I don't know what came over me that day.
Maybe it was everything building up at once.
The way Aisha kept turning back to talk to him.
The way Praveena was always sitting next to him.
The way I felt like I was slowly… being replaced.
Or maybe…
I just needed answers.
It was after school.
The corridors were loud, people leaving, voices overlapping.
And somehow…
I ended up talking to him.
It started normally.
Like always.
And then I said it.
"Aisha."
He looked at me.
"Do you like her?" I asked.
He smirked.
"You know," he said casually, "she's better than you."
I froze.
He laughed right after, like it was a joke.
But it didn't feel like one.
"Oh really?" I said, forcing a smile.
"Yeah," he shrugged.
I laughed it off.
Pretended it didn't matter.
But it did.
And before I could stop myself—
"Sabrina."
He looked at me again.
"Do you like her?" I asked.
There was a pause.
Small.
But I noticed it.
He smiled.
Blushed.
And then—
He avoided it.
"Just answer," I said.
But he didn't.
He laughed it off.
Changed the topic.
Again.
And that's when something inside me shifted.
"I like someone from your row."
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
He looked at me, confused.
"What?"
"I like someone from your row," I repeated.
I don't know why I said it.
Maybe I wanted a reaction.
Maybe I wanted him to think.
Maybe I just didn't want to feel like I was the only one affected.
Before he could respond—
"Do you know Lilly?"
Eric suddenly appeared, cutting right through the moment.
I blinked, thrown off completely.
"What?"
"Lilly," he repeated.
The moment broke.
Just like that.
"Yeah… I think so," I said quickly.
We started walking again.
But something in me wasn't done yet.
So I said it again.
Quieter this time.
"I like someone from your row."
He didn't really react.
Not properly.
Not in a way that gave me anything to understand.
And maybe that was the worst part.
We kept walking after that.
With Eric.
With everything looking normal on the outside.
But it didn't feel normal anymore.
Because now there were too many things I couldn't ignore.
What he said about Aisha.
What he didn't say about Sabrina.
And what I had just admitted—
Even if he didn't understand it.
Because for the first time…
I wasn't just confused anymore.
I was jealous.
And I hated how obvious it felt.