Chapter 8: A Life Beyond Cole

Ignoring Cole turned out to be much easier than I expected.

For the first few days, he seemed determined to test my patience.

He would wait outside our apartment door in the morning.

At school, he would deliberately take the seat behind me during lunch.

Sometimes, I would catch him staring at me from across the classroom.

Every single time, I acted like he didn't exist.

Eventually, people began noticing.

"Did Aurora and Cole actually break up?"

"Were they even dating in the first place?"

"I thought Aurora was obsessed with him."

"Maybe she's just trying to make him jealous."

That last comment made me laugh.

Make him jealous?

For nine years, I had spent enough time trying to get Cole's attention.

I was exhausted.

One afternoon, I was sitting alone in the library when someone placed a book on the table across from me.

I looked up.

It was Ethan Hayes.

Ethan was a senior and one of the best students at our school.

He was quiet, polite, and rarely involved himself in anyone else's drama.

I knew who he was, of course.

Everyone did.

But we had never really spoken.

"You dropped this," he said.

I looked down.

My pink notebook was sitting beside his hand.

"Oh. Thank you."

He nodded and turned to leave.

Then he paused.

His eyes landed on the faint bruise still visible beneath my makeup.

His expression changed slightly.

"Are you okay?"

It was such a simple question.

But after everything that had happened, I didn't know how to answer.

I had spent days telling everyone I was fine.

I had smiled at my parents.

I had ignored Cole.

I had pretended Amber's smug looks didn't bother me.

But suddenly, sitting in that quiet library, I felt tired.

"I'm getting there," I finally said.

Ethan studied me for a moment.

Then he nodded.

"Good."

That was all.

No lecture.

No questions.

No suggestion that I was overreacting.

He simply walked away.

And strangely enough, that tiny moment stayed with me.

***

That weekend, I went shopping with my mom.

For the first time in years, I didn't spend the entire afternoon checking my phone.

I didn't wait for Cole to ask where I was.

I didn't send him pictures of things I liked.

I didn't wonder whether he would think a dress looked good on me.

My mom noticed.

"You're different lately."

I looked at her.

"Is that bad?"

She smiled softly.

"No. I think you're finally remembering that your life belongs to you."

Those words hit me harder than I expected.

My life belongs to me.

It sounded so obvious.

And yet, somewhere along the way, I had forgotten it.

For years, everything I did had somehow revolved around Cole.

Which class would put us together?

Where would he sit?

What did he like?

What would make him smile?

I had built my entire world around a boy who thought one slap wasn't enough reason to walk away.

That realization didn't break my heart.

It embarrassed me.

So I made a decision.

I was done being Aurora, the girl who followed Cole everywhere.

Monday morning, I arrived at school early.

I changed my seat.

Not because I was avoiding anyone.

But because I wanted the seat near the window.

When Cole walked into the classroom and saw me sitting somewhere else, he stopped.

"What are you doing over there?"

I didn't look up from my book.

"Sitting."

"That's my seat behind you."

I smiled faintly.

"Then sit somewhere else."

The entire room went silent.

Cole stared at me.

Amber stared at me.

And for the first time, I didn't care what either of them thought.

Because I was finally beginning to understand something.

Walking away from Cole wasn't the hardest part.

The hardest part was learning how to walk toward myself.