MERRIELYNN.
The next morning, I stared at my reflection in the mirror, my toothbrush frozen mid-air.
My eyes were red and puffy from lack of sleep, and the events of the previous night replayed in my mind on a relentless loop.
The pool. The panic. Cormac carrying me out.
It wasn’t a dream, no matter how much I wished it had been.
I didn’t want to go to school.
The thought of walking through those hallways and seeing the faces of everyone who had witnessed my humiliation made me want to crawl back into bed and never come out. But staying home wasn’t an option.
I sighed and forced myself to finish getting ready. As I walked out the door, I braced myself for the stares, the whispers, the inevitable teasing.
But when I stepped into the school building, nothing happened.
The hallways w
