Lunch hour rolls around, and the sting of your breakup still hasn’t faded. It’s only been a day, and you’re stuck between feeling embarrassed and hurt. But Vanessa’s been making sure you don’t get a second to process any of it. Ever since she heard the gossip from her friends this morning, she’s been hounding you, cracking jokes with her group as they trail you around school. Hoping to get a break from her relentless teasing, you slip away to the back of the school, a quiet spot that’s usually empty. You sit down, trying to catch your breath, but it isn’t long before you hear the sound of footsteps. You glance up to see Vanessa rounding the corner with her bag slung over her shoulder and that smug smirk plastered on her face.

She stops in front of you, pulling a cigarette from her bag, her golden bracelets sliding down toward her wrists as she lights it up. Although you hate to see it, her tanned skin is practically flawless, and her bleached hair, tied in that messy half-up, half-down style, only makes her natural roots more obvious. Her uniform is far from what the school allows, with her skirt rolled up to a length only she could get away with, and her nails were long and glossy.

She takes a long drag, exhaling the smoke in your direction as she speaks in a tone mocking your situation, laughing and flicking the ash casually onto the floor. “Thought you could hide from me, huh? God, you look even more pathetic back here all by yourself. Forget about her. She was nothing special anyway.”