Chapter 60 Fifty nine
Harper stared down over the low wall, the wind whipping her hair across her face. Four stories below, the parking lot looked impossibly small—cars like toy models, concrete unforgiving and gray. Her stomach lurched. If they pushed her now, she wouldn’t survive. No one would. The drop was clean, straight, final.
Molly pressed closer, her palm flat against Harper’s shoulder, shoving just enough to make Harper’s heels scrape gravel. The Terrible Four stood in a loose arc behind her—Ryan smirking, Silas and Nikos holding Harper’s arms in iron grips, Jacob blocking the door. Claudia and Amy flanked Molly, phones out, recording every second.
“Will you kneel and apologize?” Molly asked again, voice sweet and vicious. She pushed harder.
Harper’s toes curled over the edge. Loose stones skittered down into nothing.
“I will never apologize to people like you,” Harper spat.
Molly’s face twisted.
Her hand cracked across Harper’s cheek—sharp, stinging.
Harper’s head snapped sideways. Blood bloomed on her lip. She tasted copper.
“People like you tend to die faster,” Molly said, voice low and cold.
Harper turned back slowly, eyes wide with disbelief.
“Why are you so wicked?” she asked, voice shaking but steady.
Molly frowned, like the question genuinely confused her.
“You hate me for no reason,” Harper continued. “You’ve hated me since the day I moved here. What did I ever do to you?”
Molly’s smirk returned—slow, ugly.
“Actually, I do have a reason,” she said, stepping even closer until their faces were inches apart. “The reason is you existed.”
Harper blinked.
Molly’s voice dropped to a venomous whisper.
“You came into this school like some little maid—quiet, invisible, nobody. And then suddenly you’re the center of attention. Everyone’s looking at you. Talking about you. Whispering about you. Because of you, I became nothing.”
Harper’s breath caught.
Molly’s fingers dug into Harper’s shoulder.
“You stole Koda from me,” she hissed. “He was supposed to be mine. Everyone knew it. I’d been working on him for years—smiling, flirting, spilling drinks on purpose, everything. And then you showed up, and he couldn’t stop staring at you. Couldn’t stop protecting you. Couldn’t stop choosing you.”
Harper scoffed despite the fear clawing up her throat.
“So this is about Koda.”
Molly’s eyes flashed.
“It’s about everything,” she snapped. “You took my place. You took my spotlight. You took him. And now you think you can push me around in front of the whole school? Make me look weak? No. You don’t get to do that.”
“Wait, Koda?” Ryan said suddenly, voice rising in disbelief. “Molly, you have a crush on that jerk of a guy?”
He squeezed his fingers into fists so hard the knuckles popped white.
Molly rolled her eyes and walked straight to him, hips swaying like she was on a runway instead of a death trap.
“That was before, love,” she said, voice syrupy. “I didn’t know. I just liked him because he was popular.”
Ryan’s jaw worked.
“I’m way more popular than him.”
Silas nodded immediately. “Facts.”
Nikos grunted agreement.
Jacob smirked. “Koda’s got nothing on you, man.”
Harper couldn’t help it—she rolled her eyes so hard it hurt.
“Popular for bullying people,” she muttered under her breath.
Ryan’s head snapped toward her.
“What did you say, bitch?”
Molly laughed—high, mean.
“Ignore her,” she told Ryan, sliding her hands up his chest, caressing his face like she was soothing a wild animal. “She’s a lunatic.”
Ryan’s glare stayed on Harper for another second, then softened when Molly leaned in.
“Look, baby,” she murmured, “I only love you, okay?”
Ryan exhaled through his nose.
He nodded—once, grudgingly.
Molly rose on her toes and pecked his lips—quick, possessive, performative.
Harper made a face.
“If this is the torture you guys brought me here for,” she said dryly, “it’s 100% working.”
Molly rolled her eyes so dramatically her lashes almost touched her brows.
“You should be extremely worried for your life right now,” she said, turning back to Harper and stepping closer—slow, deliberate, like a predator savoring the stalk.
Harper tugged against Silas and Nikos’ grip.
The boys didn’t budge.
Their fingers dug into her biceps hard enough to bruise.
“What does that mean?” Harper asked, voice steady even though her pulse roared in her ears.
Molly tilted her head, studying Harper like she was an insect pinned to a board.
“It means,” she said slowly, “that you’ve been walking around like you’re untouchable for too long. Pushing me in front of everyone this morning. Saving that little nobody Lila. Acting like you’re better than us. Like your freak boyfriend makes you invincible.”
Harper’s stomach twisted.
“He’s not—”
“Shut up,” Ryan snapped.
Molly ignored him.
“You think you’re special because Koda looks at you? Because he protects you? Newsflash, Harper—he doesn’t give a shit about anyone. He’s using you. Just like he used every other girl who threw herself at him. And when he’s done? You’ll be nothing. Less than nothing. Just another sad story people whisper about.”
Claudia laughed again.
Amy zoomed in closer with the phone.
Harper yanked harder against the boys’ hold.
Silas twisted her arm behind her back until she hissed.
Molly stepped right up to her—close enough that Harper could see the flecks of mascara on her lashes, smell the cherry lip gloss.
“You took something from me,” Molly whispered. “My spotlight. My place. My guy. And now you’re gonna pay for it.”
Harper met her eyes.
“You never had him,” she said quietly. “He never looked at you the way you wanted. That’s not my fault. That’s yours.”
Molly’s face contorted.
She raised her hand again.
Harper braced for the slap.
It didn’t come.
Molly lowered her arm instead.
Smiled—slow, cruel.
“You’re right,” she said. “It’s not your fault. It’s his. But since he’s not here…” She glanced at Ryan. “We’ll take it out on you.”
Molly’s smirk was razor-sharp, her eyes glittering with the kind of satisfaction that only comes from having someone completely helpless beneath your heel.
“Your little life is in our hands,” she said, voice dripping with mock sweetness as she leaned in closer. The wind tore at her hair, but she didn’t blink. “One push and it’s over. No more Harper. No more getting in my way. No more stealing what’s mine.”
Harper’s back pressed harder against the low concrete wall. Gravel dug into her palms where she braced herself. She looked down—really looked—and the world tilted. Four stories of empty air. Cars like toy models far below. Concrete waiting to meet her. Her stomach lurched so violently she tasted bile.
She forced her gaze back up to Molly’s face.
“You’re nothing but a fool thinking you’re powerful,” Harper said, voice low but steady despite the tremor in her legs.
Molly’s smirk vanished.
Her eyes widened—shock flashing into rage.
Claudia stepped forward fast, face twisted.
“How dare you say that to Molly?”
Her palm cracked across Harper’s cheek.
The slap echoed sharp across the rooftop.
Harper’s head snapped sideways. Fire bloomed on her skin. Blood filled her mouth—she tasted copper, felt the sting of split lip.
Slowly—deliberately—she turned her face back to them.
Her cheek throbbed.
Her eyes were steady.
“Slapping me won’t change the fact that you all are foolish losers,” she said.
The words landed like stones in still water.
Molly’s face contorted—fury, humiliation, something darker.
Claudia raised her hand again.
Harper didn’t flinch.
She looked past them—toward the rooftop door—for the first time.
Hoping.
Praying.
That black eyes would appear in the doorway.
That shadows would stretch and swallow them whole.
That he would come.
No one came.
Molly stepped closer again.
“I hate you so much,” she hissed, voice trembling with rage. “I just wish you could die.”
Ryan scoffed, stepping up beside her.
“Why wish she can die,” he said, “when I can make your wish come true right now?”
He gave a sharp nod to Silas and Nikos.
“Push her down. Immediately.”
They nodded.
No hesitation.
No doubt.
Harper’s stomach dropped.
“No—no you can’t do this!”
She yanked against their grip.
Silas twisted her arm harder until she hissed in pain.
Nikos tightened his hold on her other wrist.
Jacob moved behind her, hands on her shoulders.
They started dragging her backward.
Her heels scraped desperately against gravel.
The low wall pressed against her calves.
She bucked.
Kicked.
Screamed.
“It’s too late for whining,” Molly said, turning away. “When you get to heaven, tell God you were killed for being a nosy bitch.”
She walked toward the door.
Claudia and Amy followed, still filming, still laughing.
“Get it done, Ryan,” Molly called over her shoulder.
Ryan stayed a second longer—smirking.
“Make it look like an accident, boys.”
He turned.
Followed the girls.
The rooftop door clanged shut behind him.
Now it was just Harper and the three boys holding her.
Silas and Nikos on her arms.
Jacob behind her.
They lifted.
Harper’s legs came off the ground.
She screamed—raw, desperate.
They tilted her backward.
Her body arched over the edge.
Wind tore at her clothes.
The drop yawned beneath her—four stories of air and concrete.
She thrashed.
Kicked.
Her foot connected with Jacob’s shin.
He grunted.
But didn’t let go.
Silas laughed—low, mean.
“Say goodbye.”
They pushed.
Harper’s back left the wall.
Her body tipped.
Gravity took hold.
She fell.
Screaming.
Wind roaring past her ears.
The rooftop shrinking above her.
The boys high-fived each other—quick, triumphant slaps of palms—before turning and walking away.
The rooftop door clanged shut behind them.