Chapter 25: The Heart Between Us
The silence after the storm was deafening. Maxine sat on the floor of her apartment, knees pulled to her chest, staring at the window as the sunlight dimmed and shadows crept into the room. The walls felt tighter. Her skin felt tighter. As though the entire world had shifted too fast, too brutally, and left her breathless in the wreckage. The school board meeting. The expulsion. The press conference. Noah. She was still waiting for him to come through that door. But the longer the silence stretched, the more a bitter taste bloomed in her mouth—because deep down, she knew. Maybe this was the consequence of all their choices. Of loving too fiercely, too blindly. And maybe, just maybe, this time, love wasn't enough. Then her phone rang. Lucille. Her older sister's name on the screen m
- Writer
