THE OLD YEARBOOK
1131 Words
The name had been following Mia all morning.
Harper.
She didn't know why it bothered her so much.
Maybe it was because she had heard it before.
Or maybe it was because of the way Abby had reacted when the name came up yesterday.
Either way, Mia couldn't seem to get it out of her head.
She sat at the edge of her bed, staring blankly at her phone while Valerie searched through her wardrobe.
“Are you coming?” Valerie asked.
Mia blinked. “Coming where?”
Valerie slowly turned around.
“To class?”
“Oh.”
Mia looked at the time.
“Yeah. I'm coming.”
Valerie studied her for a moment.
“You've been acting weird since yesterday.”
“I have?”
“Yes.” Valerie folded her arms. “You keep zoning out.”
Mia forced a small laugh.
“I'm just tired.”
“Hmm.”
Valerie clearly didn't believe her, but she didn't push.
Mia grabbed her bag.
“Come on. We're going to be late.”
---
Classes went by normally.
At least, they were supposed to.
Mia tried to concentrate on her notes, but every few minutes, her mind wandered back to the same question.
Who was Harper?
She had no reason to care.
Yet somehow, she did.
During the next class, Mia reached for her pen at the same time Noah reached across the desk.
Their hands stopped inches apart.
“You can take it,” Noah said.
Mia quickly pulled her hand back.
“No, it's fine.”
He looked at her.
“You're doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Leaving the room without actually leaving.”
Mia frowned.
“What does that even mean?”
“You're here.” He tapped the desk lightly. “But your mind is somewhere else.”
Mia stared at him.
For a second, she wondered if everyone could see through her that easily.
“I've just got a lot on my mind.”
Noah nodded.
“Fair enough.”
He returned to his notes without asking anything else.
Mia looked down at her notebook.
She appreciated that.
She didn't want questions.
Not yet.
---
By lunchtime, Mia had almost convinced herself to forget about it.
Almost.
She sat with Valerie and Paige, picking at her food while the other two talked about something she wasn't really listening to.
Then Mia suddenly looked at Paige.
“Paige?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you know anyone named Harper?”
Paige stopped chewing.
“Harper?”
“Yeah.”
Valerie glanced at Mia.
Mia quickly added, “Someone who used to attend Westbridge.”
Paige thought for a moment.
“Not personally.”
“Oh.”
“But…”
Mia looked up.
Paige pointed her fork toward the library building.
“I think the library has old yearbooks.”
Mia's eyebrows lifted.
“Yearbooks?”
“Yeah. Every year or something like that.”
Valerie shrugged.
“That's probably where you'd find old students.”
Mia nodded slowly.
“Right.”
Paige looked at her suspiciously.
“Why?”
Mia hesitated.
“No reason. Just curious.”
Valerie gave her a look that said she wasn't buying it.
But thankfully, neither of them asked again.
---
The library was quieter than Mia expected.
The afternoon sunlight came through the tall windows, falling across rows of shelves.
She walked toward the librarian's desk.
“Excuse me?”
The librarian looked up.
“Yes?”
“Do you have old Westbridge yearbooks?”
The woman smiled.
“We keep several years in the archive section.”
“Could I see the one from three years ago?”
“Of course.”
Mia followed her to a shelf tucked away at the back.
The librarian pulled out a thick, dusty book.
WESTBRIDGE ACADEMY — THREE YEARS AGO.
Mia's heart gave a strange little beat.
She took it carefully.
“Thank you.”
She carried the yearbook to a nearby table.
For a moment, she simply stared at it.
This was ridiculous.
She didn't even know what she expected to find.
Still, she opened it.
Page after page.
Class photographs.
School events.
Clubs.
Sports.
Graduation preparations.
Mia slowly flipped through the pages.
Then she stopped.
A section titled STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS caught her attention.
Her fingers froze against the paper.
She turned the page.
And there it was.
A name.
HARPER SMITH.
Mia stared.
For some reason, the room suddenly felt quieter.
She moved closer to the page.
There was a short write-up beneath the name.
And beside it—
A photograph.
Mia's breath caught.
She leaned forward, trying to see the face properly.
Was this the Harper everyone seemed so strange about?
Was this the same person?
She lifted her hand toward the page.
“Mia?”
She froze.
Someone had called her name.
Mia immediately shut the yearbook.
Her heart raced.
She looked around.
Nobody was standing beside her.
The librarian was at the desk.
A student was walking between the shelves.
Mia frowned.
Maybe she had imagined it.
She looked down at the yearbook.
For a second, she considered opening it again.
Instead, she closed it completely.
Not yet.
She wasn't sure why, but suddenly she didn't want anyone knowing what she had found.
Mia returned the yearbook to the librarian and left the library with more questions than answers.
---
By the time she returned to the hostel, the sun was beginning to disappear behind the buildings.
Valerie was sitting on her bed, scrolling through her phone.
Paige was arguing with someone over a voice note.
And Abby—
Mia stopped at the doorway.
Abby was sitting quietly by the window.
She looked different.
Not sad.
Not exactly.
Just… distant.
Her fingers were wrapped tightly around the edge of her sleeve.
Mia watched her for a few seconds.
Something about Abby's expression reminded her of the moment the name Harper had first been mentioned.
Mia didn't say anything.
She walked inside and dropped her bag beside her bed.
She tried to act normal.
But the question wouldn't leave her mind.
Finally, when Valerie and Paige were distracted, Mia looked toward Abby.
“Abby?”
Abby turned.
“Yeah?”
Mia hesitated.
Then she asked quietly,
“Have you ever heard of someone named Harper Smith?”
Everything stopped.
Only for a second.
But Mia noticed.
Abby's face changed.
Her eyes widened slightly.
Her fingers went completely still.
Then, just as quickly, she looked away.
“No.”
The answer came too fast.
Mia stared at her.
Abby swallowed.
“I don't know anyone by that name.”
Mia said nothing.
She simply watched her.
Because somehow…
Abby's reaction had told her far more than her answer ever could.
She knew the name.
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