“I am not attacking your trauma, Sydney....”
“You ARE,” she shouted, voice breaking. “Every time you look at me like I’m in your way, you’re saying it didn’t matter! That I didn’t matter!”
Footsteps approached quickly.
Kei reached us first. “What’s going on?”
Sydney wiped her face shakily, stepping back like she was cornered prey. “Nothing. I just… I didn’t realize Hadley thought I was some pathetic reminder she needs to get rid of.”
“I never said that!” My voice cracked.
Holland and Jake stepped closer, expressions tightening as they looked between us.
Cal arrived last, eyes immediately locking onto Sydney’s tears.
“Syd,” he said sharply, grabbing her shoulders. “Hey… breathe.”
She pressed into him instantly, fingers clutching his shirt like she was anchoring herself.
“I didn’t mean to cause a scene,” she whispered brokenly. “I just… I thought she understood what we went through. I thought she respected it.”
Cal’s jaw clenched. Then he looked at me.
“Hadley… just let it go.”
The words hit like glass splintering inside my chest.
“She’s twisting everything....”
“Just drop it,” he said quietly, already guiding Sydney toward the edge of the tent.
My stomach dropped.
“She started this,” I said hoarsely.
“Hadley,” Kei said, tone careful but firm, “you have to understand this is sensitive territory.”
“I didn’t bring it up!”
Holland sighed heavily. “Syd’s fragile, okay? Today probably wasn’t the best day to push emotional stuff.”
“I didn’t PUSH anything!”
Jake crossed his arms. “You don’t always realize how things sound to people who lived through that.”
The betrayal landed slowly.
Layer by layer.
“I was defending myself,” I whispered.
No one answered.
Sydney sniffled against Cal’s shoulder as he led her out toward the front garden. The boys followed, murmuring comfort, protective, unified.
I stood frozen.
Eleanor rushed toward me, face stricken. “Hadley, sweetheart...”
