𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓: 𝐀 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡

                                    

                                          

                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
The air in the halls was alive and Alaina wasn't the target of scrutiny.
Diverting the school's attention was child's play. People wanted gossip. Gossip that revolved around disputes and disagreements among their classmates. Gossip that centered around the lives of those in influential social circles. Gossip with scandalous secrets, whether it was speculative or truthful. All they needed was a story and they would turn it into something negative and damaging in an instant. You either learned to deal with the crowd otherwise you were left at the mercy of hyenas who didn't have any to spare.
There was no mercy towards their latest story.
People were shamelessly vocal with their criticisms about Paige and her crush. It was a curious occurrence, someone from a higher social class pursuing someone below them. The outdated perspective of incompatibility among clashing classes seemed to be an unanimous belief and Alaina used it to her advantage. It was a fitting form of vengeance.
While a decent person would advise against obtaining satisfaction from the misery of others, there had to be an exception for if that individual was someone like Paige. After her petty interferences and snarky remarks, she was confronted with the echoes of her own actions.
It felt liberating to be able to walk down the hall without prying eyes regarding the Red Card girl. Checking her phone, Alaina scrolled to a new post from Paige, an attempt to withdraw the words from her previous post. She proceeded to say the post wasn't her doing and insult the idea of dating someone of a lower social status, further destroying her reputation on her own. It was great hearing someone else become the drama, the right start to her day.
"She rejected me but goes for a guy like that?!" A male exclaimed in disbelief.
"It's just like Romeo and Juliet, forbidden love," a female romanticized.
"How lame!" The more critical comments were acknowledged over hers. "She's fallen so low to have such bad taste in men."
"It's Paige of all people too," A female replied excitedly. "Did you read her confession? Her dramatic 'I can't keep my feelings a secret any longer. Please be the white knight to my queen'!" She burst out laughing.
"Right? What a joke," another student added, giggling.
Heading off to study hall, Alaina took her seat alone at her usual table, taking out her notebook and finishing up some homework. She had a research paper to start for English as well, and there was no better time to get a head start on it than now. She made her way to the shelves with books about literary research. Standing across the shelf, she scanned the books, seeing a couple that appeared to be useful to her topic, which happened to be out of her reach.
Alaina wheeled one of the ladders near her over to where her books were, grabbing a couple of the books and flipping through the contents to check if they were useful to her topic. While she was occupied, Paige had already convinced her most loyal followers of her innocence, some of which had study hall first, and instructed for them to deliver consequences.