Invisible To Her Bully (Jessa and Noah) novel Chapter 64

Mariah yanked open my curtains, letting in a flood of light that felt almost violent after spending the whole day hiding under my blanket.

I groaned, dragging the covers over my head. “Why do you hate me?”

“Because it’s two in the afternoon, Jess,” Mariah said, her tone sharp but laced with concern. “You’ve been in bed since last night, and if I let you, you’d probably still be here when school starts on Monday. That’s not happening.”

The blanket ripped away, and I squinted up at her. She stood over me like some avenging angel in ripped jeans and a hoodie, hands on her hips.

“Get up,” she ordered.

“No,” I muttered, curling into a ball.

Mariah crouched down beside the bed, her face softening. “Jess, come on. I know you’re hurt. I know last night was… a lot. But you can’t just stay in here forever. You’ve got to face the world at some point.”

My throat tightened. “I don’t want to. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” she said firmly. “And I’ll be right there with you.”

I sat up slowly, hugging a pillow to my chest like a shield. My head pounded, and my chest felt hollow, like my heart had been scooped out and thrown away.

“Mariah…” My voice wavered. “What am I supposed to do on Monday? When I see him?”

Her brows furrowed. “Him as in Noah?”

I nodded miserably. Just saying his name felt like swallowing broken glass. “Yeah. Noah.”

The kiss flashed through my mind – the way he’d grabbed me after the pep rally, how sure and certain he’d seemed in that moment, like he wanted me.

And then Daniel’s cruel laugh. His words slicing through me.

The realization that I’d been a joke.

My stomach twisted.

“I don’t know how to look at him,” I whispered. “I don’t know how to act like none of this happened when it feels like everything changed.”

Mariah studied me for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then she sat down beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

18:31 Mon, Oct 13

Chapter 64

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“Okay,” she said finally, her voice steady and calm. “Here’s what you don’t do. You don’t cry in front of him. You don’t let him see how much this hurt you. You hold your head high and you walk past him like he’s not different than some random guy you barely know.”

I blinked at her. “That’s impossible. He’s not just some random guy.”

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