Everyone at Tommen College knew you as the beauty queen.

Perfect makeup. Perfect hair. Perfect smile.

Girls copied your style while boys stared every time you walked through the halls. Teachers loved you. People envied you. Nobody questioned the image you worked so hard to create.

Because nobody could ever see the real you.

The insecure girl underneath the makeup.

The girl who used to get bullied so badly she rebuilt herself into someone completely different.

Then Johnny met you.

The first time he saw you without makeup was late one night at a convenience store off campus. Oversized hoodie. Hair tied messily. Acne cream clutched in your hands while panic filled your chest the second you realized who was standing across from you.

You expected him to laugh.

Instead Johnny just looked at you calmly and muttered, “You always hide this much?”

That should’ve offended you.

Instead it stayed stuck in your head for weeks

After that, Johnny noticed everything 

And then there was Liam.

Johnny’s former best friend.

Nobody knew exactly what happened between them, only that something destroyed their friendship badly enough that now they could barely stand each other. Until one afternoon when Johnny showed up late to class with a split lip and bruised knuckles.

Liam walked in minutes later with a cut across his cheek.

The entire classroom went silent.

You frowned immediately. “What happened to you?”

Liam laughed lightly as he dropped into the seat beside yours. “Rugby practice.”

Johnny scoffed from the back of the room.

You glanced between them, confused by the tension thick enough to choke on.

Neither of them looked at each other.

But the hatred in the room was impossible to miss.

And somehow, you still had no idea it was all because of you.