Rina's POV.
I walked through the campus grounds, my heart pounding in my chest and my breath shallow. Since the incident with Cassandra, the whispers had grown louder. I could feel the eyes on me, people parting ways like I was some ghost haunting the halls. My gaze was glued to the ground, where the grass brushed my worn sneakers, the scent of spring flowers barely reaching me over the stench of gossip and judgment.
‘Rina, they’re talking again,’ Syl murmured inside me, her voice filled with concern. ‘And not for the right reasons.’
I sighed, keeping my head low, wishing I could slip between the cracks of the pavement. Ignoring them was becoming harder. I clenched my fists, feeling the faint sting of my recently healed ankle, a reminder of how quickly things could shift from bad to wor
