PRETTY WHEN YOU'RE MEAN

Ella's POV

The campus smelled like fresh-cut grass and new beginnings. Ella adjusted the strap of her backpack as a warm breeze lifted strands of her hair, laughter bubbling from every direction. Students buzzed around the quad, faces lit up with nerves and possibility. She wanted to match their energy, but the knot in her stomach wouldn't untangle.

"It's got food. That counts," Kate said from behind her, arguing as usual.

"Not when it's served on plastic trays," Lela retorted.

Ella half-smiled. The banter was familiar comforting, even. She'd known Kate and Lela since the eighth grade. They were her people. Loud, loyal, and a little dramatic. This college, freedom, dorms and late-night junk food was supposed to be the start of something better. No more locker-side insults or whispering behind textbooks. No more small-town stares when she walked with her friends instead of a boyfriend.

A clean slate.

She exhaled, trying to shake the nerves. "Maybe we'll actually survive this place."

Lela grinned. "Please, we're gonna run this campus by Halloween."

They crossed the quad toward the orientation tent, surrounded by booths with flyers and free water bottles. A girl in a bee costume danced in front of the student union.

Ella was mid-eye roll when she froze. Completely. Breath gone. Pulse skipping.

High ponytail. Sunglasses perched like a crown. A laugh that was sharp and sweet like poison apples.

Abby Hawthorn.

"No," Ella whispered. But she couldn't stop staring.

"Oh my god," Lela said beside her. "It's Abby."

Kate's voice dipped. "Still a walking Barbie commercial, huh?"

Ella didn't respond. The world narrowed around the blonde figure standing like she owned the campus like nothing had changed since high school. Her red top hugged her like it had been stitched on her skin. Her lips were glossed, eyes scanning the crowd like she was searching for someone to ruin.

And then she saw Ella.

Their eyes locked.

Ella's chest tightened. She expected a flicker of confusion. Maybe recognition.

But Abby smirked. That slow, familiar, biting smile that once made Ella want to disappear into her locker.

"Well," Abby said, loud enough to cut through the buzz of orientation, "looks like even losers get into college now."

Lela's jaw dropped. "Did she just?"

"I swear I will throw my iced coffee," Kate muttered, already squaring her shoulders.

"No." Ella grabbed her arm. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Let it go."

Her face burned, but not with embarrassment.

Anger. Confusion. Something hotter and messier that she couldn't name.

She turned away, heart pounding, trying to swallow the lump rising in her throat.

"Can't believe she's here," Lela muttered as they walked toward the dorms. "Doesn't she have a modelling contract or some rich-girl gap year to go on?"

Kate snorted. "Guess hell really did freeze over."

Ella didn't say anything. Her thoughts were tangled memories of high school slamming into the present. Abby in the hallways. Abby in the cafeteria. Abby calling her names that stuck like glue.

But also... Abby laughing when she didn't know anyone was listening. Abby biting her lip when she was concentrating in debate. Abby looking at her one time, for a second too long, before turning away like she hadn't.

Ella shook her head.

She wasn't going back there. She wasn't that girl anymore.

Except maybe... she still was.

The dorm was bright and loud and full of possibility. Posters were already half-hung on the walls, and music thumped from somewhere down the hall. Ella tried to lose herself in itopened her suitcase, hung her favorite sweater, arranged her plants on the windowsill.

But Abby's voice echoed in her mind.

Looks like even losers get into college now.

She stared at the cactus on her desk. "What if she's in one of our classes?"

"Then I'll kick her in the shin," Kate offered, lounging across Lela's bed.

Lela reached for her phone. "Speaking of kicking look what just came through."

She held up the screen: a flyer for a party off-campus. Back-to-School Blowout. No Invite Needed. Come Ready.

"Oh no," Ella said immediately. "No way."

Lela wiggled her eyebrows. "Why not?"

"Because it's going to be packed. Loud. Filled with drunk strangers. And plus we weren't invited."

Kate tossed a pillow at her. "Exactly. You're supposed to crash the best parties in college. It's basically tradition."

Ella hesitated. "It's our first night."

"Which is exactly why we need to do something crazy," Lela said. "One drink, one dance, and we bounce."

"Unless there's a cute girl," Kate added. "Then we stay."

Ella sighed. Her heart still felt uneasy Abby's face carved too clearly in her memory.

But maybe Kate was right. Maybe one night of saying yes could shake her out of whatever hold high school still had on her.

"What's the worst that could happen?" she asked.

She'd find out soon enough.