Chapter Fourteen.

Kayla's hands trembled as she hastily shoved her belongings into her bag, her vision blurring as tears welled up. The silence in the classroom behind her was suffocating, and she could feel every pair of eyes burning into her back. She refused to look up, knowing that Oliver was watching her with that same cold, seething expression that had driven her out in the first place. His anger was palpable, and it hung in the air like a heavy weight pressing down on her.

She fumbled with the zipper of her bag, her hands shaking so violently that it took several tries to close it. The weight of the professor's disdain and the humiliation of being kicked out in front of everyone was almost too much to bear. Her heart raced in her chest, and the lump in her throat grew tighter with each passing second.