He’d Marry Me Only If His Friends Gave Me a Perfect Score, So I Quit the Game Chapter 05
At night, I still dreamed about the stairs.
I dreamed of my necklace flying through the air, and of their laughter following it.
Whenever I woke, even the slightest movement sent pain through my shoulder.
But I stopped spending all my time crying.
Instead, I started gathering evidence.
Hospital records. Photos of my injuries. Copies of the security footage from the bar hallway and
staircase.
And screenshots from the group chats, full of years of mocking comments and photos and videos taken of me without my permission.
There were things I’d once been too afraid to look at twice.
Now I saved every last one.
The next time Ethan walked into my hospital room, he found me sorting through it all.
He stood in the doorway for a long moment.
“You’re going to the police?”
I looked up.
“Yes. And I’m filing a formal complaint with the school.”
Ethan’s face tightened at once.
“Can’t we sort this out privately? If the police open a case and the school starts an investigation as
well, some of the lads on the team could be suspended. They could even lose their scholarships.”
“Claire could be suspended as cheerleading captain too. Erin, just do me this one favour. Let it end
here.”
I looked at him.
And suddenly, I remembered something he’d once said to me.
Claire had been upset because I hadn’t replied to her quickly enough, and Ethan had forced me to
apologise.
I’d asked him, “But I didn’t do anything wrong.”
He’d looked thoroughly annoyed.
“Does it really matter who was in the wrong?”
Now, I gave the same question back to him.
“Does your pride really matter that much to you?”
Ethan’s expression froze.
I set my phone down.
“I’m not throwing a tantrum. I just won’t keep letting people hurt me.”
No one had ever stood on my side before.
So this time, I chose to protect myself.
The day I was discharged, I formally submitted all the evidence.
The police took my report, and the school opened a disciplinary investigation.
Once word spread around campus, everyone involved started complaining and arguing almost
immediately.
Not one of them asked how badly I’d been hurt.
They cared first about their games, their scholarships, their student organisation positions, and
their records.
Someone rang Ethan.
“She fell down a few stairs. It’s not as if anything serious happened to her. Does she really have to
take it this far?”
Another teammate was nastier.
“It was a joke. She used to tag along with us all the time, didn’t she?”
Claire was crying on the phone.
“I honestly didn’t think it would turn into this. I only wanted everyone to have a good time. Does Erin hate me that much?”
Before, Ethan would have comforted her first.
Then he would have come to me and expected me to make excuses for his friends.
This time, he was silent for a long while.
When he finally spoke, his voice was flat.
“If you did something wrong, you apologise. And whatever comes of it, you deal with it.”
Someone on the other end snapped at once.
“Ethan, what the hell is that supposed to mean? You’re really going to turn your back on friends
you’ve known for years because of her?”
Ethan sounded exhausted.
“Knowing someone for years doesn’t give you the right to hurt people. I was wrong before.”
“Every time I had to choose, I chose all of you over Erin. I see that now. It’s just too late.”
I never heard that conversation.
At the time, I was packing my things.
Ethan and I had been sharing an off–campus apartment, and every room still carried traces of the
last five years.
Half the bookshelf was filled with my textbooks.
The training schedule I’d organised for him was still stuck to the fridge.
There was a photo in the living room from when we’d first started dating, taken by one of his
friends.
I was wearing my glasses and smiling a little awkwardly. Ethan had his arm around me.
Back then, everyone used to tease me and call me “the future Mrs. Walker.”
I’d actually believed them.
Later, I realised that in every group photo, I was always placed right at the edge.
That way, when they posted the pictures, I was easy to crop out.
I stood in front of that photo for a long time.
In the end, I left it where it was.
Not everything from the past needed to come with me.
I took only my own books, clothes, and study materials.
I sealed the broken necklace in a bag and tucked it deep inside my backpack.
Then I took the two rings off the chain and stacked them on my own finger.
Turns out, I didn’t need to wait for someone else to put a ring on my finger.
I deleted Ethan’s contact details and blocked everyone from those years who had always put me on
edge.
As the car pulled away, I watched the apartment building shrink in the rear–view mirror.
Leaving still hurt.
But I didn’t look back.
Half an hour later, Ethan came home carrying the soup I used to like.
When he opened the door, all he found was an apartment already half empty.
