Rex Calls

“Ann! Ann! Wait for me, I want to ask you what happened earlier?” Judith’s voice sliced through the corridor like a blade, loud and insistent. It echoed off the high ceilings and polished walls, drawing stares from every direction.

Ann winced.

Of course she had to shout.

She was seconds from escaping the building unnoticed—her head ducked, her footsteps quick, her focus razor-sharp on avoiding the eyes boring into her. But now, everyone had turned. Curious whispers picked up again like wind through brittle leaves.

With a clenched jaw and a heavy sigh, Ann stopped in her tracks. She pivoted slowly, arms crossing over her chest in restrained irritation, her expression tight and unwelcoming.

Judith reached her, slightly out of breath and entirely oblivious to the weight of the attention she’d just reignited.

“Oops!” she said, with a sheepish laugh. “Didn’t mean to get everyone’s attention by shouting like that. But seriously, Ann—I need to know what happened between you and Rex earlier. Everyone’s talking about it. The whole school and hierarchy are in chaos. The rumors are ridiculous. I didn’t believe half of what I heard, but it sounded like… I don’t know, a scene from a drama series.”

Ann raised a brow, her lips pressed into a thin line. “If you didn’t want to draw attention, maybe you shouldn’t have yelled my name from across the corridor like a foghorn.”

She didn’t wait for a reply. She turned and walked toward the library, her pace swift and deliberate, the last remnants of her fragile patience dissolving. The stares. The whispers. The energy. It was suffocating.

Judith scrambled after her and caught her again. “Oh, come on, Ann. Just tell me! I’ve heard five different versions already. I want the truth. Your truth.”

Ann halted with another weary sigh. Her fingers twitched by her sides.

“If I tell you,” she said, tone edged with warning, “will you stop bothering me for the rest of the day?”

Judith nodded so eagerly she almost bounced. Ann inhaled deeply, bracing herself. She closed her eyes for a moment as the memories came rushing back like cold water dumped on her spine.

“Fine. You want the story? Here it is,” she said, her voice dropping lower. “I got to school this morning, and it was bad. The looks people gave me—Judith, it was like I was something rotting, something dead or dirty. Their expressions, the whispers were so loud… I knew what was coming but I had no control over it. The anxiety attack hit me like a freight train.”

Her voice wavered slightly, and she cleared her throat, swallowing the lump forming there.

“I couldn’t breathe. Everything was spinning. It felt like the floor was moving under me, like the air was being sucked from my lungs. I thought I was going to pass out. And I was alone. You weren’t around, and no one else would care.”

She paused. Judith’s face softened, her expression shadowed by guilt.

“I was falling, literally, and I braced myself for the fall, for the pain, for the embarrassment. But it never came, none of that came. Someone caught me. Held me and calmed me down.”

She looked up, eyes distant, locked on a memory that wasn’t yet willing to fade.

“And then I heard a voice… It was soft, calm. Reassuring. I remember thinking how good he smelled. Ridiculous, right? In the middle of an anxiety spiral, I was cataloging expensive cologne. Then I opened my eyes and saw who it was.”

Ann’s lips twisted into a bitter smile. “It was Rex. Of all people, it was Rex Radford. He was the one that came to my rescue when I was having a panic attack whilst being the cause of it.”

Judith gasped, but Ann wasn’t done.

“The same Rex who didn’t leave a tip at Craves. The one who always humiliated me the least opportunity he gets. The same person who used my middle name like a dagger. That Rex. He was the one who caught me when I was about to fall and break my heart. And I… I panicked. I didn’t say thank you. Couldn’t utter a word, or even ask why he helped me. I just ran, like the coward that I am.”

The silence stretched between them like a rubber band, taut with unspoken tension.

Judith’s jaw dropped open. “You ran?”

Ann nodded. “Yep! like a coward.”

Judith blinked, her expression shifting from surprise to contemplation. “That’s… wow. That’s not what I expected.”

Ann frowned. “Now you’re the one acting weird. I just bared my soul to you, and you’re speechless?”

“I’m thinking, dummy,” Judith replied, distractedly rubbing her forehead. “I wasn’t going to tell you this at first, but… now I think you should know.”

Ann tilted her head, her senses sharpening. “Judith. What is it? You’re scaring me.”

Judith bit her lip, then took a slow breath. “Okay. So, it’s past twelve now, right? My first lecture isn’t till 1 PM, you that right? But I came to campus way earlier than usual. Want to guess why?”

Ann narrowed her eyes. “Spit it out already Jud.”

Judith exhaled. “Rex. He called me.”

Ann froze. “What?”

“He called me this morning,” Judith continued, her voice dropping to a whisper. “He said it was urgent. Said I needed to come to school and check up on you. That he didn’t know what state you’d be in when you left and that he couldn’t… handle it.”

Ann’s heart did something strange in her chest—jumped, then dropped.

Judith went on. “I came early and looked around but couldn’t find either of you. So I stayed in the library. Then later, after lunch, he came up to me again—completely frantic. He looked pissed off and worried, like he hadn’t slept. He even accused me of being a bad friend.”

Ann stared at her, speechless.

Judith nodded solemnly. “He said he called me for a reason. To help you. Then he left before I could even respond properly.”

Ann’s mind was a blur of images, the confusion deepening.

“But… why?” she finally whispered. “Why would he go through all that? We’re not friends. I mean he doesn’t even like me and I can’t stand him either.”

“I don’t know,” Judith said honestly. “But he was serious. He was worried. He looked like a guy trying hard not to lose control over his mind.”

Ann exhaled slowly. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Judith’s tone sharpened. “And where were you all day? I called, texted—you ignored all of it.”

Ann rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t ignoring you. My phone was on silent. I was in the music room.”

Judith blinked. “The music room?”

“My safe haven,” Ann muttered. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”

Judith looked ashamed. “Oh! I… I forgot. I checked everywhere but there. You haven’t gone there in months.”

“Well, I did today. I needed the calm. The piano. The quiet.”

Judith nodded slowly. Then a beat passed.

“What does he want, Ann?”

Ann’s lips pressed together. “I don’t know. And honestly, I don’t want to know. Whatever this is—this attention, these calls, the staring—it’s messing things up for me. I’m already hated. If people think Rex Radford has some kind of interest in me? It’ll get worse. So much worse and I’m not ready for any of that.”

Judith didn’t argue. She simply walked beside her as Ann tugged her toward the library.