Chapter 76 CHAPTER 76

Chapter 76 CHAPTER 76
CELIA'S POV

I sat on the edge of my bed, still pretending to wince while the girls fussed over me. My side didn’t even hurt that much from the fake fall, but I kept rubbing it like Krystal had really done damage. The three of them hovered around me, voices loud and angry.

Krystal’s face twisted with pure rage. Her hands clenched into fists so tight her knuckles went white. “You lying bitch!” she screamed, lunging at me again. “I’ll kill you for this!”

She came straight for me, nails out like she wanted to claw my eyes. My heart jumped, but I didn’t move. The girls jumped in fast. Two of them grabbed her arms, yanking her back hard.

“Whoa, back off!” one girl shouted, shoving Krystal toward the door. “You’re not touching her again!”

The third girl stood in front of me like a shield. “Stop it, Krystal! We saw what you did. You’re the one who’s violent here!”

Krystal thrashed against their hold, eyes wild on me. “She set me up! She’s the one who—”

“Save it,” the first girl snapped, dragging her toward the hallway. “We’re reporting you to the school committee. Bullying and violence against your roommate? That’s it for you.”

They hauled her out the door, Krystal still yelling curses at me the whole way. “This isn’t over, Celia! You’ll pay!”

The door slammed behind them. The room went quiet except for my own breathing. I sat there, cheeks warm, a slow smile creeping across my lips. I couldn’t help it. Everything had flipped so fast I felt dizzy.

The girls came back in, shaking their heads. “You okay, Celia?” one asked, sitting beside me and gently touching my arm. “We’ll make sure she gets punished. No one should treat you like that.”

I nodded, acting a little shaky. “Yeah… thanks. I didn’t expect her to come at me again.”

Inside, my mind was spinning. I was most impressed at how fast the sides switched. I’d only been back at school for like five minutes and suddenly everyone was on my side. The same girls who used to laugh when the brothers bullied me or when Krystal spread rumors about me were now protecting me like I was their best friend.

It hit me then. This was because I came with the brothers. They saw me get out of the car with all five of them. The Hale brothers. The kings of this academy. Popular, powerful, scary. And now they were acting like I belonged to them. That changed everything. People didn’t want to mess with me anymore. Not when the brothers were watching.

I guessed they didn’t care about Krystal anymore. Not after the sex videos, not after she got caught naked with those boys and the guard at the wedding. She’d done too many questionable things. Slept around, tried to trap Xavier with a fake baby, played the victim one too many times. Now she was the school slut. The joke. And I was the one walking in with the Hale brothers like some kind of queen.

A little thrill ran through me. Hot and dark. I felt powerful. Wanted. Even after everything they did to me, the brothers’ attention was doing this. Making people respect me. Fear me a little. It made my skin tingle in that same way their stares did in the car—warm, teasing, dangerous.

I stood up slow, brushing off my clothes. “I’m fine, really. Thanks for helping.”

The girls smiled at me, one of them squeezing my shoulder. “Anytime. You don’t deserve her crap. Especially after you came back with the brothers. They’ve got your back now, right?”

I just nodded, keeping my face calm even though my heart was racing. Yeah. They did. And that thought made heat pool low in my belly again. I hated how much I liked it. Hated how their protection felt good after all the pain.

They left the room, promising to handle the report. I sat back down on my bed, alone now, staring at the empty side where Krystal’s stuff still sat. My lips curved into a small, evil little smile.

I stood up, wiped my face like I was still shaken, and slipped out of the room. I needed to know more. Krystal’s little group of friends had been whispering in the hallway earlier. I followed them quietly down to the girls’ restroom at the end of the dorm block. My steps were soft. I pushed the door open just enough to slip inside and hid in the last stall, door cracked so I could hear.

Their voices echoed off the tiles.

“Did you see Krystal’s face? She looked ready to kill Celia,” one girl said, laughing meanly.

Another voice, sharper. “She deserves it. Krystal’s been feeding the brothers all that crap about Celia for months. Telling Xavier that Celia was trying to steal him, telling Jasper that she was a weak little whore who’d ruin their reputation. All lies just so they’d hate her more.”

My stomach twisted. I pressed my back against the stall wall, listening harder.

“Yeah,” the first girl added. “Krystal said Celia was spreading rumors about them, that she was sleeping around to get attention. She made sure the brothers saw every fake text and photo. All so they’d bully her harder. And now look—Krystal’s the one getting dragged out like trash while Celia walks in with all five of them.”

They laughed again, but it sounded nervous.

“She’s screwed now. The videos are everywhere. Everyone knows she was fucking that guard while pretending to carry Xavier’s baby. Her own fault for being so sloppy.”

I stood there, fists clenched, cheeks burning. So Krystal had been instigating the brothers the whole time. Whispering poison in their ears, making them hate me even more. All those times they pushed me, laughed at me, almost killed me—it wasn’t just them being assholes. She fed the fire.

I didn’t do anything wrong. Not really. I just fought back. And now I wanted Krystal’s friends to enjoy the same mess she was in. They helped her. They spread the rumors with her. They laughed when I got hurt. Time for them to feel it too.

I took a deep breath, pushed the stall door open, and stepped out. My heart pounded but I kept my face calm. They turned fast when they saw me, eyes wide.

“Celia?” one of them hissed. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

I smiled sweet, tilting my head. “Just washing my hands. Heard you talking about Krystal. Sounds like you all had fun helping her lie to the brothers.”

The tallest one stepped forward, face red. “You ruined her! Those videos—you did that, didn’t you? You’re the reason everyone’s calling her a slut!”

I shrugged, voice low and teasing. “Maybe. Or maybe she did it to herself. Spreading her legs for the guard while trying to trap Xavier? That’s on her. You girls helped spread all her lies about me. So enjoy the show. Karma’s a bitch, right?”

They looked at each other, then back at me. I knew what was coming. I braced myself, knowing they’d attack me for what I did to Krystal.

The slap came fast and hard across my cheek. My head snapped to the side, stinging hot.