ARIA'S POV
Isabella was walking straight toward me, and I knew something bad was about to happen.
It had been two weeks since she arrived. Two weeks of watching Ethan forget I existed. Two weeks of eating lunch alone with Maya while Ethan laughed at Isabella's table. Two weeks of checking my phone for texts that never came.
"Aria!" Isabella's voice was sweet like honey, but honey can trap flies. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"
Maya's hand tightened on my arm. A warning.
"What do you need?" I asked, trying to sound normal.
Isabella sat down without being invited. "I wanted to thank you for helping me in chemistry. You're so smart! No wonder Ethan says you're like his little sister."
The cafeteria noise faded. All I could hear was those three words.
Little sister.
"He said that?" My voice came out small.
"Oh yes! He told me you two grew up together, like family. Isn't that sweet?" Isabella smiled, but her eyes were sharp. "He also mentioned you used to have a tiny crush on him in middle school. So adorable!"
Heat flooded my face. I had told Ethan that in confidence. Three years ago, when I thought we were best friends. When I thought my secrets were safe with him.
"That was a long time ago," I whispered.
"Of course! You're over it now." Isabella patted my hand like I was a child. "Ethan and I are so grateful to have you as a friend. You don't mind that we're dating, right?"
Dating.
The word hit me like a punch.
"You're... dating?" I asked.
"We made it official yesterday! Didn't he tell you?" Isabella's eyes went wide with fake concern. "Oh no. He was supposed to tell you first. You know, since you're like family."
Maya stood up so fast her chair scraped the floor. "We're leaving."
"But I wanted to invite Aria to have lunch with us!" Isabella called after us. "Ethan's table has room!"
I let Maya pull me toward the bathroom, my vision blurry. Behind us, I heard Ethan's laugh. That same laugh I used to love, now twisted into something that hurt.
The bathroom was empty. The second the door closed, I couldn't hold it in anymore.
"He's dating her," I said, my voice breaking. "Two weeks. It took him two weeks to replace me."
"You weren't dating him," Maya said gently. "Remember?"
"But we were something! Six years, Maya. Six years of coffee runs and study sessions and late-night calls. He held my hand at school events. He called me 'babe.' Everyone thought we were together!"
"Everyone except him."
The truth of it crushed me. All those years, I'd been living in a dream. Ethan had never asked me on a real date. Never kissed me. Never called me his girlfriend.
I'd just been... convenient.
"And now he's telling her my secrets," I continued, tears hot on my cheeks. "Things I told him when I trusted him. He's making me sound like some pathetic kid with a crush!"
Maya pulled me into a hug. "He's the pathetic one. You've spent six years making him look good, and this is how he treats you?"
"Maybe I wasn't good enough. Isabella's prettier, richer—"
"Stop." Maya grabbed my shoulders, making me look at her. "This isn't about you not being enough. This is about him being a user. He used you to look smart, to look kind, to look like a good guy. Now he's using Isabella to look even better."
I wanted to believe her. But doubt was a poison, spreading through my chest.
My phone buzzed. A text from Ethan.
Ethan: Hey, lunch tomorrow? Need to talk.
Hope fluttered in my chest. Stupid, desperate hope.
Maybe he realized he missed me. Maybe he wanted to apologize. Maybe—
"Don't," Maya said, reading over my shoulder. "Don't give him another chance to hurt you."
But I was already typing back.
Me: Okay. Where?
Ethan: Cafeteria. Noon. See you there, Aria.
No smiley face. No "babe." Just my name.
"This is a bad idea," Maya warned.
"I need to hear what he has to say."
"Fine. But I'm coming with you."
The next day, I got to the cafeteria early. My hands shook as I held my lunch container. What would Ethan say? That he missed me? That dating Isabella was a mistake?
Noon came. Ethan walked in—not alone. Isabella was attached to his arm like always, but there were others too. Marcus, Jake, Sophie. All the popular kids.
My stomach dropped.
"Aria! There you are!" Ethan's voice carried across the cafeteria. Loud. Too loud.
Everyone was looking.
He walked over, that politician's smile on his face. The one he used when he wanted something.
"Hey," I said cautiously. "You wanted to talk?"
"Yeah." Ethan glanced at Isabella, who nodded encouragingly. "So, I've been thinking about our friendship."
Our friendship. Not our relationship. Like we'd never been anything more.
"Okay," I said slowly.
"You're a great person, Aria. Super smart, really helpful. But..." Ethan paused, like he was searching for the right words. "I think maybe you've gotten the wrong idea about us."
The cafeteria was getting quieter. People were listening now.
"What do you mean?" My voice was barely above a whisper.
"Well, some people think we're more than friends. And I just wanted to make it clear—in front of everyone—that we're not. We've never been. You're like my little sister."
There it was again. Little sister.
Isabella squeezed Ethan's arm, playing the supportive girlfriend perfectly.
"I know," I said, my face burning. "I never said we were—"
"Also," Ethan continued, and something in his tone made my skin crawl. "Those shoes you're wearing. Are they from Goodwill?"
The question hung in the air.
I looked down at my sneakers. They were old, yes. Scuffed from two years of wear. But they were clean. Comfortable. All I could afford.
"Maybe we should start a fundraiser," Ethan said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "You know, so Aria can afford decent shoes. What do you think, guys?"
Marcus laughed. Then Jake. Then Sophie.
Isabella giggled behind her hand, and that small sound broke something inside me.
"Ethan—" I started.
"No shame in being poor," Ethan said, like he was being kind. "It's actually inspiring how you make do with so little. Right, Isabella?"
"So inspiring," Isabella agreed, her voice dripping with fake sweetness.
The laughter grew louder. People were taking out their phones now, recording.
This wasn't a talk. This was a show.
And I was the joke.
Maya appeared beside me, fury in her eyes. "Let's go."
"Yeah, you should go," Ethan said. "Wouldn't want you to be late for your after-school job. Some of us have trust funds, but you've got to work for your money, right?"
More laughter. It echoed in my ears as Maya dragged me toward the exit.
I didn't cry. Not in front of them. I held it together until we reached the bathroom, the same one as yesterday.
Then I shattered.
"He humiliated me," I sobbed into Maya's shoulder. "In front of everyone. He made fun of me for being poor. For working hard. For not having what he has."
"He's showing you who he really is," Maya said fiercely. "And who he is, is garbage."
But it didn't make it hurt less.
Six years. Six years of loyalty, of help, of making myself smaller so he could shine brighter.
And this was my reward.
The bathroom door swung open. I looked up, expecting another student.
It was Kai Winters.
He froze when he saw me crying. For a second, neither of us moved.
"Wrong bathroom," Maya said coldly.
But Kai wasn't looking at Maya. He was looking at me, and in his dark eyes I saw something that made my breath catch.
Fury. Pure, burning fury.
"What did he do?" Kai asked quietly.
"Nothing," I lied, wiping my tears.
"Aria," Kai said my name like a promise. "What. Did. He. Do?"
Before I could answer, Kai's phone buzzed. He glanced at it, and his entire face went dark.
"What?" Maya demanded. "What is it?"
Kai turned his phone toward us.
On the screen was a video already going viral on the school's social media. The title made my blood run cold:
"Scholarship Girl Gets Put in Her Place"
It was me. In the cafeteria. Ethan laughing while I stood there, humiliated and small.
The video had fifty likes already. One hundred. Two hundred.
Everyone would see this. Everyone would know.
"I'm going to kill him," Kai said, his voice deadly calm.
"Get in line," Maya snapped.
But I couldn't speak. Couldn't move. Could only stare at the screen as my worst moment played on repeat, turning me into the school's newest joke.
Then my phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
Unknown: This is just the beginning. You should have stayed in your place.
My hands started shaking.
"Aria?" Maya grabbed the phone. "Who sent this?"
But I already knew.
Isabella.
And if this was just the beginning, what came next was going to destroy me.