<h4>Chapter 363: 363-Lesson Of The Day</h4>


    <strong>Hnie:</strong>


    I felt so ufortable when I saw Lucying over to join us with Sydney and Salem. She even had her arm wrapped around Sydney’s as if they were best friends.


    "This is crazy," Lamar muttered before they reached us.


    "And now we know who the real toxic one is," Penn grumbled, shaking his head with a sly grin on his lips.


    "Hey everyone, I hope you don’t mind me bringing my friends too," Lucy giggled as she reached us. Sydney scanned the crowd for me, and when her eyesnded on me, she smirked and winked.


    I mmed my hands on the table and stood up. "I have some assignments pending. I’m heading back to my room."


    I wasn’t going to stick around and deal with Sydney’s remarks, which she instantly started making the minute she heard me say I wanted to leave.


    "Come on, Hnie, don’t be a baby. I came here in peace." Sydney rolled her eyes, while Salem looked down after getting a re from Gavin.


    "I don’t want to sit at the same table as you," I snapped at Sydney, who rolled her eyes again.


    It was as if she wasn’t even trying to make anyone believe she had changed.


    "Really? But you’re sharing a table with Lamar, Gavin, and—Jenny. Oh! So just because you decide you want to make amends, that’s when people are allowed to sit next to you?" Sydney clicked her tongue, trying to call me out on my hypocrisy—when there was none.


    "All these people know they’ve messed up, and they’re trying to be better," I shot back at her, noticing Lamar and Jenny had stood up to back me up.


    "And you—" I hadn’t even finished speaking when Jenny cut in.


    "Lucy had a choice, but you were brought here without Hnie’s permission. And as for Lamar—he’s been with her through thick and thin, so don’tpare yourself to him." Her confidence was on a whole different level as she defended us this time.


    "Hush, snake!" Sydney held her hand up to stop Jenny.


    The whole time, my eyes were on Lucy, who kept her head down with an annoyed look on her face, as if we were the ones in the wrong.


    "You two thought you’de here to make Hnie ufortable? Well, guess what, we won’t be sitting here either." Gavin mmed his hands on the table as he spoke to Salem and Sydney.


    "I didn’t do anything—" Salem said softly but went quiet when Gavin shot her an angry re.


    "Then we’ll sit and eat with Penn," Sydney said as she sat down, but that’s when Penn stood up.


    "I’ll show you another ce, Hnie," he said to me, avoiding her.


    "Seriously? You’re going to leave with Jenny and Gavin?" Lucy asked, folding her arms over her chest.


    "How can you hate Jenny and Gavin but not Salem?" I didn’t want to drag Salem into this mess, but since Lucy had been giving me a hard time for talking to those two while she herself went ahead and befriended Salem, I just couldn’t hold it in.


    "Because I get to choose who I want to forgive. Isn’t that what you did too? You wanted to forgive Lamar, so you did. You didn’t want to forgive Sydney, so you didn’t," she shrugged, making me stare at her in disbelief.


    It was a painful moment for me. You can’t make someone understand you if they don’t want to.


    "You expect me to fight your battles while you’re making friends with your own enemies? And what part of someone apologizing do you not understand? Lamar has proven to me that he deserves my forgiveness. But Sydney—" As I snapped at Sydney, I realized there was no point in arguing.


    What hurt the most was that Lucy made it all about me. Out of all the people who hurt her, she chose to take it out on me.


    "Let’s go," I said to Lamar, walking ahead of him. I heard the others follow me while Lucy stayed behind.


    Once we were out of the café, someone called out to Gavin.


    "I didn’t do anything." It was Salem, hurrying after Gavin. He turned around and squared up to her.


    "Then why are you here?" Gavin yelled in her face, taking his anger out on the wrong sister.


    "I thought if you all got along—I’d get to be—I mean, sit next to you," she said, sounding genuine. When that didn’t satisfy Gavin, she added, "I even texted you that Lucy was bringing Sydney with her to warn you so you wouldn’t be caught off guard."


    She quickly searched for her phone in her purse, but Gavin had already turned away and signaled us to leave.


    We left her behind and got into Penn’s car, while Lamar and Gavin rode together on the bike.


    I noticed a slight change in Lamar’s attitude toward Gavinpared to earlier. After Lucy showed up with Sydney and Salem, Lamar took it as a chance to openly dere his friendship with Gavin. After living together for a while, I had seen a strong bond form between the two.


    "So, Hnie, what lesson did you learn from today’s incident?" Penn adjusted the mirror to look at me, while his sister side-eyed him from the passenger seat. I sat in the back, feeling pretty emotional.


    "If you can’t say it out loud, I will. The lesson is: don’t put all your faith in one person. Don’t be too careful with everything you do. You can’t always be right, and you definitely can’t do justice to every rtionship. That doesn’t make you a bad person. You have many people who want your attention and need your friendship, but you can’t fulfill all their wishes," he spoke in a calming tone. But I guess Jenny noticed my teary eyes. I didn’t want things to go south between me and Lucy.


    "Penn, hush!" she grunted at her brother.


    "I think I’m also Hnie’s friend, and honestly, I don’t like it when someone tries to push her down," Penn shot back at his sister, making herment,


    "Is that why you refuse to sit and eat meals with our parents anymore?"


    I was shocked to hear he had taken a stand against his parents.