Chapter 3 I'm Completely Finished This Time!

Isabella's POV

The next morning, I was jolted awake by a short car horn outside my window.

I pulled back the curtain and looked down. Maurice's familiar blue sedan was parked right below the apartment building.

He was leaning against the car door, holding a cup of coffee. When he spotted me at the window, he immediately smiled and waved. The morning sunlight fell across him, making his expression look especially warm and bright.

My heart softened. The hurt from last night seemed to fade away in that moment, washed out by the morning light.

I changed quickly and hurried downstairs, my steps noticeably lighter.

"Why are you here so early?" I slid into the passenger seat and took the coffee he offered. The cup was just the right temperature, warmth slowly spreading from my fingertips.

He started the car but kept his eyes on my face for a moment. "Was the hot dog good yesterday? I was worried it would get cold, so I had them wrap it in an extra layer of insulation paper."

I nodded and took a sip of coffee. The sweetness was perfect, exactly how I liked it. "It was really good."

He seemed relieved, his smile brightening instantly before he turned his attention back to the road. "That's good then."

"I'm not mad at you," I said quietly.

Maurice's gentleness and thoughtfulness worked like a balm, temporarily easing the nerves that had been wound tight because of the audition.

I felt safe. With him by my side, I felt like no matter what problems lay ahead, I could handle them.

The drive only took about ten minutes before we arrived at campus.

Maurice and I walked side by side toward the main academic building.

As I walked, I mentally reviewed today's schedule. Professional classes in the morning, extra practice in the piano room in the afternoon, and a pile of reading to get through tonight.

I was exhausted, but thinking about next week's audition felt like someone pushing me forward. All my fatigue was forcibly shoved aside and transformed into motivation to keep going.

As we rounded the corner of the hallway, a piercing laugh echoed toward us.

I didn't need to look to know whose voice that was. Sophia.

She was leaning against the lockers with two girls flanking her, her posture bold and showy. One of the girls was Susan Garcia.

The moment Sophia spotted me, her eyes lit up.

She looked me up and down, deliberately raising her voice as if she wanted everyone in the entire hallway to hear. "Oh, if it isn't our future solo star Isabella! Practicing piano every day, your arms must be as solid as a gym rat's by now, right?"

The girls beside her immediately burst into laughter, sharp and grating, deliberately amplified in the quiet space, leaving nowhere to hide.

"Exactly, Sophia. Look at what she's wearing, still in last year's styles. So plain and completely unfashionable."

"Like I always say, women look better when they're thin and delicate. Who would want someone like Isabella?"

Sophia's gaze landed on Maurice beside me. She deliberately arched her back and threw him an obvious flirtatious look, then reached out, her fingers trailing across Maurice's arm in a casual but deliberate gesture, the movement full of suggestion.

"Maurice, what do you think?" Her voice was sickeningly sweet, sticky and uncomfortable. "Do you prefer Isabella's type, or mine?"

I stared at that hand on Maurice's arm, my chest tightening like someone was squeezing it, my heart constricting, even my breathing becoming difficult.

I waited for Maurice to shake her off, waited for him to shut her down, waited for him to stand on my side, waited for him to say that he wanted me.

But he didn't.

He just gently pulled his arm back, his expression barely changing. Then he grabbed my wrist and said quietly, "Let's go, don't pay attention to them."

He led me forward a few steps, but I felt like I'd been plunged into ice water, cold from head to toe, the chill seeping into my bones.

Only after we'd walked to the other end of the hallway and the noise had faded did I suddenly shake off his hand. The force was so strong it even startled me.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

My voice was shaking, both from anger and disappointment. My eyes were burning, tears threatening to spill.

"Say what?" Maurice frowned, looking at me with genuine confusion.

"What's there to say to them? Getting into it with those kinds of people will only drag you down to their level."

"That Susan," I pointed in the direction where Sophia and her group had been standing, "she's the girl you mentioned yesterday, the one you're tutoring, right?"

Maurice paused for a moment, then nodded, his tone flat. "Yes, that's her. What about it?"

"What about it?" I was so angry at his obliviousness that I laughed bitterly, my emotions spiraling out of control, tears finally falling. "She's hanging out with Sophia now, standing right beside her, clearly they're together. You think that's a coincidence?"

"Don't you know what kind of person Sophia is? Last semester she deliberately spilled coffee on my sheet music and almost made me miss the midterm performance. Have you already forgotten?"

My emotions were completely ignited, my voice rising involuntarily, carrying an obvious tremor. All the hurt and disappointment I'd been holding in these past days came pouring out.

Maurice looked increasingly impatient at my questioning. He reached out to pull me closer, but I dodged, his eyes full of bewilderment and frustration.

"Isabella, that's all in the past." He tried to defuse the situation, his tone softening slightly. "And Susan is different from Sophia. She's not a bad person, maybe she just didn't see clearly when making friends and got influenced by Sophia. You can't lump her in with Sophia just because she's standing with her. That's not fair to her."

"Not fair?" I looked at him in disbelief, tears falling harder. "Then when they publicly humiliated me just now, do you think that was fair to me? I'm your girlfriend!"

"Then what do you want me to do?" Maurice was starting to lose his temper too, his voice rising several notches. "You want me to rush over and start a fight with them? Isabella, you have your audition next week. What's most important right now is that you stay focused, not get derailed by this petty drama."

"I got publicly humiliated by your little friend, and you think that's petty drama?"

"She's not my little friend!" Maurice immediately shot back. "We're just—"

"Enough!" I cut him off. I didn't want to hear any more explanations. Those explanations would only make me feel worse. "I need to get to class."

"Isabella!" Maurice reached out to stop me, obvious panic in his voice.

I didn't look back, walking directly toward the classroom in the opposite direction from him.

The class bell suddenly rang.

I panicked!

This class was taught by that professor who had zero tolerance for tardiness—being even one second late would get you publicly called out and torn apart!

I was completely screwed now!

I instinctively broke into a run!