My brothers best friend

Chapter 7: Echoes of the Past

Chapter 7

Valerie's Point of View

I had to get out of there. I couldn't stay, not for a second longer. Every moment I lingered in that room, the weight of their eyes on me, the tension in the air—it was like I was suffocating. Being there would have been like a slow death by words, the kind of death that felt worse than physical pain.

I knew Mason and Jake would demand answers. They would pressure me to reveal which guys Cass had mentioned, and there was no way in hell I was going to give them that satisfaction. I wasn't their pawn, not anymore.

But what had really gotten to me was the way Jake looked at me. It made my stomach churn. How dare he look at me like I had done something wrong? Like I was the problem, like he had any reason to be mad at me? Sure, maybe I am reading too much into it—maybe his gaze hadn't been filled with anything more than a fleeting thought—but I swore I saw the anger in his eyes, the tension in his jaw. 

Just as I was spiraling, lost in my own frustration, a voice cut through the chaos of my thoughts.

"Hey girl, love your style!"

I looked up and saw a guy walking toward me from across the street. He was tall, his blond hair gleaming in the sunlight, a warm smile playing on his lips. He had a laid-back energy that reminded me of the people I could always quite connect with at parties.

"Oh, thanks," I replied, my voice a little quieter than I meant. I wasn't exactly sure why I was caught off guard. This had happened before—people calling out to me, noticing me in the streets, even paparazzi catching a glimpse. But for some reason, this felt... different. Maybe it was the sincerity in his voice. Maybe it was the way he wasn't looking at me like I was some famous figure.

"No worries, honey, I'm Jacob," he said with a grin, flashing a dimple on his right cheek. He was cute, definitely, and his confidence made him easy to talk to. I smiled back, a little caught up in the moment.

"I'm Valerie," I replied, feeling the warmth of his presence.

"Wait—do you go to California University?" His eyes widened, his voice rising with excitement.

I nodded, surprised by the intensity of his reaction. "Yeah, I do. Are you going there too?"

"No way! Yes, girl!" He practically squealed with excitement. "This is amazing! We're already matching—just look at us!" He gestured to our outfits. I was wearing white, low-waisted pants with a gray sweater and a brown bag, and he was rocking similar white jeans and a gray sweatshirt. We were twinning.

A smile crept onto my face. Jacob was adorable. "I guess we are," I said.

His enthusiasm was contagious, and before I knew it, we were deep in conversation. Jacob was friendly, down-to-earth, and completely uninterested in my fame. It felt so refreshing to talk to someone who just saw me as a person and not some public figure to gawk at. We exchanged numbers, just in case we didn't end up in the same classes.

When I got back to my dorm, no one was home. The texts from Viktoria and Cass made it clear where they were—at some party that my brother and my friends kept from me. Alrigt, maybe I did get a text from Viktoria asking if it was okay, she was going and if I wanted to come with it, but I didn't want to create drama, so I just answered with a no.  

I pulled out my phone and scrolled through Instagram to kill time, only to come across a photo that made my chest tighten with injustice. Viktoria had posted a picture of herself, Connor, and Mason. Of course, Connor was kissing her on the cheek, his arm around her waist, while Mason stood next to them, his goofy smile spreading across his face.