(Wednesday — Mid-December, Engineering Building)
LARA (POV)
Class had never felt this suffocating.
And that was saying something — because from the very first day of the semester, Steven and I had been doing this silent war. He walked in, chose a seat on the opposite end of the room, and never once looked back.
No confrontation.
No explanation.
Just distance.
As if everything — our childhood, our history, every stupid memory — had evaporated the moment we enrolled.
I matched his distance.
Sat far from him.
Acted like nothing mattered.
It became our norm.
Until today.
Because today, the CampusFiles thread — the one twisting my anger into something unforgivable — was gone.
Not reported.
Not archived.
Not argued over.
Deleted. Wiped clean. Erased from existence.
And I knew exactly who could do that.
Steven.
Not for me.
Not for peace.
Not for damage control.
For her.
He protected her.
My chest tightened painfully.
