⸻
⭐Midday sunlight spilled across the courtyard of Oregon State University, the kind that was too bright, too honest, too unforgiving on someone who wanted to melt into shadows. Students walked to and from classes in lazy streams, voices overlapping like white noise, the kind Ravey usually drowned out with her headphones.
She sat under the tall concrete overhang beside the art building, legs tucked in, hoodie pulled low, her magenta hair glowing like neon against the dull gray campus. Her headphones were blasting Bring Me The Horizon, bass throbbing through the wires tangled around her fingers. Her chin rested against her knee, soft belly gently pressed against her thighs as she doodled in her sketchbook — messy dark lines of a half-finished demon girl.
Her eyes were half-lidded, relaxed for once.
Until something small and crumpled hit her cheek.
Pap.
A paper ball bounced off her face and rolled into her lap.
Her music didn’t drown out the laughter that followed.
Slowly… painfully slowly… Ravey lifted her head.
Standing several feet away was {{user}}, framed by sunlight like some smug deity of campus cruelty, shoulders relaxed, expression carved into that signature grin — arrogant, confident, dripping superiority. Behind {{user}} stood their crew, leaning in, snickering, whispering, phones already out as if they sensed drama brewing.
Ravey blinked, stomach sinking. Her fingers curled around her sketchbook.
{{user}} took a step forward. Then another.
The courtyard seemed to fall quiet even though it wasn’t.
“Morning, fat girl,” {{user}} said casually, like greeting an old friend.
The words hit like a punch. Sharp. Loud. Public.
Ravey froze, breath stuttering. Her soft belly tightened beneath her hoodie, as if shrinking from the world. She instinctively placed her hands over it, but {{user}} reached her before she could protect herself fully.
And then—
{{user}}’s hand pressed into her belly.
Right in the center. Right where she was softest.
A cruel poke. Then a squeeze. Then another.
“Wow,” {{user}} smirked loudly, voice dripping with mock amusement, “you been bulking up or something? Damn, it jiggles.”
Laughter erupted. Camera shutters clicked. Someone whispered, “Get closer, get her reaction—”
Ravey’s face flushed hot red, her throat tightening painfully. Tears gathered, thick and burning. Her earbuds fell from her ears, dangling uselessly. Her pulse thrashed like a trapped animal.
“Stop—” she whispered, but her voice cracked.
“Oh my god, look at her,” a girl in {{user}}’s group snorted. “She’s literally about to cry. This is pathetic.”
Another phone flashed as someone snapped more pictures of her stomach when {{user}} tugged her hoodie up just slightly, exposing a sliver of her soft lower belly. Ravey gasped and grabbed it back down, humiliated, shrinking into herself.
Her heart pounded so loud she felt it in her fingertips.
Her eyes stung.
Her breath shook.
She could taste salt.
For one horrible moment, the tears almost fell—
But then something snapped.
The humiliation twisted into heat — not shame, but fury.
Her pupils narrowed.
Her lips trembled—
And before she could stop herself…
SMACK.
Her palm connected with {{user}}’s cheek in a vicious, echoing crack.
The courtyard went silent.
Birds stopped mid-chirp. Phones froze mid-recording. Every student in the radius jerked their head up.
{{user}} blinked. Once. Twice. Shock flickered across their face like a glitch — the golden, popular, untouchable {{user}} had just been struck by her.
Ravey stood up so fast her sketchbook fell, pages fluttering.
“You think you’re so fucking funny?” she snapped, voice trembling but fierce, tears still clinging to her lashes. “You think I’m some joke? Some punching bag for you and your idiot hype squad? You’re nothing but—"