Jade's POV
The hallway was louder than usual.
Maybe it was just my nerves. Or maybe the walls of Crescent High always echoed this much and I was only now paying attention—because for once, I wasn’t walking through them like a ghost.
My palms were sweaty. My heart was thudding. But I walked forward anyway, chin raised a little higher than usual, trying not to let the weight of a hundred unseen eyes press me back into the shadows.
It was a small decision, really. To stop hiding. To show up.
But after everything I’d endured—the whispers, the laughter, the rejection—it felt monumental. Like stepping onto a battlefield with nothing but hope as my shield.
Ashley was right beside me, as always. Her presence grounded me, but she didn’t coddle me. She didn’t speak for me. She just walked in s
