Ayla's POV
After that day by the fountain, nothing was ever the same again.
Sophie didn't come near me for a while, but when she finally did, it wasn't to speak. It was to destroy.
At first, her cruelty came dressed in kindness. She smiled often, spoke sweetly, and offered to help whenever others were watching. She would sit beside me in class, pretending to do me a favor. But every time she helped, something went wrong.
A wrong answer slipped into my notes.
An assignment went missing before submission.
My locker was found open, and suddenly things I had never owned appeared inside, answer sheets, contraband items, even a senior's missing bracelet.
And every time, Sophie had an audience.
Every time, she gasped first.
Every time, she was the one to "defend" me softly and gently so she could look merciful while everyone else saw me as trouble.
I learned quickly that at Solaria, truth didn't survive long unless the powerful allowed it to.
All the while, Sophie never stopped clinging to Elena, and Elena never gave me peace of my own.
Days became weeks. Weeks became months.
By the end of my first year, I had already stopped expecting fairness.
And I never stopped reminding myself that Sophie was only doing all of this because Elena asked her to.
Every morning began the same, the loud ring of the dormitory bell followed by the hum of laughter and the soft echo of polished shoes across marble floors. The air always smelled of perfume and privilege.
I would open my eyes to find Elena already awake, flawless, calm, untouchable. Her hair always fell perfectly, her uniform spotless. She never looked tired. Never rushed. And she always watched me dress as if my every second belonged to her.
She controlled every breath of my day.
She flared up whenever I got close to anyone else.
She made sure I was always beside her, guarded, watched, suffocated.
She never said much about Sophie's behavior. But what would she even say when she was the one behind it all? I didn't dare question her. I couldn't. I didn't want to make things worse.
So I swallowed it all.
I survived until the end of the year.
When I finally went home, my mom wouldn't stop asking how school was, how my classmates treated me, if I was happy there. I couldn't tell her the truth.
So I lied. I said they were nice.
The break ended too quickly, like time itself was in a hurry to send me back into my quiet hell.
When the new term began, I told myself I had made peace with it. What didn't kill me in my first year wouldn't kill me in the second.
But I was wrong.
If the first year was pain, the second was punishment.
Sophie didn't bother hiding anymore. She was bold now, untouchable. She would "accidentally" spill juice on my books, tear pages from my notes, or whisper something to a teacher that would earn me detention.
Once, during a group project, she switched my part with the wrong file. I was humiliated in front of the whole class. And Sophie, she smiled, sweet, innocent, unbothered.
And Elena?
She acted like she didn't know.
Like she wasn't the one behind it all.
Sometimes she even "rescued" me, stepping in to defend me, pretending to protect me from the very damage she caused. It was almost crueler that way.
Whenever she saw me talking to anyone, especially Eden, her mood would shift. She would grow cold and distant, her words sharp and quiet like invisible blades.
Once, when she caught me walking with Eden after lunch, she didn't yell.
She just said, "Mother of Solaria, always helping everyone walk well," before walking away.
I didn't even understand what she meant. But the guilt stuck, heavy and unshakable.
That night, she changed the dorm rules again. I had always been the one allowed to switch off the lights before bed, but she took that privilege away.
I knew it wasn't about rules.
It was about control.
And about Eden.
I stopped trying to make friends.
I stopped expecting kindness.
My world shrank until it was just me, Elena's shadow, and Sophie's schemes.
Some nights, I would lie awake staring at the ceiling, wondering why Elena kept me so close only to hurt me.
If she disliked me so much, why not ignore me? Why watch me all the time? Why control who I spoke to?
Sometimes she would brush my hair or adjust my collar before class, her touch gentle, almost motherly. Then the next hour, she would pretend I didn't exist.
Once, during sports practice, I got injured. She stayed by my side for days, tending to me until I recovered.
For a moment, I believed she cared. I believed she isn't that bad.
Until I found out she only did it to keep Eden from coming near me.
Every morning after that, I woke with the same quiet fear, never knowing which version of her I would get.
And I was too scared to ask.
The final months of our last year passed in a blur.
The halls of Solaria glittered with white ribbons and golden banners. Everyone was counting down to graduation, the end of uniforms, the end of curfews, the beginning of freedom.
And for me, it meant something even deeper.
The end of Solaria.
The end of Elena.
The end of this quiet, cruel cage.
Everyone around me was excited for what came next.
But I was the happiest of all,
because I was finally leaving this place that had felt like hell.