JACE
I always thought strength meant carrying everything alone.
Violet was teaching me otherwise.
The annual Winter Carnival prep was turning the entire Maplewood campus into a chaotic, glittering circus. Everywhere you looked, student committees were stringing up glowing fairy lights, hauling wooden ice-sculpting frames onto the quad, and setting up cocoa booths. The air smelled of woodsmoke, pine needles, and freezing mountain wind.
Normally, I would’ve shoved my hands in my pockets, lowered my cap, and ignored the noise completely. But today, standing on the edge of the brick plaza after a grueling three-hour morning film session, the sheer volume of the world was just making my head throb.
My body felt like it was made of solid lead. The bone bruise on my left shoulder was still r
