Chapter 5

Hearing Adelaide's voice, Frederick glanced over instinctively. "Adelaide, you okay?"

He started toward her—but Melissa let out a sharp cry of pain, yanking his attention back.

Melissa held up her arm, eyes wide with panic. "Frederick, will it scar? What do I do?"

"She scratched you?" Frederick's voice dropped low.

Melissa bit her lip, tears rolling one by one. "Frederick, I'm fine, I'm just scared it'll scar. Adelaide grabbed so hard. It really hurts."

Frederick's face darkened completely. "Adelaide, what the hell?"

"She pushed me. You didn't see that?" Adelaide's voice came out hoarse.

"See what? You can do ten consecutive aerials but you can't stand up straight? You'd frame Melissa just to—" Frederick let out a cold laugh. "I know you don't like her, but putting your hands on a girl who just lost her mother? Her mom's death anniversary is coming up. How can you be this cruel?"

Adelaide stared at him in disbelief. He'd seen everything. And he was still making excuses for Melissa.

"So you think I scratched her on purpose?"

"That's not what I'm saying." Frederick looked away. "I'm saying Melissa's in a bad place mentally right now. Stop making things harder for her."

"Frederick." Adelaide cut him off. Her voice was calm—so calm it didn't sound like her own. "If your eyes don't work, check the security cameras."

Frederick froze.

Adelaide hauled herself to her feet, her tone even colder. "You saw everything and still decided it was my fault. Go ahead—call the police. I'll pay every cent of Melissa's medical bills. If the police also decide I did it on purpose."

She looked straight into his eyes and spoke word by word. "Because she's crying and I'm not. Because she lost her mother and I didn't. Because she looks pitiful and I don't."

"So no matter what happens, it's always my fault."

Something in her eyes must have reached him—Frederick opened his mouth to explain, but Melissa grabbed his arm. "Frederick, I don't want to be here. Please take me to the hospital? It hurts so much."

Frederick took a deep breath, then turned and walked Melissa out.

At the door, he looked back at Adelaide. That glance held exhaustion, impatience, and the unmistakable accusation: 'Why can't you just be understanding?'

---

Over the next three days, rumors about Adelaide bullying a rookie spread like wildfire. People said she was jealous of her boyfriend's sister and deliberately blocked Melissa from the squad. Others said Frederick and Melissa were the real match—that Adelaide was the third wheel all along.

Adelaide ignored the noise. She went to class. She trained. Frederick simply stopped showing up.

On the fourth day, things escalated.

Before afternoon practice, Melissa appeared at the training facility again, saying she wanted to train on her own for the next tryout.

Fifteen minutes later, she suddenly cried out: "Where's my bracelet?"

Everyone looked.

Melissa was tearing through her bag, hands shaking.

"What's wrong?" Daphne walked over.

"My mom's bracelet—the cheer commemorative one. She was on the squad too. It's the only thing she left me." Melissa's voice cracked. "I set it right here. It's gone."

She turned to Adelaide. "Adelaide, you were just over here. Did you see it?"

The training floor went silent. Every pair of eyes landed on Adelaide.

Adelaide set down her practice schedule. "Are you accusing me of taking your bracelet?"

Melissa lowered her head, tears falling. "I'm not accusing anyone. I'm just asking."

The facility door swung open. Frederick walked in carrying a strawberry cake.

"Melissa, what happened?" He rushed to her side. Melissa collapsed into his arms, sobbing about her mother's keepsake being gone—and how the last person near her bag had been Adelaide.

"Hand it over!" Frederick turned on Adelaide.

He'd already decided. Adelaide had stolen it.

"Search her," someone said.

Adelaide looked over. One of Melissa's friends—she couldn't remember the name.

"Search me?" Adelaide almost laughed. "On what grounds?"

"If you didn't take it, what are you afraid of?"

"Exactly. Just let everyone see and you're cleared."

The chorus came from people who'd accepted gifts from Melissa.

Frederick stepped forward. "If you didn't take it, let everyone search your stuff. Otherwise you're the prime suspect."

Adelaide stood there, studying his face for a long time. Then she nodded. "Fine."

She unzipped her backpack and dumped everything onto the table. No bracelet.

"Satisfied?" Adelaide asked.

Silence.

"Since we're searching, let's search everyone." Adelaide looked at Melissa. "To be fair, we start with you."

Melissa blinked. "Me?"

"Yes." Adelaide's tone was perfectly level. "What if the bracelet's been in your own bag this whole time?"

Melissa shook her head immediately. "I already looked. It's not in my bag."

"Then let everyone search it. Otherwise you're the prime suspect." Adelaide repeated Frederick's words back exactly.

Greta hesitated a moment, then stepped forward. "She's right. Search everyone. Do mine next."

She reached for Melissa's bag, rummaged for two seconds, and pulled out a blue bracelet. "It's right here. Did you even actually look?"

"I didn't put it there." Melissa waved her hands frantically. "It definitely wasn't in my bag before."

She stared at Adelaide in horror. Adelaide's expression didn't change.

Earlier, Adelaide had set her own bag near Melissa's. Out of the corner of her eye, she'd caught Melissa unzipping it. Something felt wrong, so she'd gone back to check.

She hadn't expected Melissa to use such a crude setup. So she'd simply dropped the bracelet back into Melissa's bag.

But thinking about Frederick's unwavering bias, she understood why Melissa had tried it. Frederick would always believe her. Always.

Frederick's expression was complicated. He looked at the bracelet, then at Adelaide, then at Melissa.

"Frederick, I really didn't see it in there." Melissa clutched his sleeve, crying too hard to form complete sentences.

"Melissa's been under a lot of pressure lately." Frederick patted her hand, voice steady. "She's been emotionally unstable. She probably genuinely didn't notice. It wasn't intentional."

He turned to Adelaide. "Adelaide, you're the captain. Let this go. Don't hold it against her. Just... be easier on her from now on."

His words left everyone stunned.

Greta stood behind Adelaide, shaking with rage.

Adelaide said nothing.

She looked at Frederick, and a chill spread through her entire body.

The lingerie: 'She took it off. I didn't think anything of it.'

The tryouts: 'She's a rookie. Why do you have to shut her out?'

The competition: 'She only has me. Can't you understand?'

Every single time, Frederick told her to yield to Melissa. Every time it was Adelaide's fault. Every time Adelaide was supposed to be the bigger person—to empathize, to accommodate, to step back.

Melissa always had an innocent excuse.

Melissa always had the privilege of being forgiven.

In Frederick's heart, Adelaide realized, Melissa would always come first.

"Fine." Adelaide's voice was quiet. "I'll back off."