"There's something I've wanted to tell you for a long time… Let's break up."
Why had she been crying…? "Why are you breaking up with me?" Elise held onto Damarion's wrist, pain constricting her heart like a collar around her throat, making it hard to breathe.
"Why would there be a reason? We're breaking up—do we really need one?" Damarion pulled his hand away, his gaze disdainful and mocking. "Don't you know what's wrong with you?"
"If you tell me, I can change." Elise still held on to a sliver of hope in her heart, wishing things could be salvaged.
"Can you just stop being so annoying? I just want my freedom. I have my entrance exam tomorrow, don't mess with my mood." Damarion walked away without a backward glance, leaving behind no regret or longing.
Elise wanted to say something more, but the words caught in her throat. As she watched his unwavering figure disappear, she slowly accepted the outcome.
That night, back at home, Elise sat at the dining table, unable to eat. Not a single grain of rice, not a sip of soup, passed her lips.
"Look, we picked up these strawberries on the way here. Want to share them with us?" Ruth, a seventh-grader, held out a bowl of freshly washed strawberries, trying to tempt Elise.
"Thank you both for keeping me company, but I really can't eat," Elise replied without so much as a glance at the bowl.
Braden, also a senior with a big exam the next day, was seated on the armchair, fully absorbed in his book, uninterested in joining the girls' conversation.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Isn't that Damarion in the class next to yours?" Ruth clomped over in her thick slippers, coming to a stop by Baden's chair, waiting for some sage wisdom from him.
"What am I supposed to say? This is the Vargas family home. You should know how to act and not just wander around." Braden turned to the next page, his expression still fixed on his book.
"Damarion was awful! When he messed up his speech draft, didn't Elise help him rewrite it? Then he went on to win in the competition and didn't even say thank you," Ruth huffed, her eyes blazing with anger.
"So, you want me to go teach him a lesson?" Braden finally looked up from his book, his gaze icy and unwavering.
"That's not what I mean, but I'm furious!" Ruth put her hands on her hips, her cheeks puffed up like little buns.
Braden chose not to respond. Reasoning with a thirteen-year-old who probably didn't yet understand love seemed pointless, a waste of his time.
But the next day, at the entrance to the high school exam center, by the placement map, Braden spotted Damarion—who had talked about "freedom" just a day before—already holding hands with another girl, his feigned romance now exposed as shallow infatuation.
Braden studied the exam map, calculating the quickest path to his classroom, but Elise's loud conversation with the girl nearby gave him away. From their words, Braden gathered that they'd been dating for two weeks, overlapping with his time with Elise.
------
A week after the exam, an anonymous article appeared in the school newsletter, pointing out that Damarion's competition essay had been entirely guided by a younger female classmate—even his speech for the school's external competition was written by her, yet he'd never thanked her.
Like a butterfly effect, negative rumors about Damarion spread quickly. It turned out he didn't have just one girlfriend. One of the girls even posted a cozy photo of them on social media for all to see.
While in club class, Elise noticed the girl in the photo was actually one of Baden's classmates, someone with the name Elise—and in reality, it was a boy, just small in stature and wearing a wig.
She couldn't help but wonder if Braden had been the mastermind behind it all.
"Elise, it's a good thing you're not involved with Damarion anymore. He's the kind you let go of early," said Paige, a classmate with cascading long hair, as she added drops of super glue to her lace-covered tissue box before pressing on heart-shaped decorations.
Elise looked down at her own tissue box creation, covered in creamy yellow lace, with two pink roses on the top right corner and a small, slightly lopsided bunny stitched on, one eye bigger than the other.
"I was going to give this to him. Who knew we'd end things like this?" Elise joked wryly, fiddling with the bunny decoration on her box. "Such a shame."
Paige adjusted her glasses, giving Elise a skeptical look. "Who says the stuff we make in club class has to be for someone you like? You could just as easily give it to a friend! And honestly, whoever stood up for you deserves it. If it were me, I'd find them and give them something to say thanks for standing up against family."
Elise chuckled, her earlier gloom lifting. "I don't think that phrase means what you think it does."
Paige tapped Elise's forehead, making little circles. "Either way, forget about him! Life moves forward, girl!"
Elise smiled but stayed silent. She glanced back at the school newsletter, considering Paige's advice carefully.
Right after school, the first thing Elise did was grab her tissue box and rush to wait outside Baden's classroom.
There were only two boys in his class: Braden and the other, who was technically the "girl" in the newsletter photo—though, strictly speaking, he was just cross-dressing.
"This photo is awful. It doesn't capture my beauty at all," Nathanael complained, clutching the newsletter and pointing at his picture with Damarion.
That day, he'd sacrificed his image, got close to Damarion, and even got him tipsy just to snap this picture. Yet, after all that, the photographer's skill was disappointing at best.
The so-called photographer, Braden, simply gave Nathanael a blank look, his tone dry. "Why don't you go find Damarion again? I'll retake it, enlarge it, and frame it so you can admire his charm on your wall day and night."
Nathanael pressed his hands to his cheeks, shaking his head. "If it weren't for your little protégé, I wouldn't be caught dead doing something this ridiculous."
"I just think Damarion deserved a little payback," Braden said, crumpling the newsletter in his hand, his expression steady. "But don't spread it around—I'm not looking for gratitude here."
"Please, like I'd ever admit that's me in the photo," Nathanael rolled his eyes to the ceiling. No way he'd let that embarrassment get out.
The two were deep in conversation, completely unaware that Elise had been standing outside the classroom for a while now.
Nathanael noticed Elise first, quickly moving toward the door like a guilty escapee. He dashed away with the speed of a runaway horse, disappearing in a flash.
Braden barely had time to wonder what had gotten into Nathanael when he looked up, his light brown eyes meeting Elise, standing there holding a pink gift bag.
He hadn't planned on letting her find out that he and Nathanael had orchestrated the whole Damarion situation, but since she'd heard, there was no point in hiding it now.
Braden packed up his things, grabbed his bag, and took out his key to lock the classroom door.
"I made a tissue box in club, and I thought I'd give it to you," Elise said nervously, holding out the bag, hoping he wouldn't find it too ugly.
"You were going to give it to Damarion, weren't you?" Braden teased, not missing a beat.
"Yeah… but it's still new! I didn't recycle an old gift for you," Elise admitted, not bothering to lie.
"If it was meant for him, you should give it to him. Don't go against your own feelings," Braden said calmly, with no anger, encouraging her to be true to herself.
"But we're done now. Paige said that gifts don't always have to be for someone you love—they can be for friends too." Elise took a deep breath. "I wanted to thank you for standing up for me. I was surprised, but I don't feel as hurt anymore. It wasn't that I wasn't good enough. He just wasn't the right one for me."
"Exactly. Recognizing your strengths is one of the best things you can do. You're only sixteen; you'll have plenty of chances to meet someone truly right for you. One day, you'll be grateful you let go of something that wasn't meant to be." Baden's lips curved into a smile as he finally accepted her gift.
"So, I've decided—next time I start dating, I'll tell you first, and you can help me plan it out. That way, there's a better chance I won't mess it up!" Elise beamed, scheming with a smile. With her "love advisor" by her side, she wasn't afraid of any heartbreak.
Baden's face took on a horrified expression. "Maybe let's not... Your taste in people sometimes makes me feel a little sorry for you."
"You're so rude!" Elise put her hands on her hips, her cheeks puffing up indignantly.
That evening, Braden returned home and finally opened the gift Elise had given him in his room. It was a creamy yellow lace tissue box with a rabbit design, complete with mismatched eyes of different sizes.
Braden shook his head with a sigh. "Guess I shouldn't get my hopes up for something you made..."
