Chapter 46 Photos, fallouts, and the one who walked away
Chapter 46: Photos, Fallouts, and the One Who Walked Away
Sunday morning ushered in a burst of sunlight, melting away the cold of the previous days.
Florida the Sunshine State was leaving up to it's full glory.
Golden and Alex sat crossed legged on the rug in the gaming room with empty wraps of snacks scattered about on the the floor.
On the big screen were the pictures Fab had sent the previous night.
“Okay, next slide,” Alex said, remote in hand, already bracing herself.
Golden snorted when the next pair appeared.
First photo: Fab hugging Golden tightly, pecking her cheek while she beamed.
Second photo: Fab hugging Alex, who looked one millisecond away from snapping his spine in half.
“Oh my God,” Golden laughed. “Look at your face!”
“That is the face of a woman enduring trauma,” Alex said dryly. “Move on.”
Another pair: Golden and Fab dancing. He leaned in to whisper something that made her smile with blinding warmth.
Then another, Fab and Alex on the same dance floor, facing each other like assassins negotiating a ceasefire.
“You two look like you’re plotting to kill each other,” Golden said.
“Good. At least the camera caught the truth.”
They kept scrolling. Fab bowing dramatically to ask Golden for a dance, Golden curtsying playfully…
Then Alex in the background, rolling her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn’t fall out.
Golden was wiping tears of laughter from her face when she noticed Varney in the corner of the room, studying his own phone.
“V?” she called.
He didn’t hear. Or pretended not to. His eyes stayed glued to something on the screen, soft, quiet, unreadable.
Golden exchanged a glance with Alex. Curious, she tip-toed behind him, Alex following reluctantly and peeked over his shoulder.
The photos were all of Alex.
One of her, Golden, and Fab talking together while Varney stared at Alex across the room mid-conversation with Master Lawrence.
Another of the exact moment Varney asked Alex to dance, her expression murderous, his unreadable.
Then the last one, Alex dancing with that random guy. Varney watching her with something too gentle, too longing, too unguarded.
Golden’s breath caught. Alex’s mouth fell open. Varney calmly locked his phone.
“Done snooping?” he asked without turning.
Alex straightened. “I wasn’t snooping. She was snooping. I was supervising.”
Golden punched her lightly. “Coward.”
Alex shrugged and went back to her place on the rug looking unbothered.
By Midday while chilling by the pool, their phones dinged almost at the same time.
Fab's banquet photos had leaked online.
Only photos of him and Golden had been published online. It seemed deliberate.
Then as if on cue, a message dropped in their group chat
Fab: “Who's ready to catch a Rat?”
Alex blinked. “Oh… he did that on purpose.”
Golden nodded. “He wants someone to react.”
“And someone will,” Alex muttered.
Varney joined them, hands in his pockets. “Let him. He means well.”
Golden searched her brother’s face. He wasn’t threatened. Not even annoyed. Just quietly permitting.
Varney was strange like that, soft where the world expected steel.
Linda in her room dying of boredom suddenly sat up straight on her bed a wide wicked grin on her face.
She had just stumbled on Fab's photos and quickly saved all the photos.
She had a premonition that the photos would be pulled down if she didn't act fast.
She was right because 5 minutes later, the photos were gone.
“Gotcha!” she said with a wicked grin as the wheels in her evil head began to spin...
Monday afternoon. Calculus had drained the souls out of the entire class. Students looked like zombies resurrected for academic torture.
Golden sat with Alex and Fab, flipping lazily through her notes.
Linda stood up from her seat with a dramatic stretch, voice loud enough to command attention.
“Look alive people, I've got juicy gossip to share”
“It seems,” she said sweetly, “that Fatty Nixon finally found herself a boyfriend.”
Snickers rippled across the room.
Golden didn’t look up. Not even once.
Alex raised her brow. Fab rolled his eyes.
But Golden?
She turned to Alex and asked, “You done with the integration notes?”
Linda’s smug smile faltered. Not the reaction she wanted but...
Clara perked up. “What boyfriend? What are you talking about?”
Linda stared at Golden with a cryptic smile. “Should I tell them or would you?”
Golden still ignored her like she was a moron putting on a one woman show.
“Oh let's see how tough you are after this?” Linda muttered under her breathe as she sent some photos to the class group chat.
Phones buzzed around the room.
Students gasped.
Someone choked.
Another whistled.
Golden opened the picture slowly.
Linda had photoshopped the dance-floor photo, turning Fab whispering into something that looked like a kiss.
“Wow,” Alex said. “The Photoshop is as cheap as her soul.”
Linda gave a sinister and somewhat victorious smile, enjoying the reactions around her.
“Deny it Fatty,” she said folding her arms. “I dare you.”
Golden gave her a bored, almost pitying smile.
Fab snorted. Loudly. “Idiot.”
A loud bang followed, someone’s table nearly toppled.
The whole class turned. Allan.
His face unreadable. His jaw tense. His hand clenched on the edge of the desk. He stood abruptly and walked out of the class without a word.
Golden didn’t flinch. She was unbothered.
Fab got up, stretched lazily like he hadn’t just witnessed emotional carnage, and turned to her.
“Ready to go, babe?”
Golden stood, smiling, too composed. “Let me grab my things.”
Alex stood next, walked up to Linda with an expression colder than winter.
“You are certainly dumber than I thought,” she said calmly.
Then, with deliberate disrespect, she shoulder bumped Linda on her way out.
Linda gasped. Fab smirked. Golden walked out with her head held high.
Behind them there were murmurings
“What just happened?”
“Are those two really together?”
“They look so good together”
“They look like they belong on the cover of Vouge Magazine ”
But Golden didn’t look back.
She didn’t need to.
The people who mattered walked beside her, one on her left, one on her right.
And the one who used to matter? He’d just walked away....