Across the Rivalry Line

Episode 5: The Lantern Site

Maya read the text six times before she let herself breathe.

Come alone.

Every instinct told her to show it to Priya, or to Jace, or to anyone with common sense. But the message said she didn't know the real reason Ridgemont was chosen, and that sentence had hooked itself under her ribs.

So at 8:30 that night, she told her mom she was returning a library book and drove to the lantern site.

It was an empty field on the edge of the county fairgrounds, the place where the festival would end. Right now it held a half-built stage, a few stacks of folded chairs, and a long string of unlit paper lanterns swaying in the wind.

Maya parked, stepped out, and wrapped her jacket tighter.

"Hello?"

Nothing. Then a flashlight clicked on from behind the stage.

"You came," a voice said. "Honestly, I didn't think you would."

A guy stepped into the light. He was older, maybe nineteen, with dark messy hair and a Ridgemont hoodie, and something about his face made Maya's pulse skip.

"You look like..."

"Jace? Yeah, I get that a lot." He gave a crooked half-smile. "I'm Eli. His brother."

Maya's guard shot up. "You sent that text."

"I did. Sorry about the drama. I needed to be sure nobody followed you." He leaned against a stack of chairs. "I'm interning at the county office this year. I see things I'm not supposed to see."

"What things?"

Eli exhaled slowly. "The festival isn't what everyone thinks. It's not just a fundraiser. The board is using it as a test."

"A test for what?"

"For whether Westbrook and Ridgemont could be merged."

The wind stopped. Even the lanterns seemed to hold still.

"There's a plan," Eli went on. "If Ridgemont closes, they'd fold the students into Westbrook. But they're afraid of riots, fights, a PR disaster. So they wanted proof. If the two schools could cooperate for one big event, the merger looks safe. If it falls apart..."

"They close Ridgemont and ship the students anyway," Maya said numbly. "Or they close both."

"Exactly."

She stared at the dark ground. All those late nights, all those plans. They had never been just for a festival. They were evidence in a trial neither school knew about.

"Why tell me?" she asked.

"Because you should know what you're really part of." Eli's tone softened. "And because there's one more thing. Something about why you were picked."

Maya's mouth went dry. "What do you mean?"

"The board asked each principal to nominate a student leader. Hargrove could have picked anyone, the student council president, the quarterback, anyone. But she picked you."

"Because I'm organized."

"Because you're the most Westbrook person at Westbrook." Eli met her eyes. "Three years as Ridgemont's biggest rival. Never missed a game. Never spoke to a Ridgemont kid. If you could work with Jace Monroe, then anybody could. That's what they wrote in the file."

It felt like falling. Maya thought of the principal's careful smile, the way Hargrove had said the county has chosen, as if it had been random.

She hadn't been chosen for her talent. She had been chosen to prove a point.

"I'm a pawn," she whispered.

"You're a very good pawn," Eli said gently. "Which is why this might actually work."

She laughed, a short, broken sound. Then another thought rose, sharp and cold.

"Does Jace know?"

Eli hesitated, and that hesitation was everything.

"Eli. Does Jace know?"

"He got a letter weeks ago," Eli admitted. "The board told him who his partner would be and why. He was supposed to keep you motivated. Keep you from quitting."

Maya felt her face go numb.

I had a few ideas, Jace had said that first morning, so carefully.

Because you showed up. Most people wouldn't have.

Partners. That's the first time you've said that.

Every kind word replayed in her head, and for the first time, she couldn't tell which ones had been real.

"Maya, wait. It's not what you think. He..."

But she was already walking away.

Headlights swept across the field.

A car pulled up beside hers, and a familiar figure in a royal blue jacket stepped out, breathless, his eyes darting between her and his brother.

"Maya," Jace said. "Eli told me where you'd be. Please, let me explain."

She stopped. The lanterns swayed above them, pale and silent.

"Did you know?" she asked, her voice barely steady. "From the very beginning?"

Jace's face went white.

He didn't say no.

To be continued...