Chapter 3
"No." I shouted, my voice rising sharply.
The chatter stopped, and people instinctively moved away from me, leaving a gap.
When my roommate, Sophie Bennett, came back, she noticed how pale I looked.
She handed me a bottle of water.
"Liv, drink up and stay hydrated. Don't let the sun turn you into a raisin," she said.
I forced a weak smile, but the gossip from earlier kept echoing in my mind.
After the training ended, I texted Emily: [Em, are you okay?]
The reply came almost instantly on WhatsApp.
But the reply was from William.
William sounded a little tired.
He replied: [Emily got heatstroke and her period started, so she's asleep now.]
The gossip from the playground kept echoing in my mind.
Am I the other woman?
How come William can unlock Emily's phone and text back for her while she's asleep?
Suddenly, I remembered something from the past.
I had William's phone in my hand and asked him, "William, what's your lock screen password?"
William snatched his phone back, expressionless. "That's my privacy.
"Even though we're dating, we still need to give each other some space."
I was clueless back then. I didn't think there was anything wrong with what he said at the time.
Now, those memories cut through my mind like a knife.
My head was splitting, and as I tried to push the thoughts away, a dull pain started in my lower belly.
Crap.
Damn, I think my period's starting too.
I didn't care about anything else at that moment.
I sat in a bathroom stall and texted William: [William, I'm on my period.]
A few minutes passed.
William sent back a question mark.
I waited for a long time, but nothing else came.
Yep, just a question mark.
My heart went cold.
It was like a fog suddenly lifted from my mind.
Does William think I'm jealous and just trying to get him to notice me?
Good thing I'd also texted Sophie.
My phone stayed silent.
No more messages came.
The next day at boot camp, I spotted Emily.
She looked like she'd bounced back, carrying a bottle of ice water as she came over to me.
She handed me the ice water. "Liv, tired, huh?"
William trailed behind her.
He laughed and called her an ungrateful brat.
"Hey, Emily, do you even remember who carried you to the infirmary yesterday? And you didn't even bring me any water." he teased.
Emily stuck out her tongue.
She'd only bought two bottles of water.
"Alright, I'll give you mine," she said.
William snorted. "Now we're talking."
I watched William in silence.
He twisted open the bottle, but there was no click.
Because Emily had fainted yesterday, the instructor let her skip boot camp for a week.
But I was suffering too. My period was making me miserable.
I held the ice water bottle in silence, the chill biting into my arm.
I walked over to the instructor.
I told him I was on my period and couldn't join the drills.
The instructor glanced between me and Emily.
He said, "So, you girls see your friend skipping training, and now you're all using your period as an excuse to get out of it too, huh?
"Can't even push through a little period? You're grown-ups now, not babies in your mom's arms."
His voice was booming.
I kept my head down, face pale. Emily knew our periods always synced up.
She stood up for me, even as the instructor yelled.
Emily shot back, "Instructor, you've never had a period, so how would you know what it's like for us?
"How about I stab you in the gut and twist it around a bit? See how you handle that."
The instructor, seeing how stubborn she was, told her to get back in line.
He was about to revoke her exemption from training.
I quickly grabbed her and pulled her away.
It's better if just one of us has to tough it out than both of us.
William was standing not far away, watching everything unfold.
When I came back, his gaze lingered on me, steady and unreadable.