David's POV
The next morning felt… wrong.Not quiet in the peaceful sense.Quiet in the way a battlefield feels after a war has just ended.The kind of silence that carries echoes of things that can't be taken back.
Section E had never been like this.Usually the classroom was chaos before the professor even arrived.Blaster arguing loudly with Felix about basketball scores.
Rory throwing paper balls across the room just to annoy someone.Cin laughing like an idiot over something on his phone.
Yuri and Keifer occasionally throwing sarcastic comments at each other that turned into half-serious arguments.
Someone always talking.Someone always moving.Someone always alive.
But today…No one spoke.Everyone was there.Cin leaned against the window.Felix sat on his desk, spinning a pen between his fingers.
Yuri was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.Even Keifer.But one seat remained empty.
Jay's seat.
And somehow that one empty chair felt louder than the entire class combined.
It sat there quietly.Mocking us.Accusing us.
Reminding every single person in this room exactly what we had done.I sat at the back like I always did.Silent.Watching.Observing.
That had always been my role.I wasn't loud like the others.I didn't get into fights.I didn't argue.I didn't lead.I simply watched everything.
But today the silence was suffocating.Because every time my eyes landed on that empty seat—Something twisted painfully in my chest.
The girl who used to sit there…The girl who used to laugh at everyone's stupidity…The girl who somehow managed to fix everyone's problems like it was the most natural thing in the world…
Was gone.And we were the reason.
Keifer finally spoke.His voice was low.Rough.Like he hadn't slept all night.
"Rory."
Rory looked up from his phone lazily.
"Yeah?"
Keifer's jaw tightened slightly before he spoke again.
"Check Jay's location."
For a second—
I thought I misheard him.
My brain refused to process what he had just said.But Rory casually unlocked his phone.Like it was the most normal request in the world.And something inside me snapped.
The sound of my chair scraping violently against the floor echoed through the classroom as I stood up so abruptly it startled half the room.
Everyone turned toward me instantly.
Because I never did that.
I was the calm one.The quiet one.The one who stayed out of everyone's drama.
But right now—My chest felt like it was burning.My hands were shaking.And the anger rising inside me had been building for far too long.
"Are you serious right now?"
My voice came out sharper than I had ever heard it before.
The room froze.
Rory blinked.
"What?"
I turned slowly toward Keifer.
Disbelief flooding every part of my chest.
"You want to track her location even now?"
The laugh that left my mouth was hollow.
Cold.
Bitter.
"After everything you did to her at most we all did to her?"
The air in the classroom became heavy instantly.Keifer's eyes lifted toward me slowly.
Dark.Tired.But still defensive.
"David—"
"No."
I cut him off immediately.The word exploded out of me before he could even finish.
"Don't."
Cin straightened in his seat quickly.
"Hey david—"
But I wasn't stopping.Not today.Not anymore.
"Do you have any idea what you did yesterday?" I demanded.
My hands slammed against the desk in front of me.The loud crack echoed through the classroom.
"You humiliated her.You broke her.And now the first thing you want to do is stalk her location like she's some lost dog?!"
Keifer stood up slowly.
His chair pushed back with a low scrape against the floor.
"You don't understand the situation."
I laughed again.
This time it sounded almost hysterical.
"Oh I understand perfectly Keifer..."
My eyes swept across the entire room.
Felix.
Blaster.
Rory.
Edrix.
Cin.
Denzel.
Every single one of them.
"You all came up with that stupid plan just because you all hated her brother Aries for what he was doing to our section."
My voice trembled with rage.
"Then you all laughed at her yesterday when she was standing there being humiliated.You all watched her fall apart."
Felix shifted uncomfortably.
"David—"
I pointed at him sharply.
"Don't."
The word sliced through the air.
"You don't get to interrupt me right now."
Felix went silent immediately.Because everyone could see it.I wasn't the quiet David anymore.Something had broken inside me.
"You know what's funny?" I continued bitterly.
"You all act like Section E is some kind of brotherhood.Like we're one unstoppable unit."
My laugh came out harsh.
"But we all know that's bullshit."
The room stiffened.
Because they knew exactly what I meant.
"This class has always been divided."
I pointed toward Keifer.
"Team Keifer."
Then I turned toward Yuri's side of the room.
"And Team Yuri.Every time those two clashed—The entire class split down the middle like a damn civil war.Arguments.Fights.Sides being chosen.Loyalty being tested.And everyone pretended it was normal."
I looked at all of them seeing there faces fall with hints of shame and guilt..
"Don't even try to deny it," I said coldly.
"We all know it's true."
No one argued.
Because they couldn't.
"And Jay?"
My chest tightened painfully.
"She was the only one who never treated this class like a battlefield."
Images flashed through my mind.Her laughing with everyone.Her dragging people together when they fought.Her stubborn determination to fix problems that weren't even hers.
"She helped Calix and Mica get back together."
Calix's head dropped slightly.
"She helped Denzel to take responsibility for Grace again when he found out about the baby."
Denzel's jaw tightened hard.
"She spoke against the basketball coach for Felix so that he could play due to which he received his scholarship for future training..."
Felix stared at the floor.
"And this is how you repay her?"
My voice cracked slightly.
"By planning her humiliation?"
The silence in the room felt suffocating.
Rory stood up quickly.
"David, calm down—"
But I shook my head violently.
"No.I stayed quiet long enough."
Then I looked at Edrix frowned as he spoke..
"You were part of this too David you know.."
That made my head snap toward him.My laugh was sharp.Almost angry.
"Part of it?"
My eyes burned as I looked around the room.
"I was NEVER part of your stupid scheme."
The words exploded out of my chest.
"And everyone here knows that.And you know what hurts the most?"
I turned toward Cin slowly.
"That after the plan was made you came to me and told that we will protect Jay from them but even you betrayed her and me...you gave her information to Keifer."
Cin froze.
"You trusted him with things she told you privately.And I said nothing."
My chest rose and fell heavily.
"Because I thought maybe… just maybe… there was a reason."
The room was dead silent.
Then suddenly—
Keifer slammed his hands on the desk.
"STOP IT DAVID..Don't act all holy, David!"
His voice cracked through the tension like thunder.
"You think I don't know what you've been doing?"
My eyes snapped toward him.
"You've been helping Percy Mariano."
Murmurs filled the room instantly.
Keifer stepped closer.
"You made a deal with him.Protection for Jay in exchange for treatment for your girlfriend in New York."
My jaw clenched.
For a moment—I didn't say anything.Then I met his gaze directly.
"Yes."
The word echoed through the classroom.
"I did."
My voice was steady now.
"At least I tried to protect her."
My fists clenched tightly.
"And I still failed."
The guilt inside my chest felt unbearable.Because despite everything—Despite the warnings—Despite the precautions—I still couldn't stop what happened yesterday.
Suddenly Keifer grabbed my collar.His face inches from mine.
His voice shaking violently.
"I LOVE HER, DAVID!"
The confession shocked everyone.Cin rushed forward instantly.
"Keifer stop—"
But Keifer ignored him completely.
"I did all of this to protect her!"
I shoved his hands away he stumbled backwards and then I spoke the words loud and clear because this dickhead really needed to hear it out...
"THEN START FUCKING TRUST HER KEIFER!!!!"
The silence that followed felt endless.But I wasn't finished.
"We all know why you did what you did," I said slowly.
"The Watson family.The threats.The inheritance.I understand that...we all do. "
My voice softened slightly.
"But did you ever consider telling her the truth?"
Keifer's jaw clenched.
"She would've been in danger."
"Maybe."
I stepped closer to him.
"But you know Jay.She would've helped.She would've fought. Maybe she wouldn't have even meddled in,if you had told her.. because that's how much she loved and trusted you keifer.. That's who she is."
My chest burned again.
"But instead you and we all shattered her.She trusted you.She fucking trusted ALL of us."
My voice cracked.
"And yesterday we gave her the worst betrayal possible."
I exhaled slowly.thwn I walked closer to him my voice softening so that only he could hear it...
"You want to know something?I know that you know about how I feel about her, but before everything in this world even before my feelings for her...she is my bestfriend first and seeing how much you cared and loved her after you dropped that fucking plan of yours…I stepped back."
His eyes widened slightly.
" Because one thing that I know about you is that when a Watson loves he is not only possessive of his women but he can also burn himself alive if he had to.. in order to prove his love for his beloved and from that day when I saw you fight every other boy who looked at her with wrong intentions...I knew you deserved her more than anyone on this planet...
My gaze hardened.
"But now?"
I shook my head slowly.
"You're the last person I want her to be with."
The words hit harder than I intended.
"Actually…"
I sighed.
"None of us deserve her, not even me."
The room remained silent.
But the anger inside me still burned.
"But I'm not just gonna stand here and see each and every one of us keeping the truth away from her....I'm not afraid of you anymore, Keifer.If helping Jay means telling her the truth…I'll do it."
Cin grabbed my arm quickly.
"David stop—"
But I pulled away.
"And If that means I'm no longer part of Section E…"
My voice turned cold.
"Then maybe I never belonged here."
Cin tried to stop me again.But I was already walking toward the door.The anger.The guilt.The frustration.Everything boiling violently inside my chest.
Because for the first time in years—I wasn't the quiet one anymore.And even if it meant standing against every single person in that room—
I would tell Jay the truth,No matter what it cost....