THESE NOTES were relentless. It seemed as though the more I hung out with James, the more notes I received.

"Here's another one," Ava said as she handed me the infamous yellow envelope. I huffed as I carelessly ripped it open, pulling out the paper.

while in New York,
it was dandy
so why give up the one who makes you happy
when the other will treat you badly.

From,
Anonymous

"Because he has a girlfriend, dammit!" I threw the note up as my head plummeted into my hands, stressfully rubbing my eyes.  "Ugh, what do these mean?" I groaned aloud in frustration.

Ava picked up the note from beside me and read it. "Yeesh, this person does not like James. Either that, or they have a huge, creepy crush on him, and they hate your guts." Ava paused for a moment before continuing, "Probably the latter."

"Is that supposed to make me feel any better?" I said monotonously, looking at her in defeat.

"Come on, Hads, they're just empty words. Nothing bad has happened yet," Ava settled back into the couch. "They're all bark with no bite."

"But this is getting a little too creepy. The other week, when I started getting them again, they knocked on my door, and out of those two seconds that it took for me to open the door, they vanished without a trace." The reminiscing thought brought light goosebumps as I thought about it.

"Are you sure you didn't take ten years to get up and open the door? Lord knows how slow you are," Ava snorted, to which I rolled my eyes at.

"Ugh, who could it be? Who would want me to break up with James?" I questioned, head in hands.

"Have you talked to him about it?" Ava sprouted, quirking an eyebrow. I shook my head, giving her the 'are you crazy' look. "Well, maybe you should."

"I don't want to drag him into this though," I said with concern.

"Hadley, I think he's been involved since the beginning," Ava responded, getting up to grab a small bag of chips and sitting back down.

Then, it dawned on me.

"I think I might know who this mystery person is."

∞

"WAIT UP," I shouted as I sprinted towards him. He stopped and spun around in the middle of the quad. When he discovered who I was, he turned back around but stood in place, about to continue walking. Out of breath, I stood in his way, making sure he wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon.

"Is...it...you?" I panted, resting my hands on my hips as I tried to embarrassingly catch my breath.

"Hm?" Milo confusedly stated.

"Are you...the one sending me those notes?" I pronounced, catching my breath.

"What notes?" His eyebrows furrowed closer together. I pulled out a piece of folded paper, slightly crumpled, from my back pocket, one of the notes I brought.

"These." I held it up for him to see in all its glory. I unfolded it and showed him the message that it wrote. He scanned it and looked back up at me as I expectantly waited for him to admit that it was him. After all, he also told me to be careful with James, which was absurd.

"I've been getting them for a while now. Each letter is a poem from someone anonymous telling me that I shouldn't be with James. Are you the one sending me these?"

"No, it's not me."

"Are you sure? Because these notes creep the fuck out of me, and I'd appreciate it I stopped getting these," I said through gritted teeth. This was exasperating, why couldn't he just admit that he's the one?

"I'm sorry, Hadley, but I'm not the one sending you those notes," Milo stated calmly. I huffed out a frustrated puff of air, averting my gaze from him. "But I think you should listen to them, though, whoever it is."

"See, why does everyone keep on telling me that?" I laughed humorlessly, locking eyes with him. "James has done nothing wrong but treat me right. But you," I narrowed my eyes at Milo, poking a finger at his chest, "you keep secrets."

Milo scoffed under his breath, opening his mouth to speak, but I cut him off, "When you told me to be cautious around James, I thought it was because he did something batshit crazy, but he seems absolutely, perfectly fine to me."

Milo opened his mouth again, but I shut him up, "I'm not done! And then, when Stacey tells me to be careful, I asked her why, and she doesn't want to tell me. And when I asked you the same question, you also refused to tell me and won't answer why you and James don't speak anymore. No one is giving me any goddamn answers, and it's making me go batshit crazy!"

At that moment, I probably looked like a raging bull, but I didn't care. I was sick and tired of being left in the dark, and finally, I was pushed over the edge. Luckily, we were the only two at the quad, but I'm sure the people who were occupying the buildings surrounding us were peeking out of their window shades and watching all of this go down.

Milo dragged his hand through his hair as he exhaled. "Do you feel better now?"

"Not unless I get some answers," I huffed, crossing my arms as I shifted all my weight to one foot.

Milo sighed, "I'm sorry, Hadley. I just can't."

I let out a dry laugh. "Unbelievable, I knew it," I spun on my heel. "Then how am I supposed to believe that these notes aren't from you?"

Milo threw his hands up in defeat, "Fine, you can believe whatever you want, but I know what I know, and I know that I'm not the one sending those to you, and that's all that matters to me."

Slowly breaking under the pressure, incoming tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let him see me cry. I searched his face for any hint of nerves or signs that showed he was lying. But the gravity of his expression told me that it wasn't him.

"Ugh, why does life have to be so complicated sometimes?" I whispered, a small crack in my voice as my emotions began to see out a bit. "Sorry, Milo."

I shoved the paper back into my pocket and walked away, not bothering to look at him. My cheeks began to fluster, both from embarrassment and stress. An unsettling pit formed in my stomach as I replayed what happened moments ago in my head. A lone tear escaped and I quickly swiped it away, trying to blink away the rest of the incoming tears.

As I made my way back to the dorm and walked down the hallway, rummaging for my keys, I heard a crinkle. I stopped in my tracks and looked up as I saw a girl around the same height as me place down the infamous yellow envelope. As quietly as possible, I speed-walked towards her and took a firm grip on her wrist, twirling her around to see who the culprit was.

My jaw dropped and my eyes grew to the size of saucers as I finally caught the mystery girl.

"Oh my god, you're the one who's been leaving me those notes?"

_______________

A/N: hello! Hadley's finally gonna find out who Anonymous is. Who do you think it is?

Thank you for reading as always! See you in the end chapter! ♡

-Karlee 💛