Serving My Ex's Engagement Party - Chapter 2: Chapter 2

I slept in until noon the next day, grateful for my morning class-free schedule. As I made my way to the cafeteria, I noticed the sideways glances and hushed whispers following me. What the hell was everyone's problem?
Then she appeared - the queen bee of the dance department - cutting me off with a dramatic flourish. Her icy gaze traveled from my messy bun down to my scuffed sneakers before she let out this condescending laugh that made my skin crawl.
"So you're Eleanore Schultz?" she sneered.
The slap came out of nowhere, stinging my cheek before I could react.
"Let me make this clear," she hissed, leaning in. "Randell's mine. That innocent act of yours? Pathetic. I can't believe you had the nerve to go after what's mine."
Turns out Randell wasn't even her boyfriend - she was just obsessively crushing on him. Normally I avoid drama, but nobody puts their hands on me and gets away with it. Before she could blink, I grabbed a fistful of her perfectly styled hair and yanked hard, returning the slap with interest before shoving her away.
Her posse immediately closed ranks around me. Just as I braced for impact, strong arms caught me from behind. Randell. My first instinct was to push him away, but his whisper stopped me cold: "Play along unless you want real trouble. She's connected with some dangerous people."
Whether that was true or not, the fear felt real enough. My tough-girl act evaporated as I ducked behind him like some scared kitten.
That's how Randell became my unexpected protector. What started as convenience turned into something real over that semester. Our college years became this golden time I thought would never end.
Graduation day shattered that illusion when I met Makayla Deleon. Randell's mother carried herself like royalty, making me feel instantly inadequate in my thrift-store dress.
"I understand your parents are deceased," she began without preamble. "And your sister Denisse... congenital heart condition, currently hospitalized?"
Her words hit like body blows. Everyone saw me as this ambitious go-getter, but they didn't know about the hospital bills piling up, how my parents worked themselves to exhaustion trying to cover them... until that final, fatal car accident.
"I'll give you a million dollars to walk away from my son."
This couldn't be real. This was some bad soap opera plot. Every fiber of me wanted to tear up that check and tell her exactly where she could shove her money.
Then I remembered the doctor's call two days prior - they'd found a donor heart for Denisse. One week to come up with the surgery fees.
I took the check with trembling fingers. "Fine. Deal."
"Eleanore!" Randell's voice cracked through the room. He'd heard everything. The raw betrayal in his bloodshot eyes nearly broke me. "Tell me this isn't true," he begged, gripping my wrist so tight it hurt.
I forced the ugliest smile of my life. "Randell, wake up. I was never into you. Just the money. Now I've got it, so let me go, okay?"
I ran before he could see me cry.
The cruelest twist? After everything, Denisse's body rejected the transplant. She held on just long enough to bring Alistair into the world before slipping away. When her husband bailed at the first sign of our nephew's matching heart condition, guess who stepped up?
This auntie right here.