Invisible To Her Bully (Jessa and Noah) novel Chapter 288

Jessa

The mall wasn’t busy.

Not dead, but not packed either–the kind of in–between where you could actually hear yourself think. Soft music playing from somewhere, the hum of conversations blending into the background, the smell of pretzels and coffee drifting through the air.

Mariah walked beside me, sipping on an iced drink, her eyes flicking over storefronts like she was looking for something to judge.

“You realize,” she said casually, “we came here to ‘walk around‘ and have now passed the same three stores twice.”

I glanced at her.

“We’re processing.”

She snorted. “You’re processing. I’m just here for emotional support and a possible pretzel.”

I smiled a little.

“That’s fair.”

We walked a few more steps in silence.

Then-

“I still don’t understand.”

I knew what she meant before she even looked at me.

“Why you didn’t tell me,” she said, stopping in front of a store window. “About Oregon. About all of it.”

There wasn’t anger in her voice.

But there was something else.

Something quieter,

Hurt.

I shifted my weight, looking at my reflection in the glass instead of directly at her,

“I know.”

Mariah crossed her arms.

“We tell each other everything, Jess.”

“I know.”

“So what changed?”

That question sat heavy.

Because it wasn’t just about Oregon.

It was about… everything.

I took a breath.

“You did.”

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Her brows pulled together.

“What?”

“You changed,” I said softly, finally turning to face her. “Not in a bad way. Just… life changed.”

She blinked at me.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does,” I said. “You’ve always been my biggest cheerleader. You’ve always been the one who pushes me, who stands up for me-”

“Because someone has to,” she cut in immediately.

“I know,” I said, a small smile tugging at my lips. “And I needed that. I still do.”

“Then why shut me out?”

There it was again.

That quiet hurt.

And this time, I didn’t look away.

“Because I won’t always have you.”

She went still.

The words landed between us, heavier than I expected.

“What?” she said again, softer this time.

“I mean it,” I said. “You’re not going to be right next to me forever. We’re not always going to be in the same place, same schedule, same everything.”

Mariah didn’t interrupt this time.

She just watched me.

“And you’ve always helped me,” I continued. “Every time something went wrong, every time someone said something, every time I didn’t know what to do–you were there.”

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “Because you’re my best friend.”

“I know.”

My throat tightened a little, but I pushed through.

“But I can’t rely on that forever.”

She frowned.

“That’s not relying. That’s… having someone.”

“It’s both,” I said. “And I think I leaned on you a lot more than I should have.”

Her expression shifted.

Not defensive.

Just… listening.

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“You stood up for me when no one else would,” I said. “When people made fun of me. When Jackson and Noah were being idiots years ago-”

She smirked slightly. “They really were.”

“They were,” I agreed. “And you never hesitated. You always stepped in. You always made it better.”

“That’s what I do.”

“I know,” I said again, softer this time. “But that’s the thing.”

She tilted her head.

“What thing?”

“I started to realize… I need to be able to do that for myself too.”

That hung there.

Mariah’s arms slowly uncrossed.

“And when I was looking at colleges,” I continued, “trying to figure everything out, I kept thinking–what happens when you’re not there to help me figure it out?”

“I’d still answer your calls,” she said immediately.

I smiled.

“I know you would.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem is I need to know I can handle things even when you’re not there.”

That one hit differently.

I could see it in her face.

Not hurt this time,

Understanding.

Slow.

Reluctant.

But there,

“And I needed to figure it out on my own,” I said. “Not because I didn’t trust you. But because I needed to trust myself.”

Mariah looked down at her drink, rolling the straw between her fingers.

“And what did you figure out?” she asked after a second.

I exhaled slowly.

“That I need a new start.”

She didn’t react right away.

So I kept going.

“Here… no matter what I do, it always comes back to the same thing. The same people. The same opinions. The same

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expectations.”

I gestured vaguely around us, even though I meant something much bigger than the mall.

“No matter how hard I try, it feels like I’m stuck in whatever version of me this town decided I am.”

Mariah’s jaw tightened slightly.

“I hate that.”

“Me too,” I said. “And I’ve tried to change it. I’ve tried to ignore it. I’ve tried to prove people wrong.”

“And you have.”

“Yeah,” I said. “But it doesn’t fully go away.”

She didn’t argue that.

Because she knew.

She’d seen it.

“So when I started looking at schools,” I said, “it wasn’t just about getting out of Ridgeville. It was about starting somewhere.

new.”

“Where nobody knows you,” she said quietly.

“Exactly.”

“Where nobody has already decided who you are.”

“Yeah.”

Silence stretched between us again.

But this time it wasn’t uncomfortable.

It was… thoughtful,

Mariah stared at the floor for a moment.

Then back at me.

“And you thought you had to do that alone?”

“I didn’t think I had to,” I said. “I just… wanted to see if I could,”

She let out a slow breath.

“And?”

“I can,” I said.

Something in my voice must’ve convinced her.

Because her expression softened.

Not all the way.

But enough.

“I guess I get that,” she admitted.

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I raised an eyebrow slightly.

“You guess?”

“Don’t push it,” she muttered.

I laughed quietly.

She rolled her eyes, but there was a small smile tugging at her mouth now.

“We are growing up,” she said after a second.

There it was.

The thing neither of us had really said out loud before.

“Yeah,” I said.

“And it’s weird.”

“Very.”

“And I don’t like parts of it.”

“Same.”

She glanced at me.

“But I think I understand.”

Relief settled in my chest in a way I didn’t expect.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said. “You needed to figure this out for yourself. Not because you don’t trust me–but because you need to trust