Chapter 60 I Chose to Be Bullied to Protect My Friends

Elena Garcia POV:

Sophia and Laura used to be super tight. They were neighbors growing up and stayed close until Laura started thinking Sophia had backstabbed her.

"Someone read out the love letter she wrote to her crush over the school PA system. Laura thought it was me, but I had no clue about it. Laura's crush said he gave the letter to her friend, but he couldn't remember what that friend looked like. At that time, I was Laura's only friend, so she thought it was me. I couldn't defend myself."

"How did you come to believe that Sofia did all this?" I asked, curious.

Sophia gritted her teeth, looking pissed.

She told me that even though she was Laura's only friend back then, they were in different school districts and couldn't always hang out.

She had a new friend in her original school's district, and that was Sofia.

"Sofia was gentle and beautiful, loved by everyone at school. You get what I mean. When someone that perfect wants to be friends with you, you can't help but feel close to them," Sophia said.

Sofia told Sophia she needed to make more friends.

She helped Sophia with her fashion sense and took her to all sorts of social events.

For Sophia at that time, it was fun and meaningful. Her new friend valued her a lot, even though following Sofia's advice often led to ridicule and mockery from others instead of praise.

But Sophia didn't mind; she trusted Sofia until the betrayal incident with Laura happened.

She wanted to explain to Laura but saw Sofia lying to Laura with a hateful expression.

"She pretended to be pitiful and told Laura that I had always been dissatisfied with her and that I didn't deserve to be called a friend. And that letter, she said she saw me put it in the PA room, but I didn't. Sofia was lying!" Sophia huffed.

At this point, Sophia's eyes widened, like a lion about to roar.

According to her, she rushed out, pushed Sofia hard, and publicly accused Sofia of lying, but her impulsiveness made her look bad.

Sofia was everything but a liar.

Sophia's resistance not only failed to gain others' approval but also led to her being isolated at school.

No matter what she did, there were always people bullying her under the guise of standing up for Sofia and Laura, and eventually, the bullying got worse and worse.

The reason she didn't want to call the police, besides her fear of more severe bullying, was that the bullies had some compromising photos of her.

If she called the police, those photos might be exposed by those guys, which would ruin her life!

Back in the dorm, Sophia immediately rushed to Nancy.

She nervously checked Nancy's eyes and, seeing that they weren't so swollen, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Severe allergies could cause shock reactions; I understood what she was worried about.

When Nancy saw Sophia, she looked like she was about to cry again.

I watched as Sophia comforted her and apologized until their emotions finally calmed down.

Nancy cautiously looked at Sophia, asking if she had done anything that upset her and why she refused to stay at the same school with her.

This was a tough question for Sophia to answer. In front of me, we could exchange secrets, but she couldn't do that in front of Nancy.

It was always hard to open up your wounded heart to the people closest to you.

I understood her struggle. In my past, when facing difficulties at work or Andrew's private harassment, I always pretended nothing happened to avoid worrying Rosa.

But sometimes, hiding too much could also cause harm.

Especially since Nancy didn't want to be separated from Sophia no matter what.

She told Sophia that she wouldn't transfer schools without a solid reason, even if their parents demanded it.

Sophia was extremely angry. "Then just think that I hate you! Nancy, I hate you, so you shouldn't be at the same school as me!"

After she said this, Nancy's tears, which she had barely stopped, started falling again.

I pulled Sophia aside and whispered in her ear. "Sophia! You shouldn't say that. How are you any different from those bullies? You're hurting Nancy just the same!"

Sophia clearly realized this too, but it wasn't what she wanted.

"You should talk to her properly. She's your family!" I added.

Sophia stayed quiet.

I stepped outside, leaving Sophia and Nancy alone in the room.

After a bit, the door opened, and I saw Sophia and Nancy holding hands.

Nancy's face was full of worry and fear; I could tell she now knew about Sophia's troubles.

"I asked Nancy to keep it a secret. If she pretends not to know anything, those bullies might leave her alone," Sophia said.

I looked at Nancy, who was biting her lip, looking reluctant.

I thought Sophia's idea wasn't great, but it was the only way she could think of to protect Nancy right now.

"One more thing, Elena. Even though we've been honest with each other, I don't want to tell anyone else about this. Can you help me keep it a secret?" Sophia looked at me anxiously.

My heart sank; I got what she meant.

We were both targets for those bullies. If I sought help from others, it would inevitably draw their attention to Sophia.

Before I could solve Sophia's problem, that might bring unbearable harm to her.

Sophia told me she knew her weak approach was terribly wrong, but she had no choice.

If I agreed, I couldn't seek help from others while we were both being bullied.

This plea might seem unreasonable to others, but I couldn't blame her. I sympathized with her plight.

I made a tough choice in my heart.

"Sophia, you didn't have to be honest with me, but you still showed me your wounds. You trust me, and I can't think of a reason not to respond to your trust," I sighed, "I promise you, until we find a suitable solution, I won't do anything to make your wounds worse."

Finally, Sophia and I reached a preliminary agreement.

Luckily, during the following class time, I didn't run into those bullies.

Sophia also breathed a sigh of relief.

We focused on our studies. Sophia had more to learn than Nancy and me. She had put in a lot of effort to switch majors, even though she hadn't completely escaped those demons.

When Nancy and I faced some problems in schoolwork, besides asking the professor, we could also ask Sophia. She was smart and always knew which book the professor's teachings came from.

Medical courses were always dull and tedious, with a lot of knowledge to remember and some practical exercises to perform. Sophia could always find excellent teaching videos for us to study.

During the day, we pretended not to know each other, especially Sophia and I, who would pretend not to be familiar with Nancy. At night, we would study together and share notes.

We had a period of relative ease, even though it was only on the surface.

Sophia was always on high alert, observing everything around her, and Nancy couldn't always walk with us in public, but the situation was much better than I had imagined.

In fact, I always thought I would soon face bullying from those jerks, but I didn't expect to have such a peaceful period.

This superficial ease ended after one class.

Nancy, according to our agreement, left for the cafeteria first, while Sophia and I would go a bit later.

As Sophia and I were leaving together, we ran into Laura.

Laura had a few people with her, the same jerks who had bullied Sophia before.

When Laura saw us standing together, her expression was first one of disbelief, then anger.

She strode up to us. "Why are you two walking together?" she demanded loudly.

"It's none of your business. Are you going to stop us from being friends?" I retorted, shielding Sophia behind me.

Laura looked at my actions, gritting her teeth. She quickly realized her loss of composure.

She threw her books to the guys behind her, her expression becoming arrogant.

Her gaze shifted back and forth between Sophia and me, finally locking with me.

"Let me guess, have you two become some kind of ridiculous allies? What lies have you told each other?" Laura mocked.

After saying this, she eagerly grabbed my hair, her pretty face turning extremely ferocious.

"You despicable, lying bitches! After bullying me and Sofia, how dare you still show up here, you sluts!" Laura cursed.