I should’ve known it wouldn’t last.
Moments like that—messy, intense, real—don’t survive in places like high school.
Not when people like Vanessa exist.
It started small.
Whispers.
Looks.
That subtle shift in the air when I walked past people.
At first, I ignored it.
I had bigger things on my mind.
Like Marcelo.
Like the fact that we hadn’t spoken properly since… that.
The kiss.
The almost-confession.
The almost-everything.
Now?
We were back to silence.
But this silence wasn’t normal.
It wasn’t teasing.
It wasn’t tension.
It was… distance.
And I hated it.
“Something’s going on,” my best friend said at lunch, eyes scanning the room.
“What do you mean?” I asked, even though I felt it too.
“This,” she gestured around. “People are looking at you weird.”
Before I could r
