The room buzzed with tension. Whispers laced the air like poison, darting from mouth to mouth.
"Who could've said something like that?" one girl muttered, eyes shifting nervously around the corridor.
Alexa stood in the center, back straight, but her knuckles were white from how tightly she gripped her book. Her expression was blank, but her burning ears betrayed her. She had heard every word. Substitute. Whore. S*x toy. The words clung to her skin like filth she couldn't scrub off.
But she didn't flinch, not in front of them. But she was dying to know who.
Just as she turned to leave, a sharp voice cut through the air behind her.
"Honestly, I'm not surprised," Lydia said lazily to her group, her voice low but not low enough. "People like her always end up exposed."
Alexa froze mid-step. The hallway quieted further, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath.
