Ryan
Monday morning didn't feel like a trap. For the first time in my life, walking through the front doors of the school felt like a release.
I didn't wait for Tyler by the gym entrance. I didn't scan the hallway for Sophie. I walked straight to the AP lockers, my boots heavy and deliberate against the linoleum, my heart light with a strange, fierce clarity.
Klara was already there. She was wearing a soft, forest-green sweater that made her gray eyes look like smoke, her hair falling around her face in loose, wavy strands. But the moment she saw me approaching, she didn’t shrink. She didn't look through me. A small, tentative smile curved her lips, and the sheer beauty of it made my chest ache.
"Morning," I said, my voice dropping into that low, private register meant only for her.
I
