Invisible To Her Bully (Jessa and Noah) novel Chapter 234

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Chapter 234

Noah

I couldn’t stop replaying it.

Not the game.

Not practice.

Not even Jessa’s smile when she leaned into me like she belonged there.

It was the stupid joke.

The one line I tossed out without thinking, because that’s what Jackson and I do. We’ve been ripping on each other since we were ten years old. It’s muscle memory at this point sarcasm and shoves and laughing through everything that gets too heavy.

Except this time it didn’t land the way it used to.

This time, it didn’t stay between us.

Now it was… fuel.

–

I sat on the edge of my bed, elbows on my knees, staring at the floor like it might offer some kind of solution.

It was insane how fast this school worked.

One overheard comment.

One sideways glance.

And suddenly the whole place had a new story to tell.

Mariah Morales is easy.

Jackson Lombardi is whipped.

Noah Carter is desperate.

Jessa is.., whatever they wanted her to be that day.

Ridgeville didn’t just gossip.

It consumed people.

I scrubbed a hand over my face, jaw tight.

I should’ve kept my mouth shut.

Jackson had been right there, already tense, already dealing with the fact that the spotlight never really turns off for him. Quarterback. Homecoming king. Everyone watching, waiting for him to mess up,

And Mariah…

Mariah didn’t deserve that.

She was loud and sharp and fearless, but I’d seen the way her eyes flickered sometimes when people stared too long. Like she carried more than she let anyone know.

And now my stupid mouth had given the vultures something else to pick at.

I exhaled hard, leaning back until my shoulders hit the wall.

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Chapter 234

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God.

I hated this place sometimes.

Not the school itself.

The people.

The way they couldn’t just let something be good.

The way happiness was treated like an invitation to tear someone apart.

I’d already lived through it.

When I started dating Jessa, it was like the whole building short–circuited.

People couldn’t wrap their heads around it.

Not because I was some prize – I wasn’t stupid enough to think that but because Jessa didn’t fit into the neat little category Ridgeville had assigned her.

She wasn’t a cheerleader.

She wasn’t tiny.

She didn’t flirt like the other girls did, all lashes and practiced laughs.

She was just… Jessa.

And somehow that was the most offensive thing of all.

Because it meant the rules weren’t real.

I remembered the first week.

The whispers.

The looks.

The way people said her name like it was a punchline.

“She paid him.”

“He lost a bet.”

“He’s doing it for attention.”

As if the only possible explanation for me liking her had to be something cruel.

They couldn’t believe it could be simple.

That I could just…

Want her.

I swallowed, my throat tightening.

Because the truth was, it was simple.

Jessa was funny in this quiet way, like she’d say something under her breath that would catch me off guard and I’d be laughing for ten minutes.

She had the biggest heart I’d ever seen. She cared even when people didn’t deserve it. She felt things deeply, and she tried so

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hard not to let the world see it.

And yeah, she could be awkward sometimes.

She’d fidget with her sleeves.

She’d second–guess herself mid–sentence.

She’d blush like she wasn’t used to being looked at too long.

But that was part of her.

It wasn’t something to fix.

It was something I liked.

Because it was real.

She was real.

I leaned forward again, elbows on my knees.

Jackson didn’t get it at first.

Hell, I didn’t get it at first.

For years, she’d just been… there. Jackson’s twin. The kid sister energy in the background.

And then somewhere along the way, she wasn’t.

She grew up.

And I noticed.

Not because of some dramatic makeover or because people suddenly decided she was worth looking at.

I noticed because I finally stopped being an idiot.

I saw her.

And once you really see someone, you can’t unsee them.

My phone buzzed on the bed beside me.

I glanced at the screen.

Jackson.

For a second, guilt punched through me again.

I stared at it, thumb hovering.

Then I answered.

“Yeah?”

His voice came through rougher than usual. “You awake?”

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “I was… thinking.”

He snorted. “That’s dangerous.”

Normally I would’ve fired something back.

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Chapter 234

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Tonight I just sighed.

“Jackson… I’m sorry.”

“Noah,” he said, sharper. “Stop.”

His tone softened, just slightly.

“I’m not pissed at you.”

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.

“I’m pissed that people don’t know how to shut up,” he added. “And I’m pissed that Mariah has to deal with it. And…”

His voice hesitated.

“I’m pissed I didn’t deal with this stuff sooner when it was Jessa.”

That hit.

Hard.

Because I knew what he meant.

Back when it was his sister getting laughed at. When she was the punchline. When he was too busy being Jackson Lombardi, golden quarterback, to realize how much she was bleeding quietly beside him.

I swallowed.

“She knows you care,” I said.

“She shouldn’t have had to wait this long,” he muttered.

Silence stretched.

Then I heard it.

A low rumble.

A car engine coming to life.

I frowned slightly. “Where are you?”

Jackson exhaled like he’d been holding it in.

“In my car,” he admitted. “Outside Mariah’s place.”

Of course he was.

Jackson Lombardi didn’t do emotional conversations face–to–face if he could avoid it.

“You’ve just been… sitting there?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Needed a minute.”

The engine idled in the background.

–

I leaned back against my wall, staring at the ceiling. That somehow made it worse, him sitting in the dark, alone, trying to process all of it.

“You going home now?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, voice rough. “Just leaving. Wanted to make sure she was okay before I did.”

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I swallowed.

“She’ll appreciate that,” I said quietly.

He gave a short grunt. “Yeah, well. She scares me.”

That actually pulled a laugh out of me, small but real.