Chapter 49: Bad People
Harper’s POV
I barely slept.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Mom’s face crumpling as she whispered those words. He came here. Not your father. Not my husband. Just he, like he had become a stranger. Maybe he had. The man who used to carry Emma on his shoulders and let Noah help him fix broken furniture felt like someone Ihad imagined. The man who stood outside our house yesterday, I didn’t know him. I have not known him for years now.
Mom had cried herself to sleep. Emma had stayed with her most of the night. Noah hadn’t said much at all. That worried me the most. Noah always had something to say. He seem to be the one rattled off the most.
This morning, the house had been painfully quiet. Mom kept insisting she was fine. She wasn’t. Emma kept pretending she wasn’t angry. She was. And me? I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do next.
Dad had called me twice after leaving. I hadn’t answered. He had left one voicemail. I hadn’t listened to it. Because if I heard his voice, I wasn’t sure I’d be strong enough to keep pretending I didn’t care. It Hurt
I tightened my grip on my backpack as I walked across campus. This isn’t Justin’s problem. He’d already done enough. He’d helped my mom. Protected me. Stood beside me when I felt completely alone. I couldn’t keep dragging him into every disaster my family created. Some things I had to face myself.
....
Immediately I got to school, Something felt off.
As I crossed the quad, conversations seemed to stop a second too late. People looked away when I looked at them. A pair of freshmen whispered to each other. One glanced in my direction, then quickly looked down at her phone.
I frowned. Maybe I was imagining it. After everything that had happened, maybe I was just paranoid. I adjusted the camera bag on my shoulder and kept walking. Ignore it. Go to class. One thing at a time. That was today’s goal. Just survive the day.
...
Our documentary crew had gathered outside the media building before class started. I was checking batteries when someone called my name.
"Harper?"
I looked up. It was Ava, one of the girls from my camera crew. She looked awkward. Behind her, two other students exchanged uncertain glances.
"Hey." I smiled politely. "Morning."
She hesitated. "So..." My stomach tightened. "So?" "We heard some things," she said, lowering her voice and looking around.
"What things?"
She studied my face carefully. "You really don’t know?"
My pulse quickened. "Know what?"
Ava shifted her weight. "People have been saying you’re..." She winced. "Using Justin."
I blinked. "What?"
"They’re saying," her voice dropped even lower, "he’s paying your mom’s hospital bills."
For a second, the world seemed to go strangely quiet. Around us, conversations continued. People laughed. Someone dropped a stack of books. But all I could hear was my own heartbeat.
"I didn’t believe it," Ava said quickly. "I swear. I just wanted to check with you because everyone’s talking about it."
"Who’s everyone?" I asked.
She looked uncomfortable. "I don’t know. I just..." She sighed. "I heard Vanessa talking yesterday."
Of course. Vanessa. I closed my eyes for one brief second. Can’t I just have one peaceful day?
..
By lunchtime, the whispers had spread. Nobody said anything directly to my face, but they didn’t have to. The glances were enough. Hushed conversations stopped whenever I walked past. Some people looked curious. Others looked judgmental. A few actually looked disappointed.
I forced myself to keep my head high. I’d survived worse than whispers. I could survive this too.
Couldn’t I?
..
Practice had just ended when I found Justin outside the arena. He took one look at my face. "What happened?" he asked.
I tried to smile. "It doesn’t matter."
"It matters," he said firmly.
"It’s just stupid campus gossip."
His expression sharpened. "What gossip?"
I looked away. "Vanessa." That was all it took. His jaw tightened immediately. "What did she do?"
I sighed. "Apparently I’m using you."
His eyebrows knitted together. "What?"
"To pay for my mom’s hospital bills," I said.
He stared at me. Then laughed once, not because it was funny, but because he clearly couldn’t believe someone would say something so deliberately cruel. I shrugged. "It’ll die down."
"No," he said immediately. "No, it won’t."
"It always does," I replied.
"Harper." He stepped closer. "If people think staying quiet means they’re right, they’ll keep talking."
I hated that he was right. He pulled out his phone. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"Fixing it," he said.
"Justin—"
He was already dialing. When Vanessa answered, he didn’t waste a second. "Vanessa." A pause. "No. I don’t care what you thought you heard. I care about what you said." He listened for a moment. Then his voice became dangerously calm. "The same mouth you used to spread those rumors is going to tell every single person you lied."
"I didn’t lie," she protested, loudly enough that I could hear her through the speaker.
Justin’s expression didn’t change. "You have two choices," he said evenly. "You correct it. Or I have a conversation with your father about everything you’ve been doing this semester."
Silence. Real silence. I frowned. Everything she’d been doing?
Vanessa finally spoke again, but this time her confidence was gone. "You wouldn’t," she said quietly.
Justin’s eyes hardened. "Try me."
Another long pause. Then, "Fine."
"You have until the end of today," he said, and ended the call just like that. He slid his phone back into his pocket and looked at me calmly.
I stared at him. "You didn’t have to do that," I said.
"Yeah," he replied, like the answer was obvious. "I did."
Something tightened in my throat. "You can’t keep fighting all my battles," I said.
"I’m not," he said, his voice softening. "I’m standing beside you while you fight them."
"come" he said, grabbing my hands "we are going to my dads office"
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