went off. Emma turned and rushed toward her next class before the late bell. Reina turned her head as she was being led away, watching Emma rush down the hallway, one thought on her mind.
"Why would she help me?" Reina whispered her thought aloud.
YOU ARE READING
It Started With Hello
Romance***** Emma Pear knew she wasn't the most popular girl in high school. Her nose was usually buried in a textbook, and her grades were as spotless as her reputation for always following the rules. "Nerd" was a label she'd long since embraced. Her pare...
