Jay's Pov
Three days.
I stayed in my room for three days.
Didn't eat. Didn't sleep. Didn't answer messages.
Sarah brought food. Bella sat with me in silence. Dave left chips outside my door. Ben slipped photos under it—not of me, but of happy things. Sunsets. Clouds. Stupid stuff.
I didn't care.
Nothing mattered.
Because the boy I loved—the boy who held me, kissed me, bought me a stupid purple dinosaur—never loved me back.
I was just a plan.
A revenge tactic.
A joke.
On the third day, I got up.
Looked in the mirror.
My eyes were red. Swollen. Dead.
But something else was there too.
Coldness.
"You're done crying," I told my reflection. "You're done being weak. You're done trusting anyone."
The reflection didn't argue.
I walked into Section E like a ghost.
The classroom went silent.
Every head turned. Every mouth dropped open.
I didn't care.
My eyes swept the room once. Cold. Empty. Murderous.
Ci-n looked like he'd been crying for three days straight. His face was pale, eyes puffy. When he saw me, he flinched.
Felix actually gasped. "J-Jay..."
I ignored him.
My eyes landed on Keifer.
He was sitting at his desk. Watching me. His face was pale. Dark circles under his eyes. Like he hadn't slept either.
Good.
I walked toward him.
The room held its breath.
In my hand was his jacket. The leather one. The one he'd given me that day in the bathroom. The one I'd worn a hundred times. The one that still smelled like him.
I stopped in front of his desk.
Didn't look at his face.
Didn't meet his eyes.
Just dropped the jacket on his desk.
It landed with a soft thump.
"Jay—" he started.
I turned and walked away.
Didn't look back.
Didn't say a word.
The silence in the room was deafening.
I sat at my desk. The back corner. Where I always sat.
Mia was beside me. She reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
"Jay, please—"
"Don't."
She flinched but nodded.
Jare was across the room. Watching me with sad eyes. I ignored him too.
Everyone was watching me.
I didn't care.
I stared at the board. At nothing. At everything.
Inside, my heart was screaming.
I still love him.
I still love him and I hate myself for it.
I want him to hold me.
I want to kill him.
I want both.
I want to die.
But my face? My face was ice.
Ci-n approached during break.
Tentative. Careful. Like approaching a wild animal.
"Jay? Can I... can I talk to you?"
"No."
"I just—I want to explain—"
"I said NO."
He flinched. Tears filled his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."
I looked at him. The kid I'd considered a brother. The kid who'd called me his sister.
"You said that already."
"I know. But I—"
"Go away, Ci-n."
He nodded. Walked away.
His shoulders were shaking.
I didn't care.
Liar.
I cared so much it hurt.
Keifer's Pov
Three days.
Three days without her.
Three days of staring at my ceiling, replaying every moment, wondering if I'd made the right choice.
I knew I had. Logically.
But logic didn't stop the pain.
When she walked into the classroom, my heart stopped.
She looked... different.
Not just sad. Not just hurt.
Cold.
Empty.
Dead.
Her eyes swept the room like she was scanning for threats. When they landed on me, there was nothing. No anger. No sadness. No love.
Nothing.
I did this.
I made her look like that.
She walked toward me. Each step felt like a knife.
In her hand was the jacket. MY jacket. The one I'd given her. The one she'd worn every day since.
She dropped it on my desk.
Didn't look at me.
Didn't say a word.
Just... dropped it. Like it meant nothing. Like WE meant nothing.
"Jay—"
She turned and walked away.
I wanted to grab her. Hold her. Explain.
But I couldn't.
Because this was the plan.
This was what I chose.
And now I had to live with it.
She sat at her desk. In the corner. Alone.
Mia tried to touch her. She pulled away.
Jare looked at me with sad eyes. I shook my head slightly. Leave it. Leave her.
But inside, I was DYING.
She still had the same hair. Same face. Same everything.
But the light in her eyes? Gone.
I killed it.
I killed her light.
Ci-n tried to talk to her. She shut him down. Hard.
He walked away crying.
Felix was already crying. Yuri was staring at the floor. The whole section was a mess.
And at the center of it all was her.
Frozen. Cold. Broken.
Because of me.
Mia caught my eye. Mouthed: It's okay. She'll be okay.
I shook my head. No she won't.
Jare nodded at me. A small nod. Hang in there.
I wanted to scream.
HOW?! How do I hang in there when the person I love most in the world won't even look at me?!
Sir Alvin walked in.
He must have felt the tension because he paused at the door. Looked around. Frowned.
"Is everything okay?"
Silence.
"Okay then... let's begin."
He started the lesson. Filipino. As always.
I didn't hear a word.
I was too busy watching her.
She was staring at the board. Not blinking. Not moving.
Jay. Please. Look at me. Just once.
She didn't.
Sir Alvin wrote something on the board.
"Okay, class. Today we're learning about word roots. For example, the word 'plano' comes from Spanish. In English, it means 'plan.'"
My blood froze.
Plan.
She stiffened.
Everyone noticed.
Sir Alvin, oblivious, continued. "Plano. Plan. A detailed proposal for doing or achieving something. Can anyone give me an example?"
No one spoke.
"Anyone?"
Still silence.
Then—
A sound.
Small. Quiet. But unmistakable.
A sob.
From HER.
She was staring at the board. At the word. At "PLANO." At "PLAN."
Her shoulders shook. Just once. Just a little.
Then she stood up.
Walked to the door.
Opened it.
And SLAMMED it behind her.
The sound echoed through the classroom like a gunshot.
Everyone froze.
Sir Alvin blinked. "Did I... say something wrong?"
No one answered.
Because everyone knew.
Everyone knew what that word meant to her.
Everyone knew she'd just been reminded that the last few months of her life—the love, the laughter, the kisses—were all part of a PLAN.
My plan.
My stupid, necessary, life-saving plan.
I wanted to run after her.
My legs actually twitched. Started to move.
But Yuri's hand on my arm stopped me.
"Don't."
"She needs me—"
"She needs space. You go now, you make it worse."
"She just—she SOBBED, Yuri."
"I know." His voice was pained. "I know."
I sat back down.
Put my head on my desk.
And held back tears with every ounce of strength I had.
Jay. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I love you. I love you. I love you.
The words repeated in my head like a prayer.
But she couldn't hear them.
And maybe she never would again.
Ci-n was crying openly now. "This is the worst day ever."
"It's been the worst THREE days," Felix corrected, also crying.
"Same thing."
"NOT the same thing."
"IT FEELS THE SAME."
Yuri rubbed his face. "We need to get through this. For her. For him."
Jare nodded slowly. "She'll come back. She always does."
"When?"
"I don't know. But she will."
I looked at Jare. My almost-brother-in-law. The twin of the girl I loved.
"How do you know?"
"Because she's my sister. And my sister is the strongest person I know." He paused. "Also, she still loves you. I can tell."
"How can YOU tell?"
"Because she didn't burn the dinosaur."
I blinked. "What?"
"The purple one. The one you won her at the fair. She still has it. I saw it in her room." He almost smiled. "If she really hated you, that thing would be ashes."
For the first time in three days, something warm flickered in my chest.
She still has the dinosaur.
She still has something of me.
Maybe... maybe there's hope.
The door remained closed.
She didn't come back.
Sir Alvin, finally realizing something was very wrong, dismissed us early.
I walked out of the classroom.
Looked down the hallway.
Empty.
She was gone.
But on the floor, near the exit, was something small.
A note.
I picked it up.
One sentence, written in her handwriting:
"I still love you. And I hate myself for it."
My knees almost gave out.
I clutched the note to my chest.
Jay.
My Jay.
I'm going to fix this.
I swear.