Elaris’s POV
I woke up before the alarm.
For a few seconds, I simply lay there, staring at the ceiling I'd spent years looking at every morning.
Today would be the last time.
The realization settled quietly inside me.
Not painfully.
Not the way it would have a week ago.
Just... quietly.
I sat up slowly and stretched, smiling faintly when I felt the familiar stiffness in my shoulders.
Mrs. Lane would probably scold me if she knew I'd slept on one side all night again.
The thought made me smile.
I rested a hand against my stomach.
"Good morning," I whispered softly.
The words still felt strange.
I wasn't showing yet.
There was nothing different about my body that anyone else would notice.
But I knew.
For the first time in my life...
I wasn't completely alone.
"I don't kno
