Lydia’s P.O.V
After Lyric had left me standing in that empty lab, I had simply discarded the papers in the trash and walked away from college. It had gotten too stressful to stay at that point and I was afraid of getting another migraine.
I had however, informed the authorities before leaving school because they were aware of my condition and they had given me a wider time span for finishing my course than any other college was willing to offer. It was one of the reasons for choosing Rosewater University and that it was closest to home.
Surprisingly, I didn’t get any further disturbance from Lyric the whole day. No snide comments, no fights, no showing up at my apartment unannounced…nothing at all. I hadn’t even gotten a single glimpse of him ever since he just up and left me in the lab, which frankly I should be grateful for but I wasn’t. I was feeling anxious and restless and I hadn’t gotten any sleep the entire night.
I won’t write my project about you.
Those had been his parting words yesterday and I had no idea how much ground that actually covered.
So he won’t be writing about me in his assignment, that much I had understood. But what about everything else? How about, I’ll keep this a secret? Or, I’ll keep this between us? Or better yet, I won’t babble about you to everyone else in the college and make your life miserable? Not that Lyric was the babbling type and he also seemed like the person who’d rather punch you in the face than stab you in the back, but a girl was allowed to have her doubts.
So many thoughts had been running through my mind as I got ready for college but Lyric just seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. It’s weird how he’s been over at my house a couple times already, even spent the night here but I didn’t have his number. If I had his number I would’ve called him by now and-
And then what? Ask him about his feelings? Damn, I sounded desperate! Shaking my head at my unusual behavior, I checked my appearance in the mirror one last time before pulling my dark hair back into a low ponytail and applying a touch of lip gloss to my lips. My outfit consisted of a loose fitting blush pink sweater paired with light blue jeans. I was feeling pastels today. With that, I hauled my backpack over my shoulder and went off to school.
But little did I know how everything was going to change once again as soon as I arrived at school.
I immediately saw the odd looks and whispering that started as soon as I parked my bike. It kinda reminded me of my first day when I’d unknowingly parked in Lyric’s spot. But I checked the parking and Lyric’s bike wasn’t here yet and his spot too was free. Then why the hell was I getting the odd looks and the whisperings?
It wasn’t until I reached the main hallway that the snide comments started and the whisperings got louder. It didn’t take me long to find out why though. Because if the comments were any indication, I think my biggest fear just came true.
“It’s her! The killer!”
“My Goodness! Just look how she’s walking with her head held high! She should be crawling in front of us! Bitch!”
“Murderer!”
Dread settled in my stomach as I saw a crowd gathered around the bulletin board right in the middle of the hallway. It wasn’t the first time that I was thankful for my condition that my face couldn’t show expressions.
“How is she still so calm? She killed someone and yet she’s so calm!”
“Bitch should be thrown out right now!”
“Thrown out? She should be in jail!”
The crowd stepped away from me as soon as I neared the board and it wasn’t surprising to see the magazine review stuck to the bulletin board. At the time when I had been in the hospital, this had been the only magazine that had exaggerated the story and spiced things up to make me look like killer. They had said that Roy and I had been lovers and when I left him for a richer and better looking guy, Roy had shot first me and then himself so we could be together in heaven. It was no wonder that my father had sued the magazine and they were now shut down, but this article had been in the stack that Lyric had handed me yesterday, so some website or another must have copied and spread the news.
“Why did the authorities let her in?”
“We should boycott her!”
“Look at that stone faced bitch! Shouldn’t she at least look sorry?”
“We should get her thrown out! She doesn’t belong here, she belongs in jail!”
My heart hammered against my chest but I grit my teeth and stood my ground. It was fine as long as it was just talking. But if they started pushing or shoving me, things will get way out of hand. I could defend myself against a couple people; my brother had taught me that soon after I had been surrounded by paparazzi after getting out of the hospital when someone had leaked my rehab schedule and they had been too excited to get inside scoop, almost crushing me under the pressure. But this was a huge crowd. Almost everyone from my department and some from other departments in the college were crowding the hallway, making escape impossible. I wouldn’t be able to get out in time and if one person decided to go violent, just because they like being a bully, everyone would think it was their right to take matters into their own hand. It wouldn’t matter that they will go to jail for physical assault, I’d be long dead by then.
I tried to squash the rising panic, but it wasn’t helping. What should I do? What can I do?
“What’s going on in here?” A very familiar voice spoke from behind me and immediately, there was pin drop silence in the hallway.
Those who weren’t part of the spectators now stopped dead in their tracks. From the corner of my eyes, I thought I saw a couple of teachers stop at the end of the hallway to observe what will happen next. Everyone looked uncomfortable, scared and guilty at the same time as they stared at the ground without meeting his stare. But surprisingly, a surge of relief flooded through me.
Lyric walked through the crowd that parted for him as he made his way to where I was standing. He stood behind me and looked at the bulletin board with ease; he was tall enough that he could easily see the notice without me having to move. I half expected him to just ignore it and leave but instead he grabbed a hold of the paper and tore it off the board, making the pins fall to the floor with a small sound that reverberated through the silence and then he crumbled the paper in his fist.
When I turned back to look at him, I found him studying my face instead. At first I thought he wouldn’t be able to understand, that I wouldn’t be able to convey my feelings with my face closed off…but he did. God knows how, but somehow he did. Because the next instant, his eyes turned cold and hard lines appeared on his face as he turned to face the crowd.
“Who the fuck did this?” Lyric asked everyone in the hallway, the crumbled papers held up in his hand and his voice menacing.
Everyone around us instinctively took a step back and some people at one corner cleared a way that led to a woman standing at the back of the crowd, looking like she might just have peed her pants. She had long brunette hair and green eyes and I think I vaguely remember bumping into her while coming out of the lab yesterday after I’d dumped the papers into the trash can.
“Sophia.” Lyric’s voice was murderously calm and the woman immediately began to tear up.
“Lyric, I can-“
Sophia began but Lyric cut her off immediately. “Nothing you say or do can ever make up for how you tried to target Lydia by posting this article on the bulletin board. And I’m not surprised that out of all the papers in that article, you specifically chose one that berates her and makes her look like the killer.” Lyric shook his head with a cunning smile. “If outing secrets is your new favorite pastime, then shall I join in on the fun? I’m sure I have some information about you that everyone would love to know about. Won’t they?”
“No…please…”Sophia chocked out, moving her hands so she was hugging herself. It was a vulnerable position and I knew in that moment that whatever leverage Lyric had against her, it was serious enough so if it came out, it just might create another incident like the one I’d already suffered.
“Lyric, stop.” I whispered softly as I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Let me take care of this.”
For a second I though he wouldn’t move, that he wouldn’t listen. His shoulders were rigid under my touch, muscles coiled to an inch of their life. But then he did something unexpected, Lyric stepped aside and pointed me towards Sophia. But before I went to her, I took the paper out of Lyric’s hand and tore it into tiny pieces and dumped the remains into the dustbin.
“Sophia, right?” I came face to face with the brunette woman, but she involuntarily took a step back. “A few years ago, I was in your place, Sophia. So trust me, I know all about being the mean girl. I know how you feel superior when you put others down, because it makes up for feeling miserable all the time for every damn thing that’s going wrong in your life.”
“You don’t know anything-“
“About you?” I cut her off. “No I don’t and I’m not interested. But I know the feeling of satisfaction that bullying brings to you. Like I said, I was in your place a few years ago and yes, I won’t run away from the fact that I was responsible in one way or another in causing Roy’s breakdown. But I was NOT involved in his death.” I told her firmly, her and everyone else around me. “I was already shot down when Roy put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. So the choices he made were his own, not mine. And I’ve suffered enough for that incident, so don’t even try to bring shit up when you weren’t even there to witness what happened.”
“And if you want to satisfy your curiosity, then search the internet.” I told everyone in the crowd as they stood like silent spectators. “Believe whatever the fuck you want to but don’t dare come near me with accusations or sympathy. I’m over that incident and I will not be discussing anything with anyone and neither will I sit back so you can trample over me. I hope that much is clear.”
No one said anything but then Lyric did something that had a lot of eyebrows shooting up and a lot of jaws dropping to the ground.
“And if it’s not,” he said out loud as he came to stand beside me and took my hand in his, making tingles shoot up my arm. “Then maybe this will make it clear.”
And with that he pulled me along with him as I heard several gasps in the crowd, mostly from women. I don’t know what just happened, but I had a feeling that Lyric taking my hand meant far more than him showing his support for me.