Thirty nine

It had been quite a busy afternoon, and Hailey was feeling stressed out. She casually twirled the pen in her hand while observing the interactions between her colleagues. Suddenly, Tara, who was seated beside her and engrossed in her phone, leaned towards Hailey and exclaimed, "Hailey, have you seen this?"

"What is it?" Hailey asked, coolly turning her gaze towards Tara.

Tara seemed hesitant to speak, but she carefully said, "Don't let their words affect you. Most of them don't know anything about you; they're just making assumptions." She tried to reassure Hailey.

Hailey smiled and nodded in agreement. It was only then that Tara showed her the screen of her phone. It displayed the school forum's dashboard with a post about Hailey pinned at the top.

Hailey felt a bit confused. Such an incident had occurred in her first week at the Institute. Someone had taken her photo and posted it on the forum, attracting a lot of attention.