Aurora’s P.O.V

I could feel the hot tears welling up in my eyes as I rushed down the hallway, my steps quick and frantic. The cruel laughter, the whispers, the looks—it was all too much. My chest tightened with a sense of suffocation as I finally pushed the bathroom door open and darted inside, locking it behind me.

The fluorescent lights above buzzed quietly, but all I could hear was the sound of my heart pounding in my ears and my breath, shallow and uneven. I stumbled to ...