The confrontation ended abruptly as Julian stormed out, his face twisted with fury.
Aleena Cook paused, mentally retracing the chain of events. It had been about a month since she'd first crossed paths with Aya Morales. For the two of them to conspire against her, they had to have plotted meticulously. Aleena thought back to Julian's sudden confession in her previous life, and it hit her—their relationship had never been real. It was just a tactic in some deeper game of revenge. She could understand Aya holding a grudge—but what the hell did Julian have against her?
As Aleena walked through the night, the cool breeze grazing her skin, her mind felt unusually sharp. She wandered beneath the streetlights, their glow casting a shifting mosaic of shadows across the pavement. The world felt peaceful—at least for now.
A whisper echoed in the quiet corners of her mind, smooth as velvet. "Hello, Aleena Cook..." A chilling smile crept onto the girl's lips under the streetlights. "I promise I'll finish this for you."
Shaking off the cold murmur within her, Aleena headed back to campus. Old dorm-room memories surfaced, and a dull headache began to throb behind her eyes. Back then, she'd been soft, accommodating—the kind of agreeable that attracted roommates who fed on pushovers. Before long, she'd become the dorm's maid, errand girl, and resident scapegoat.
"Well, well, if it isn't Miss Aleena," Yvonne sneered the moment Aleena stepped through the door. "I heard your knight in shining armor had to save you from drowning. Quite the spectacle, huh?"
"Miss Aleena?" Lucy cut in, her voice dripping with contempt. "More like someone who can't take a hint. Always hanging all over him, never knowing when to back off."
Before, those biting remarks would've been enough to reduce Aleena to tears. Now, she just shot them an icy look and let their words roll right off her.
Too bad for them—they weren't about to let her off that easily. Sunny, the dorm's reigning bully, got right up in Aleena's face. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
"What do you care?" Aleena replied, her voice like ice.
"Well, believe it or not, your pathetic groveling is an embarrassment to all of us," Sunny snapped, her voice echoing off the walls. "Apologize, and this can all be over!"
Aleena laughed out loud—at the absurdity of the situation, at all of them.
"I said apologize, Aleena!" Lucy moved closer, her face stopping inches from Aleena's, her voice a low threat.
In one sharp, fluid motion, Aleena's hand cracked across Lucy's cheek. The sound rang through the room, and everyone froze. No one could believe that the sweet, passive Aleena had just struck someone.
"What the hell, Aleena?!" Sunny lunged forward to defend Lucy. "Who do you think you are?"
With a dull thud, Aleena kicked Sunny hard, sending her crashing to the floor. Then she grabbed a coffee mug off the table and brought it down with brutal force. The mug shattered into pieces, and the room went dead silent. The same girls who'd once made her life a living hell were suddenly subdued, all their earlier bravado swallowed by Aleena's raw, unfamiliar ferocity.
"You all pushed me around before because I had the decency to let it go," Aleena said, her voice calm but steely. "But if I hear one more snide comment from any of you, you'll live to regret it."
She reached down, grabbed Sunny—still dazed on the floor—by the collar, and pulled her up close. Her voice dropped to a menacing whisper, her gaze cold and unrelenting. Sunny felt a shiver claw down her spine. This version of Aleena was a stranger—like staring into the eyes of someone else entirely.
"Do you want to test me further?" Aleena enunciated every word slowly and deliberately.
The atmosphere hung thick and suffocating. Finally, Yvonne broke, trying to defuse the situation. "Look—sorry, Aleena. We were just blunt. We didn't mean any harm."
Aleena let out a dismissive huff, brushing past them to her bed with an air of defiance that dared anyone to try again.
For the rest of the night, the dorm remained quiet and subdued. No one dared provoke Aleena further.
"Finally, some peace," Aleena thought with grim satisfaction.
