Chapter 3 Chapter 3
MADDIE POV
Back in my dorm, the silence wasn't comforting-—it was deafening. I sat there, feeling the weight of the world pressing down on me. My face was soaked with tears, though I couldn't remember when the crying started. Maybe it began the moment I turned away from Jace and Lila, or maybe it had been lurking all along, coiled tight beneath my skin, just waiting for the right moment to break free. I curled up on the floor, knees pulled to my chest, rocking gently like a child who had lost everything... because I had.
My parents were gone-brutally taken from this world, and I hadn't even had the chance to say goodbye. That grief alone could've crushed me. But what gutted me, what truly shattered me into something I couldn't recognize, was the moment in Jace's dorm when neither he nor Lila flinched. Even after seeing me standing there, wide-eyed, heart crumbling right in front of them... they didn't stop. Lila's eyes met mine, cold and hollow, like two dark wells. Jace looked surprised, sure, but not ashamed. And then... they just kept going.
They didn't care.
I wasn't their friend anymore. I wasn't his girlfriend. I wasn't anything
Theo sat across from me, handing me tissue after tissue even though I wasn't using them. My sobs came in waves.
some
silent, others ugly and raw—and he didn't say much at first.
He just let me fall apart, like he was holding space for my shattered heart.
"I lost everything," I choked out, my voice barely above a whisper. "My mom. My dad. And tonight... my best friend.
My boyfriend. It's all gone, Theo. All of it."
His face twisted like he wanted to fix it, to punch something, to scream. But instead, he leaned forward, his voice soft as a gentle breeze. "You didn't deserve any of this, Maddie. And you're not alone."
I looked up at him, my eyes puffy and red, shaking like a leaf caught in a storm, desperate to believe that. He sighed, running a hand through his messy curls, a gesture that felt oddly comforting. "I didn't want to tell you earlier... but me and Aubrey? We broke up. Tonight."
"What?" I blinked at him through the haze of my own pain, struggling to process his words.
"She cheated," he muttered, his voice heavy with disappointment. "I found out right before I came to pick you up. With someone from her psych class." He let out a bitter laugh. "Ironic, huh? Both of us— betrayed by the people we trusted the most. Same night. Same damn hour, maybe."
Suddenly, a thought struck me, and before I could filter it, I blurted it out. "Did you ever know?"
"Huh?" He seemed genuinely shocked, his brow furrowing.
"Did you ever suspect Lila? She seemed to hide it so well," I emphasized, feeling a mix of anger and sadness bubbling up.
"Or was I just too blind?"
"None of that matters, Mads," he said gently, his eyes softening. "Yes, I did know. But I wanted her to open up to you herself. I didn't want to come in between the both of you.
I know how much it hurts, hearing this now, but I'm sorry."
Instead of feeling angry, I found an unexpected sense of peace wash over me. I nodded, curling up in my bed, shutting my eyes tight, hoping to drift off into oblivion, or even better-die.
---
The next two weeks were cruel in ways I hadn't known people could be. Grief was hard enough, but humiliation?
That was unbearable.
Somehow, Lila had found out about my parents' death-probably from Theo-and before I could even speak the words myself, she was already spinning them into rumors.
She told people my father had lost everything before he died.
That I was broke. That I wasn't worth the designer clothes I used to wear or the invitations I used to get. Apparently, money had been the only thing that made me tolerable.
And now that it was gone? So was everyone else.
Every class felt like walking into a pit of wolves. Snickers, stares, whispers. Some people didn't even bother hiding it.
My seat would be taken, my name left off group projects.
Girls who used to ask me for makeup tips now rolled their eyes when I walked by. Boys who once smiled at me now acted like I didn't exist.
Every time it got too loud, Theo stepped in—whether it was talking back, standing beside me, or dragging me out of a class I clearly wasn't welcome in. He did everything he could.
But even he couldn't shield me from the way it chipped at me, piece by piece. I stopped eating. I stopped sleeping. I didn't feel safe on a campus that once felt like home.
And then I made a decision.
I applied to transfer.
Most colleges turned me down. Apparently, my father's legal entanglements had made headlines in small academic circles, and no one wanted the daughter of a scandal. No one except
one.
Keane College.
Theo begged me not to go. He said we'd figure something out, that he'd help me through it all. But I was done surviving where I wasn't wanted. I didn't say goodbye. I didn't tell a soul— not even him. I just packed what I had left and walked out of that place like I hadn't left a part of myself behind.
Done
Keane College looked like something out of an old storybook
—tall stone buildings with ivy crawling up their sides, heavy wood doors, and iron fences that seemed to whisper secrets if you got too close. The air felt different there. Wilder. Sharper.
Like it knew who I was before I did.
I kept my head low, stuck to the shadows, and reminded myself of my only rule: lay low. Don't make noise. Don't make friends. Don't make enemies.
But life clearly had other plans.
It happened just outside the student center. A voice sharp, loud, female cut through the air like a whip.
"I told you it's not over, Calix!"
I paused, unsure if I should walk past or turn back. But then I saw him.
Calix Hawthorne.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, with the kind of presence that sucked the air from your lungs. His expression was cold, jaw clenched tight as he stared down a blonde girl I would later learn was Simone Hendrix. She looked unhinged. Beautiful, but bitter. Her voice rose again, filled with fire.
"You're not going to ignore me like this — especially not in front of her!"
Her?
It took me a second to realize she meant me.
Calix's gaze flicked to me briefly, just as I stopped in my tracks. My bad timing had clearly added fuel to Simone's fire.
Before I could react, she was in front of me eyes wild, hands shaking and then her palm cracked across my cheek.
Pain bloomed instantly. My head jerked to the side, and I staggered back, stunned. I tasted blood. My cheek throbbed, a fiery reminder of my new reality.
The old me would've fought back. No hesitation. No mercy.
But the new me? She remembered.
Lay low.
So I straightened slowly, blinking through tears and humiliation, and whispered, "I didn't mean to get in the way."
Simone smirked like she'd won, reveling in her small victory.
But then Calix was between us, his presence imposing. His tone was ice, sharp and unwavering. "Touch her again and I'll make sure you regret it."
Simone's face twisted, disbelief etched across her features.
"You're seriously defending her?"
"She didn't do anything," he said firmly, his gaze unwavering.
"You did. Now leave."
She stormed off, heels clicking furiously against the pavement, but I barely registered it. I was still trying to make sense of what had just happened. Calix turned to me, his sharp gaze softening slightly, as if he were seeing me for the first time.
"You okay?"
I nodded, even though I wasn't. "Yeah. It's fine."
"It's not," he said, his voice low and sincere. "Come on. You shouldn't be alone right now."
And I should've said no. I should've walked away like I promised myself I would
But something stopped me. Something just like a whisper. It was so faint, I almost thought I imagined it. But it wasn't in my head. It came from somewhere deeper. Somewhere not entirely mine.
Mate.