The stands roared with life.
Students filled every seat, some standing on the rails, others waving school flags, screaming and laughing under the heavy Friday night sky.
It wasn't just a game — it was Ravenstone High's Fall Showdown, a brutal tradition where reputations were made, hearts were broken, and kings and queens of the campus silently rose from the dust.
Susan arrived alone.
No friends.
No one waiting for her.
Just a thin jacket wrapped around her small frame, the one she wore every day — faded denim, frayed cuffs, stitched together by necessity.
She hugged her arms to herself and climbed quietly up the bleachers, finding a spot high above the chaos.
Below, on the field, the players warmed up.
Jessica's boyfriend, Derek, the star quarterback, strutted across the turf like he already owned the night.
Girls screamed his name.
Teachers smiled with pride.
Susan watched, invisible, a shadow among the glittering crowd.
---
Half-time came fast.
The teams jogged off the field, muscles glistening under stadium lights.
The cheerleaders assembled, ready to put on a show.
Susan felt the dread building.
She saw them — Jessica, Tanya, Amanda — whispering, laughing, looking up at the stands... at her.
Something was about to happen.
Something terrible.
---
The music blared.
The cheerleaders exploded into action.
Susan tried to focus elsewhere, but a chant started near the front rows — a cruel, ugly chant.
"Soaked Susan! Soaked Susan! Soaked Susan!"
The sound grew.
Students picked it up, laughing, clapping, stomping their feet to the rhythm.
Susan froze.
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
The eyes — hundreds of eyes — all turned toward her.
Jessica smirked from the sidelines, tossing her golden curls over her shoulder like a queen surveying her broken subject.
Tanya pointed.
Amanda waved a soaked towel, pretending to cry.
---
Susan stood up.
Every instinct screamed Run.
Hide.
Disappear.
But Jackim was there.
He stood across the stands, his hoodie down now, revealing a lean face with dark, serious eyes.
He wasn't smiling.
He wasn't laughing.
He was watching her.
And for once, someone wasn't watching her to destroy her.
He was waiting.
Waiting to see what she would do.
---
Susan stepped forward.
The chant grew louder.
"Soaked Susan! Soaked Susan!"
She pulled her thin jacket tighter around her, raised her chin slightly, and started walking.
Not running.
Not crying.
Just walking, every step slow and deliberate down the steep stairs of the bleachers.
At first, the crowd roared louder.
But something shifted.
The defiance in her walk.
The broken pride she still carried.
It unsettled them.
The laughter faltered.
Some students looked uncomfortable.
Some even looked away.
---
She reached the bottom of the bleachers.
The entire field seemed to tremble with the awkwardness.
Susan could have left.
Walked away and disappeared again into the night.
But instead, she turned sharply toward the field.
Toward Jessica.
Toward the monsters.
And she clapped.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Slow, cold claps.
Mocking them all.
The silence was deafening.
Jessica's smirk slipped just a little.
Tanya's towel drooped.
Amanda's mouth hung open.
---
Jackim smiled, a real one this time.
A fierce, proud one.
He walked down from the stands too, his hands in his pockets, heading toward her without hesitation.
They didn't speak as they met by the sideline.
Didn't need to.
The battle lines were drawn now.
Susan wasn't the joke anymore.
She was the girl who wouldn't break.
The girl they couldn't kill with their laughter.
And for the first time in years, as the cold night wrapped around her like a second skin, Susan realized:
She still had something they could never touch.
Her spirit.
---
As they turned to leave the field together, the roar of the stadium faded behind them like a dying storm.
And in that tiny moment, with Jackim walking beside her, Susan dared to believe:
Maybe — just maybe — she wasn't as alone as she thought.
---