SEEN, NOTICED LOVED

Chapter 11- SOMETHING IN THE AIR

They were laughing again.

Real, stomach-clutching laughter , the kind that leaves you breathless and lightheaded.

Tyler had just imitated their economics teacher’s accent, and Tara had nearly spilled juice on her uniform from laughing too hard.

This was new. Not just the closeness , but the ease. The almond tree felt more alive lately. Maybe it was them. Maybe it was what was growing between them. He called her T now. She called him Superman whenever he tried to act like he wasn’t blushing. They didn’t talk about what they were. But they didn’t have to. Not yet.

That evening, she texted him,

" Do you ever feel like the world is waiting for us to mess up?"

He replied almost immediately

" All the time. But I think it’s too late. I already fell"

She stared at the screen for minutes. Then locked her phone and smiled into her pillow.

But not everyone was smiling. Tonia leaned against her locker the next day, eyes trained on them. They weren’t even touching. Just walking together. But her jaw tightened. She’d spent three days replaying that photo in her head. Something about it bothered her. Something about Tara bothered her. She hadn’t decided what to do yet. But something in her , maybe pride, maybe pettiness, maybe something deeper didn’t want to let it go.

The c***k came later that day. Barely a shift. Just a change in the air. Tara was called to the staff room unexpectedly.

Tyler waited for her under the tree, sketchbook in hand, Half sketching, half-thinking. When she came back, something was off.

“Everything okay?”

he asked. She nodded. Smiled. But her smile didn’t touch her eyes. And when he reached for her hand like before, she didn’t pull away

but she didn’t squeeze back either.

He walked her home that evening. Quiet. Careful. She didn’t say much, just hugged him lightly at her gate and disappeared inside.

Tyler stood there for a minute. He didn’t know what was wrong. But he knew something had shifted.

Inside, Tara sat on her bed, hands trembling just slightly as she pulled out her phone. A message had been waiting for her in the staff room. Slipped under a teacher’s door, no name attached. Just a printed-out photo. Her and Tyler . Their heads close. Smiles loud. Obvious. On the back, a single line in black ink ,

“You’ve been seen.”

She didn’t cry. She didn’t scream. But something in her stomach twisted hard , like shame, like fear, like something about to unravel. She didn’t tell Tyler . Not yet. Her peace with Tyler ? Now it felt like something someone else has stolen.

But Who ?