Chapter 22 Now Everyone Is Watching

Chapter 22 Now Everyone Is Watching


VANESSA’S POV

My phone wouldn't stop vibrating. I was standing at my locker, trying to find my math textbook, but the constant buzzing in my pocket was making me lose my head. I finally pulled it out, and my heart just dropped.

It was a photo. Someone had snapped it yesterday during the genetics lab. It was a clear shot of me and Adrian. He was leaning so close to me that our shoulders were almost touching, and he was pointing at my notebook with a small smile on his face. The lighting from the lab window made it look like we were the only two people in the world.

The caption underneath was even worse: "The King is single and the Scholarship Girl is suddenly his favorite person. RIP Melissa. #Adnessa"

I stared at the screen, feeling like I was about to be sick. I just wanted to stay on my own in this school. I worked so hard to be the girl that just sat in the back, did her work, and said nothing. And now everyone was talking about me like I didn't even exist yesterday.

"You're going to be late for class," a voice said right next to my ear.

I jumped, nearly dropping my phone on the floor. Adrian was standing there, leaning against his locker like he hadn't just blown up my entire life yesterday. He looked perfectly fine. His uniform was crisp, his hair was perfect, and he looked like he'd slept for ten hours while I'd been awake staring at my ceiling.

"Are you seeing this?" I hissed, turning the screen toward him. I didn't care if I sounded crazy. "Adrian, look! People are going crazy online. They're making up stories. They're saying I'm the reason you and Melissa broke up! They're saying I'm... I'm the new queen. What the heck?"

Adrian didn't even flinch. He glanced at the phone for a split second, then went back to spinning the combination on his lock.

"It's just a blurry photo, Vanessa," he said. He sounded so bored it was actually annoying. "People at this school have too much money and too much free time. They'll find something else to talk about by tomorrow. Just let it go."

"Let it go?" I felt the heat rising in my face. I had to catch myself before my voice got too loud. "You can say that because you're an Elite. You can survive anything. You're Adrian Thorne. But they're calling me a husband snatcher. They're making me a target. My life is being ruined because of this genetics project!"

Adrian finally stopped what he was doing and looked at me properly. He wasn't smirking or acting like a jerk. He just looked calm. Like nothing was happening at all.

"Then don’t read them," he said. He stepped a little closer, his peppermint scent hitting me. "We have work to do. See you in the library later."

He just walked away. Just like that. He left me standing there with my phone still buzzing in my hand like a live wire. I wanted to scream. He was so cool about it because he didn't have anything to lose. His scholarship wasn't on the line. His reputation was already "King." Mine was just the quiet life I spent so long trying to keep, and that was officially being hunted.



By the time lunch rolled around, I felt like a zoo animal. I walked into the cafeteria and the noise didn't stop, but the way people looked at me did. It felt like everyone could see me. I found Lena at our usual table. She wasn't eating. She was just staring at her phone with a deep frown.

I sat down and didn't say a word. I just stared at my tray, waiting for the ground to open up.

"Vanessa," Lena said. She didn't sound like her usual loud self. She sounded heavy.

"I know," I muttered.

"No, look at me." She pushed her phone across the table. It was the photo again, but now it had over two hundred comments. "V, this is getting very loud. People are saying things that aren't even true. They're making it look like you've been planning this since the first day."

I finally looked up at her. "Lena, I haven't been planning anything. I just wanted to be left alone. You know that. I didn't even know they were broken up properly until he said it in the hall."

Lena leaned across the table, her eyes searching mine. She looked genuinely worried, the kind of worry that makes your heart sink.

"V... I don't like how this is looking," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "This Adrian matter is becoming too much."

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but she shook her head.

"Just hear me, please," she said.

She touched my hand under the table, her fingers squeezing mine. "This boy used to stress you. Like real stress. He was a bully, V. He made you do his work because he knew he could. He let Melissa treat you like trash. Everybody saw it."

I nodded slowly. I couldn't forget the way he acted back then.

"And now," she continued, her eyes fixed on me, "he's suddenly sitting beside you every day. He's smiling. He's working with you. Then yesterday he ended things with Melissa right in front of everybody while you were standing there. V, that's not a small thing."

I swallowed hard. "I didn't ask for any of it, Lena. I was just there."

"I know," she said quickly, her voice softening. "I'm not saying you did anything. I'm not saying you're chasing him. I know you just wanted to finish your work and go home."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Having her say that, having her believe me, was the only thing keeping me together.

"I'm just saying… this school loves a story too much," Lena said, her grip on my hand tightening. "And you… you don't like people looking at you. You've spent every day here trying to stay under the radar. So I'm worried for you."

I looked at her, and the weight of her words hit me. "I just want to finish the project, Lena. That's it."

"I know," she said. "You know how this school is. If things get messy, they won't touch him. It won't be him they blame."

She leaned in even closer, her voice full of protective fire. "I don't want you inside something that will scatter your peace. That's all. I don't want Melissa and her friends to make you a target because they're bored and angry. You worked too hard to get here."

I looked across the room. Adrian was sitting with his friends, looking like he didn't have a single problem in the world. He was laughing, completely unbothered by the fact that the entire school was watching him.

Then I looked at the far end of the room. Melissa was sitting there. She wasn't eating. She was just staring at me with pure hate.

The quiet life I wanted was gone. I was in the middle of a war I didn't start, and for a scholarship student, that was the most dangerous place to be.

"I'll be careful," I told Lena, squeezing her hand back. "I promise."

But as the bell rang, I looked back at my phone. A new notification: "They're in the library again. Look at them."

And I didn't know how to stop it.