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"Are you okay?

" Elias asked as he stepped up to Alyssa's side. He gently placed his hand on the back of her upper arm.

nAlyssa didn't even realize that she was crying until he asked her that. She hastily wiped her tears away, feeling embarrassed about crying in front of him.

nShe didn't mean to. She didn't even know why she was doing this right now. She was probably just frustrated from the incident.

n

"I'm fine,

" she muttered as she tried to step away from him. She didn't want him to see her like this.

nShe was supposed to be stronger than this at least. She didn't want to cry over bullies anymore. She was an adult, not some helpless high school student.

nElias didn't believe her. He took her hand and led her out of the room.

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"Come on. Let's get out of here.

"

nWhen the fresh air outside hit Alyssa's lungs, the fire burning through her diminished slightly.

nShe kept breathing in and out, killing the flames steadily as Elias led her down the sidewalk away from the sorority house.

nHe already texted Zoe to let her know that they were heading out early.

nTo her delight, he didn't mention anything about the incident with Kaleigh to Zoe. Alyssa planned on telling Zoe about it eventually, but she didn't want to talk about it to anyone else but Elias right now. He was the one who saw it, who understood it more.

nShe finally stopped crying, but she could still feel more tears sting at her eyes. She quickly blinked them away, refusing to let any more spill. She had already embarrassed herself enough.

nShe wished that she could disappear, but Elias' grip on her hand kept her grounded there. She couldn't drift away.

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"Seriously, I'm fine,

" she said quietly once they stopped on the sidewalk. They were far away enough from the KDP house to where they couldn't hear the thump of the music anymore.

n

"No, you're not,

" Elias said as he took a step toward her.

nAlyssa felt herself step back away from him. Usually, she would've moved closer to him, but she was embarrassed.

nShe almost caused a scene at the party, and she cried in public over it. She should've never come to this party. What happened at the last one should've warned her against that.

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"I overreacted. I shouldn't have even talked to her. She just…

" Alyssa trailed off after rambling with a shake of her head.

nShe wished that she had ignored Kaleigh or just walked away instead of getting involved. She overwhelmed herself and probably made Kaleigh even more mad. Nothing good came out of their interaction.

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"She upsets you. It's okay,

" Elias said in a comforting manner as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

n

"She wanted a reaction. I gave it to her,

" Alyssa said. She felt full of shame. She walked right into the trap. If it wasn't for Elias being with her, she knew that Kaleigh would've continued to threaten her.

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"You embarrassed her. She hasn't learned yet that she needs to stay away from you,

" Elias replied.

nHe was making it seem like she had some sort of upper hand in this situation. She didn't. She wasn't any better, but Kaleigh didn't think like that. She needed to be top dog, which meant dragging Alyssa down in any way that she could.

nIf Alyssa could go back to the first day of school, she wouldn't say a thing in class. She wouldn't answer one question.

nShe would feel bad about leaving Dr. Pierce hanging, but at least she wouldn't have to deal with Kaleigh. In fact, she would change seats too to be as far away as possible.

n

"I thought bullies only existed in high school,

" Alyssa sighed. She thought that she had escaped them when she graduated, but she found out that she was completely wrong. The bullies here were just older.

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"Unfortunately, bullies exist at every age,

" Elias said with a slight frown.

"I see it a lot.

"

nAlyssa nodded. She should've figured that, but she didn't want to believe it. She thought that at least that aspect of life would get easier for her, but it only grew harder. The girls were still mean. They still wanted to be better than her at any cost.

n

"She's made this year hell,

" Alyssa said. For the most part, this year was good, but there were still bad parts that she had to deal with.

nKaleigh was one of those parts that she couldn't shake yet. She hoped that this issue would clear up before the end of the semester. There were so many other things that she could focus on instead.

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"I hate the way she treats you,

" Elias muttered bitterly.

"I want to help you more. I know she doesn't like me after our first meeting.

"

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"I don't want you to have to always protect me,

" Alyssa replied as she lowered her eyes. It was nice of him, but it also reminded her how weak she was.

nShe wanted to be stronger, but she didn't know how. She brought herself to tears standing up for herself because she got so angry with Kaleigh.

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