And the looks from the other students grew increasingly strange. Felicity told everyone I was pretending to be a victim because William favored her.
Wherever I went, the classroom buzzed with gossip about me.
"See? I told you she wasn’t worthy of the class heartthrob; she just had to interfere."
"It's only because the class beauty is kind-hearted that she’s willing to spend time with her. If it were me, I would’ve walked away long ago. In the end, she’s even worse than before. What’s with all this fake high-mindedness?"
Suddenly, I felt like a rat everyone wanted to stomp on, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Even William wouldn’t spare me a second glance.
Back then, as a teenager, I couldn’t bear that kind of humiliation.
Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and went to find William after evening self-study.
He was still correcting Felicity’s mistakes, and when he saw it was me, surprise flickered in his eyes.
I walked home with William, and I told him all my grievances, asking why he was treating me like this.
But when I mentioned Felicity had deliberately tricked me into going to the amusement park and then falsely accused me of taking her umbrella, William frowned.