He Used Me as Practice for Her Chapter 04
“Fine.”
His eyes turned red almost instantly.
But only a few seconds later, he agreed.
Then he turned around and walked back into the room next door.
The door hadn’t fully closed.
Laughter and conversation drifted clearly through the gap.
“Ethan, is Charlotte actually mad? You couldn’t talk her down?”
“Honestly, I don’t blame Ethan. Charlotte didn’t give Chloe any face at all.”
“Not gonna lie, though. I never noticed Charlotte had a body like that.”
A whistle followed.
“Dude, you’ve been living the dream.”
“Is she coming back?”
“Forget her.”
Ethan’s voice was cold.
“She’s just throwing a tantrum.”
“Maybe some space will do her good.”
He paused.
“And Chloe was literally trying to help her.”
“Instead of appreciating it, she got offended.”
A scoff.
“Did she even look at what she was wearing?”
“She looked like a freaking prostitute.”
“You’re awful!”
Chloe burst into laughter.
“You can’t say that about a girl.”
Even in the middle of a summer night, I felt freezing cold.
The boy who had once lit up my entire adolescence…
Somewhere along the way, he’d started rotting from the inside.
Back when I’d transferred from a small-town public school into this elite private academy, I had felt completely out of place.
Like a country girl dropped into a world where everyone else already knew the rules.
I was insecure.
Nervous.
Lost.
Chemistry and physics might as well have been another language.
No matter how hard I studied, I couldn’t seem to catch up.
The girls in class mocked my accent.
The textbooks I’d carefully organized would mysteriously end up in the trash.
The cruelty came from nowhere.
And everywhere.
One day they locked me inside a bathroom stall.
Buckets of dirty water came crashing down over my head.
My white uniform shirt became completely soaked.
“Wow.”
One girl laughed.
“The little country bumpkin actually has curves.”
“Who exactly are you trying to seduce?”
Another sneered.
“Seriously, how did you even get into this school?”
She jabbed a finger at my forehead.
Then at my chest.
“Brains?”
“Pity points?”
“Or these?”
Their laughter echoed around the bathroom.
They mocked me until they got bored.
Then they left.
Leaving me standing alone in a puddle of filthy water.
I ran back toward the classroom.
Shoulders hunched.
Arms wrapped tightly around myself.
Trying desperately to hide my soaked shirt and stained uniform.
The whispers in the hallway followed me everywhere.
Endless.
Like cicadas screaming through a summer afternoon.
“Hey.”
A jacket smelling faintly of lemon detergent landed over my
“Stop crying.”
head.
I looked up.
Ethan stood in front of me.
The sunlight behind him made it hard to see his face.
“Go home and change.”
He shrugged.
“And don’t get too impressed.”
A crooked grin appeared.
“Saving my chemistry lab partner is kind of my responsibility.”
Ethan had been a transfer student too.
And my chemistry partner.
After that day, he started stepping in whenever people targeted me.
Once, he even fought off a group of older guys who’d been following me behind campus.
“Your family seriously lets you walk around alone?”
He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
“They’re okay with that?”
I looked down.
“I only have my grandma.”
His expression froze.
For a second, he didn’t know what to say.
Then he bent down and picked up the bicycle that had been knocked over during the fight
Brushing dirt from the frame, he grinned.
“Well.”
“I guess that means I get to be the hero.”
I had no idea what he meant.
Until the next morning.
A familiar motorcycle was parked outside my house.
Ethan sat astride it, one foot planted on the pavement.
“Ready?”
He flashed a grin.
“We can ride together.”
I pressed my lips together.
His house was in the city.
Mine was in the suburbs.
There was absolutely no way it was “on the way.”
At first, I thought it was just some rich kid phase.
A temporary fascination with ordinary life.
But Ethan kept showing up.
Every day.
Rain or shine.
His expensive motorcycle rolled alongside my beat-up bicycle on the way to school.
The contrast looked ridiculous.
He never seemed to notice.
One day he tossed several notebooks into my arms.
“My tutor gave me these.”
He shrugged.
“I don’t get any of it.”
“Think you could help me out?”
The moment I opened them, I knew he was lying.
Every difficult concept I struggled with was explained perfectly.
Advanced math.
Physics.
Everything.
For someone with a near-perfect GPA, there was no chance he didn’t understand it already.
“Thank you.”
I hugged the notebooks to my chest.
His ears turned pink.
“Yeah, well…”
He scratched the back of his neck.
“I’m heading to practice.”
“Just make sure you teach me after you finish reading them.”
He had always been careful.
Careful with my pride.
Careful with my feelings.
Careful with the fragile girl I used to be.
My eyes drifted back to the college application portal.
Saint Jude’s University.
Silverport.
I wanted to be with him.
I really did.
But I wasn’t willing to become the joke standing between him and Chloe.
If he had already chosen her…
Then I could let him go.
The decision came surprisingly easily.
I changed my application.
From Saint Jude’s University in Silverport.
To Wycliffe University in Viremont.
Just a few clicks.
A matter of seconds.
So why did it hurt so much?
My eyes burned.
The words on the screen blurred together.
Suddenly, something tapped against my bedroom window.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Persistent.
Playful.
I covered my ears and pretended not to hear it.
“Charlotte.”
Ethan’s voice carried clearly through the night.
“I know you’re home.”
Under the streetlamp at the end of the driveway, he stood beside his motorcycle.
