A SWERVE IN THE THUTH

William: The Library – Late March

I couldn't focus on physics. Every time I closed my eyes, I was back on that asphalt, smelling the gasoline and feeling the weight of the silver cross in my pocket. 152 days. 152 days of looking for a girl who didn't exist in any public record.

Beside me, Shawn was vibrating with a tension I usually only saw when we were at the firehouse. He was my brother in every way that mattered, and right now, he looked like he was about to snap.

"Did you guys hear?" Jessica whispered, leaning over the table, her eyes bright with the kind of gossip that fueled Northwood High. “Andy is coming back tomorrow”

I didn't have to look at Shawn to feel the temperature at the table drop twenty degrees.

"Who?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

"Andy," Jessica said. "The school memo went out this morning. She’s starting first period tomorrow."

The name hit the air like a match to a fuse. Shawn’s pencil didn't just break—it shattered. He didn't say a word, but the look on his face was pure, unadulterated pain. I’d seen Shawn handle car wrecks and house fires without flinching, but the mere mention of this 'Andy' girl made him look like he’d been gutted.

"I'm out of here," Shawn muttered, shoving his books into his bag so hard a notebook tore. He didn't even look at us as he stormed out of the library, his shoulders hunched like he was carrying the weight of the world.

I watched him go, a slow-burning anger beginning to simmer in my chest. I didn't know much about Shawn’s life before I joined the firehouse two years ago, but I knew a heartbreak when I saw one. Whoever this 'Andy' was, she had clearly destroyed him. She’d probably been some private-school princess who played with his head and then vanished for three years, leaving him to pick up the pieces.

"He’s been like that since the day she left," Jessica sighed, looking sympathetic. “Shawn can't stand the mention of her."

I nodded, my jaw tightening. I didn't care if she was a Ross or a saint. If she was the reason my best friend looked like a ghost, I already hated her.

"So, the legendary Andy Ross arrives tomorrow," I muttered, looking down at my blank notebook.

Jessica nodded. "First period. English."

I reached into my pocket and gripped the aquamarine cross—the only thing that felt real in this town of secrets. While everyone else was preparing a red carpet for some girl who broke Shawn's heart, I was still searching for my girl. The one in the leather jacket. The one who actually knew what it felt like to bleed.

All I knew was that tomorrow, I’d have to sit in a classroom with the girl who ruined my best friend. And I wasn't going to make it easy for her.