Jealousy Unleashed

Things had been steadily getting worse with Kelly. The more time that passed, the more distant he became. The texts were fewer, the conversations were shorter, and whenever they did talk, it was always awkward. Kelly and Cherry's relationship seemed to have solidified, and Kiara? She was left picking up the pieces of their friendship, but she couldn't seem to fix it.

It was a Friday afternoon when things reached a boiling point. Kiara was walking down the hallway after her last class, when she saw Kelly and Cherry in the corner of the hallway, laughing and holding hands. It was nothing new, but something about the sight felt different this time. It stung more than it had before.

As she walked past them, Kelly looked up and waved. "Hey, Kiara! You good?"

Kiara smiled back, though it felt hollow. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She kept walking, not allowing herself to stop, but her heart pounded in her chest. She was fed up. This was too much. She couldn't just keep pretending like everything was okay.

"Kiara!"

She stopped, turning around to see Kelly jogging toward her, his brows furrowed in confusion. "Hey, what's going on? You don't seem like yourself."

Kiara wanted to scream. She wanted to lash out, to tell him exactly how she felt, to make him understand how much he was hurting her. But instead, she took a deep breath, steadying herself.

"I'm just… I don't know, Kelly. Things have changed, and it feels like you don't care anymore. Like I don't even matter to you."

Kelly's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could speak, Kiara continued. "You've been with Cherry all the time, and I'm just supposed to sit here and be happy for you? You've pushed me away, and you don't even see it. You don't see how much I'm hurting."

Kelly opened his mouth to respond, but Kiara cut him off.

"I'm done. I'm done trying to pretend like everything's fine. It's not."

And with that, she turned and walked away, leaving Kelly standing there, frozen, unsure of what just happened.

End of Chapter 8