She could feel eyes on her, no matter where she went. To classes, to the cafeteria, even to the library where everyone should focus on studying, not her. That picture of her brother and her kept circling the entire week, and the rumors went from questioning who the guy was to Billie ing Eight. It didn’t help that Minghao avoided her the entire time. It should have been a relief for her. She didn’t have to worry about him sitting next to her in the cafeteria and people taking pictures of it, or his newest girlfriend trying to mark her territory in front of her. But even his absence fueled the rumors that she was cheating on him.

There was nothing more she wanted to avoid than drama, but it seemed to follow her everywhere she went. No one was bold enough to talk to her or ask her about the rumors, but they didn’t whisper either when she was near. 

She sat in the bathroom, waiting for the people lining the hallway to leave. Lately, this became her routine: sitting in a bathroom stall, relaxing and waiting until for her classes. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and tried to open the door, but it was stuck.

“Hello?” She tried to push the door open a couple times, but even though the lock was slid out, she still couldn’t open the door. “Is anyone out there?”

She could hear giggles from the other side as she tried to force the door open. “Come on, are we really doing this? This isn’t high school? Let me out.”

The giggles only got louder as they got closer and she tried to open the door. She stopped trying as she heard water running and saw three sets of feet out on the other side of the door. 

“Who do you think you are, cheating on Eight?” She heard one of them say.

“We’re not dating,” Billie says, slamming her hand against the door. “He still had a girlfriend every day.”

“And yet you’re stuck to his side every day. What are you, his stalker? If that’s the case, then either way, we’re helping him out.”

“Yeah! You need to learn your place.”

Billie rolls her eyes but doesn’t have time to say anything as water splashes over her. But it’s more than that. The smell of it hits her as she opens her eyes. Trash lies everywhere in the stall and all over her. She looks up to see two girls standing above her in the stalls next to her with large empty trash cans.

She can feel the tears burn her eyes as she forces them back. The girls step down and she can hear more laughter as they walk away. “Ew. I think I got some on my hands.”

She sits down on the toilet as the dirty trash and water soaks into her skin. The tears quietly run down her face as the anger fills her up. She doesn’t care and needs to take it out on someone. 

It’s like her body is moving on its own as she steps up on the toilet. She grabs the edge of the top of the stall and pulls herself up and over. She feels her arms shake as she tries to hold up her body as the water on her skin makes her slide. Slowly, she lifts herself up and over and falls onto her . She lays down on the cold tile, letting the coldness seep into her skin.

The tears continued to roll down her face, but her body wasn’t her own as she stood up and walked out. 

She could see the stares of everyone in the halls, as they scattered from her as they smelled it. Some stared, some laughed, but no one helped. She stood in front of the door and kicked it open. She could see the teacher yelling at her, but she couldn’t hear him as she focused on one person in the room. He looked back at her, confused.

“Xu Minghao!” 

He stands up and says something to her, but she can’t hear anything beyond the ringing in her ears. 

“You’ll make sure no one bothers me, right?” She couldn’t stop the tears that burst out with each word. Even now the teacher stood silent as the entire class was the audience to her mellow drama. She can see Minghao rush to her. 

She had nothing but anger rolling through her as he got to her. He tried to reach out to her, but quickly took his hands back so he wouldn’t touch the trash. Billie couldn’t stand it, and she cocked her arm back and swung, landing a punch on his chin. 

She saw him go down; she saw the professor yell and pointing at her, but she just turned and walked away and before she knew it, she was in the shower in the dorm, crying her heart out. 

“I’m just going to throw these away,” she can hear Jackie say, as she comes into the bathroom. 

“And I’ll order some pizza!” Chris yells. 

“Stop being so loud before the dorm monitor comes in. You know no boys are allowed in here.”

“My friend is hurting. I could not care less about rules, or the dorm monitor.”

Billie can hear them, but their words run over her. She simply peels the trash off her and throws it onto the floor outside of the shower. The smell of the trash keeps hitting her, and she has to take deep breaths to stop from throwing up, but every time she does, she inhales more of the smell. 

She hates Minghao. She could feel it in her bones.