~ Avery’s POV ~
The house felt colder that day. Or maybe it was just her.
Avery stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, staring at her reflection, watching how her hair fell messily around her shoulders, how her eyes were slightly darker than they’d been the day before. She looked tired—physically, emotionally—but it was more than just the lack of sleep. It was the weight of something she couldn’t put into words, something she couldn’t even fully understand.
She was exhausted from pretending things weren’t changing. Exhausted from pretending she wasn’t feeling things she shouldn’t feel.
And there was Max. Her stepbrother. The one person who seemed to see her, really see her, and it was starting to make her dizzy.
She didn’t know what to do with that.
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At school, things were
