My Last Year

Haunted by a Touch

i froze.

My body betrayed me. Again.

Why was it so hard to say no? Why couldn’t I just tell Conrad I wasn’t ready for the cafeteria? That I needed a moment to breathe, to process everything that had just happened in the span of minutes?

No. What I needed was hours—days maybe. Time to replay the fact that Evermore High’s golden boy, Jake Westwood, not only knew my name but touched my hair like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Jake. Bennett Touched. My. Hair.

Was it a prank? A dare? A cruel joke meant to mess with my brain? Because if it was, congratulations to him he was doing a perfect job.

“Lily?” Conrad’s voice pulled me back. His brows knit together, confusion flickering in his dark eyes. “Are you okay?”

I nodded quickly, though my brain was still buffering like a bad internet connection.

Before I could think of another excuse, his hand slid into mine. Warm. Steady. Familiar. He tugged me forward, toward the cafeteria, and though my feet moved, my mind stayed stuck in rewind.

Jake’s voice.

Jake’s smirk.

Jake’s cologne.

Jake’s touch.

It all played on a loop, like some cursed w*****d fanfiction I never signed up for.

And here I was walking beside Conrad Fisher, the boy who had once been my first kiss, the boy carrying invisible grief of his own, the boy who still managed to smile as though the world hadn’t shattered around him.

How did he do that? How did he stay so… put together?

The cafeteria doors opened, and the familiar smell hit me burnt pizza, mystery meat, and the tang of teenage sweat. A classic Evermore perfume.

Conrad scanned the room, then chose a table. And of all places, he picked that one. The exact spot where Jake had humiliated me in front of half the school.

I wanted to stop him, to tug his hand and whisper, Anywhere but here. But he was already pulling out a chair.

So I sat. Because at least this time, if Jake came after me, I wasn’t alone. I had Conrad.

“I’ll grab something,” he said, his voice lighter than the storm clouds in his eyes. “The usual?”

I nodded, still mute. Still useless.

He joined the lunch line, leaving me with my racing thoughts. That was when I felt it the shift in the room. The energy.

And then I saw him.

Jake.

Striding straight toward me like he owned the air, the ground, the very walls of Evermore. Trouble wrapped in confidence, smirking like the devil who’d just spotted his next victim.

“Perfect,” I muttered under my breath. “Here comes trouble.”

For a moment just a moment his eyes caught mine.

And the cafeteria blurred. The noise dimmed. Everything and everyone else melted away until it was just me and him.

Then Conrad returned.

The connection broke. Jake’s gaze lingered one last second before he turned, expression unreadable, and walked past.

Conrad set down a tray in front of me. Chicken nuggets and curly fries my comfort food.

“Eat something,” he said gently. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

More like a hot ghost who haunted me in all the worst ways.

“Thanks,” I murmured, finally finding my voice.

We ate mostly in silence. Conrad didn’t press me. He knew me too well to push, but the weight of the unspoken questions hung between us. Questions I wasn’t sure I could ever answer.

Because Conrad hadn’t just brought lunch. He’d brought comfort. He’d brought safety. But with every bite I forced down, I could feel it the conversation he wasn’t asking. The conversation that would eventually come.

And I didn’t know if I was ready.

The bell rang. Relief surged through me like oxygen. Finally I could escape this cafeteria, this table, this place that held some of my worst memories.

Conrad reached for my hand again as we left. My stomach fluttered, butterflies stirring like they always did in his presence.

I glanced at him. His eyes were straight ahead, jaw set, determined.

But when we walked into class, my butterflies scattered.

Because there he was.

Jake.

Sitting behind me. Close enough that I could feel the smirk forming before he even made it.

I slid into my seat beside Conrad—my first kiss, my first love and directly in front of Jake, my first heartbreak, my first humiliation.

The lesson began. Words blurred. Numbers, equations, dates, all of it faded into static.

Instead, I felt the weight of two stares.

On my left, Conrad’s quiet smile. The smile that had always made me feel safe, seen, wanted.

Behind me, Jake’s smirk. Dangerous. Unapologetic. The smirk that made every girl swoon. Including me, against my will.

The bell rang again, signaling the end of class. I exhaled, ready to flee.

But then

“Conrad?”

The voice made my stomach drop.

I looked up.

And there she was.

The last person I ever expected to see.

It was

To be continued.