The rumors started on a Thursday.
I heard them in fragments. Bathroom whispers. Hallway giggles. Emery told me what they were saying during third period, her voice low and furious.
"They're saying you threw yourself at Eren. That you're desperate. That you're using him to climb the social ladder."
I looked up from my notes. "Who's they?"
"Harlee's crew. Who else?"
I went back to writing. "Let them talk."
Emery stared at me. "You're not even mad?"
"Being mad doesn't help."
But I documented it. Date. Time. Names of the girls I'd overheard. The specific phrasing of the rumors. Everything went into the log.
The cafeteria freeze-out came next. I walked in with my tray and the center tables went silent. Harlee sat at the head like a queen holding court. She didn't look at me. She didn't have to. Her clique followed her lead. They turned their backs in perfect unison.
I sat with Emery by the window. She fumed the entire lunch period. I ate my sandwich and watched Harlee's table in my peripheral vision.
Harlee glanced over once. Our eyes met. She smiled.
I didn't.
---
The hallway confrontations were harder to ignore.
Shoulder-checks between classes. My books knocked to the floor by a passing elbow. A Diet Coke tipped onto my blouse, the girl who did it offering a bright, insincere apology.
I absorbed each incident without visible reaction. I picked up my books. I blotted the stain with paper towels in the bathroom. I kept my face neutral.
It was driving Harlee insane. I could see it in the way her smile tightened when I didn't flinch. In the way her voice got sharper when she talked to her crew.
She needed a reaction. I wasn't giving her one.
So she escalated.
---
The note appeared in my locker Friday afternoon.
*Rooftop. 4 PM. We need to talk. Just us. Girl to girl. —H*
I read it twice. Then I pulled out my phone and texted Detective Ramirez.
*Potential incident developing. Will update.*
Then I texted Emery.
*If I'm not back by 4:30, check the rooftop.*
She responded immediately. *WHAT??? Blake don't go!!!*
I slipped the phone into my pocket and headed upstairs.
---
The rooftop was empty when I arrived. Sunlight slanted across the concrete. The door clanged shut behind me.
Harlee stepped out from behind the air conditioning unit. She wasn't alone. Three girls flanked her. Sophia Crane. Two others whose names I didn't know.
My stomach tightened. I counted exits. One door. Locked from the inside.
"Thanks for coming," Harlee said. Her voice was sweet. Too sweet. "I thought we should clear the air."
I didn't move. "I'm listening."
She walked closer. Slow. Deliberate. Her crew fanned out behind her.
"You're new. So maybe you don't understand how things work here. Let me explain." She stopped three feet away. "Eren Black is off-limits. He's mine. He's always been mine. And you need to back off."
"I'm not interested in your territory," I said evenly.
"Really?" Harlee's smile sharpened. "Because it looks like you're riding his bike every morning. Sitting with his friends. Wearing his jacket."
"He offered. I accepted. That's all."
"That's all?" Harlee laughed. It wasn't a nice sound. "Girls like you always think you're special. That you're different. But you're not. You're just another nobody trying to climb."
She nodded. The three girls moved.
They grabbed me before I could react. Hands on my arms. My shoulders. Shoving me back against the concrete wall. My head hit hard. Stars burst across my vision.
Panic fired through my nervous system. The hands holding me became other hands. The rooftop became a basement. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't—
Harlee slapped me.
The crack echoed across the rooftop. My cheek burned.
"Know your place," Harlee hissed.
Something in me snapped.
Not strategy. Not calculation. Just rage. Deep and tectonic and older than this lifetime.
I twisted hard, broke the grip of the girl on my left, and drove my elbow into her ribs. She gasped and stumbled back. I shoved the second girl off-balance and lunged for the third.
We hit the ground together. I didn't fight clean. I didn't fight fair. I clawed and kicked and fought like I was still in that basement and this was my only chance.
Harlee screamed something. Sophia yanked me off the third girl by my hair. I spun and saw Harlee raise a metal water bottle high.
She aimed for my head.
The rooftop door exploded off its hinges.
Eren crossed the space in three strides. He grabbed Harlee by the collar and slammed her against the railing so hard the metal groaned.
Her crew scattered. Just ran. Sophia was the last to go, her face white.
Eren didn't raise his voice. That was the terrifying part.
"If you ever touch her again," he said, his voice laced with something cold and final, "I will make sure your family's money can't fix what I break. Do you understand me?"
Harlee nodded. Her hands shook.
He released her. She stumbled, caught herself, and ran.
The rooftop went silent.
I stood there, breathing hard, blood on my lip, knees scraped raw. My hair was wild. My hands were shaking.
Eren turned.
I looked up at him and smiled.
Not polite. Not defensive. Real. Bloody. Fierce.
He stared at me like I was something he had no category for. Then he shrugged off his leather jacket and dropped it over my shoulders without a word.
It was still warm from his body.
I pulled it close and kept smiling.
