The Shift
1382 Words
Pearl could feel it the moment Prince walked into school.
It wasn’t just her imagination. There was something different about him — something tight in his shoulders, something distant in the way he didn’t smile like he normally did. Gone was the lazy confidence that made him seem untouchable. Today, he moved like he was carrying something heavy. Something that didn’t belong to someone their age.
And worse, he wasn’t looking for her.
Usually, Prince found her in the crowd, like a magnet drawn to a match. Even if they didn’t talk, his gaze found hers. A subtle nod, a raised brow, a smirk that meant nothing but said everything.
Not today.
She watched him from her locker, pretending to fumble with her books. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second, and her breath caught — but he looked away first. No grin. No sign of recognition. Just a nod. Quick. Detached.
Then he disappeared around the corner.
Pearl slammed her locker shut and followed, weaving past the morning stragglers. Her boots clicked against the linoleum as she hurried, her pulse thudding louder with each step. She caught up to him just before he entered his homeroom.
“Prince.”
He turned at the sound of her voice. His face was unreadable.
“You good?” she asked, keeping her tone light but firm.
He nodded once. “Yeah. I’m good.”
She narrowed her eyes. “No, you’re not. What happened after last night? You left so fast.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Just needed space.”
“You found something, didn’t you?”
He didn’t answer right away. Then, after a long pause, “I’ll tell you later.”
Pearl exhaled, not satisfied but not wanting to press with students rushing past them. “Fine. Later.”
Prince glanced toward the classroom. “I gotta go.”
“Okay,” she said, stepping back. “But don’t keep me in the dark.”
His expression flickered, but he gave her a nod before disappearing through the door.
---
She barely made it through first period.
All she could think about was the way he looked at her — like he didn’t know how to say what needed saying. Like he didn’t want to hurt her with the truth.
When they sat together in second period — Literature — he didn’t so much as glance her way. She passed him a note with just two words:
Still good?
He slid it back without looking at her.
Later. Promise.
She hated that answer.
Biology wasn’t any better. Their usual back-and-forth was replaced with stilted silence. He kept his focus on their lab assignment while she kept sneaking glances, trying to read him. But he didn’t crack. Didn’t flinch.
It made her feel like a stranger.
And that feeling? It was worse than anything else.
---
Lunchtime came, and Pearl sat with Lila and the others, but she barely touched her food. Her mind was stuck on the folder Prince had clutched the night before — the one with her name on it.
What had been inside?
What did it prove?
Across the cafeteria, Prince sat at a different table — far from her. He was leaned in close to Jaxon, whispering fast, his hand drumming against the table. He looked tense. Determined.
“What’s going on with you?” Lila asked, poking at her tray. “You look like you're watching a soap opera in real life.”
Pearl forced a smile. “You could say that.”
Lila glanced over her shoulder. “Prince again?”
Pearl didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.
“Damn,” Lila muttered. “Y’all are intense. You know that, right? One minute you’re like a dream couple. The next, you’re ice cold.”
Pearl twirled her fork. “It’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like?”
Pearl stared across the room at him again. “Complicated.”
---
Later that night, Pearl couldn’t sit still.
She paced her room, the photo album spread open on the bed. Her mother’s handwriting looped across the edges of the pages — little notes, dates, locations. Sweet captions under photos of Pearl as a toddler, then a baby, then nothing.
The early photos were always the same: just Pearl and her mom.
No father. No extended family. No clues.
Except now she knew better.
The missing photo she’d found in the library — the one torn in half — wasn’t just some forgotten memory. It was a deliberate secret. And now Prince had a folder with documents that had her name on them.
She needed answers.
Her phone buzzed.
Prince.
Her heart jumped.
> Can we talk? Just us.
Now?
Yeah. Gym rooftop. Ten minutes.
Pearl didn’t waste a second.
---
The wind was sharper at night on the rooftop. Pearl pulled her coat tight around her as she climbed the last ladder and hoisted herself onto the gravel.
Prince stood at the edge, his back to her, his hoodie pulled low. City lights flickered behind him, casting his shadow long across the rooftop. The sight of him made her chest ache.
“Hey,” she said softly.
He turned.
No jokes. No smirks. Just a boy with tired eyes and something heavy in his hands.
He held out the folder.
Pearl stepped forward, slowly. “Is that what I think it is?”
He nodded. “Found it in my dad’s guesthouse. Hidden under floorboards.”
Her breath caught. She took it with trembling hands and flipped it open.
Photos. Scans of documents. A copy of her birth certificate.
Except the name under ‘Father’ wasn’t the man her mother had always spoken about. It was someone else. Someone with ties to the Ellington family.
“No,” she whispered. “No, this can’t be right.”
“It is,” Prince said, his voice low.
Pearl shook her head, tears burning her eyes. “My mom would never lie to me about something this big.”
He crouched beside her. “I don’t think she lied. I think she tried to protect you.”
“From what?”
Prince hesitated. “From them. From whatever this is. Whatever happened between your mom and my family… it wasn’t clean. This folder proves they tried to erase her from history. From your life.”
Pearl stared at the documents, her hands shaking.
“I looked into it,” he continued. “The man listed — he worked under my grandfather back in the day. There’s no record of him past a certain year. It’s like he vanished. And my dad… he knew. He’s been hiding this.”
“Why would they keep this a secret?”
“I don’t know. But it’s big. And if it ties you to the Ellingtons…” He trailed off. “Pearl, you deserve to know.”
She sat in silence for a long time, the folder on her lap, the weight of it almost unbearable.
“So what now?” she asked.
“We find the rest of the truth,” Prince said. “We go deeper. We figure out why your name’s in that folder. Why that man disappeared. What my family’s been hiding.”
Pearl looked up at him. “And what if we don’t like what we find?”
Prince reached out, brushing a thumb across her cheek, soft and certain. “Then we face it together.”
Her breath hitched. “You’re not scared?”
“Terrified,” he admitted. “But not of them. Not with you.”
She looked at him then — really looked — and saw the boy beneath the reputation. The boy who defied his father, who dug through secrets for her, who brought her truth instead of silence.
And for the first time in days, something in her chest eased.
“I’m in,” she said.
Prince smiled, that crooked, real one she hadn’t seen since before the bridge. “Good. Because we’ve got a lot of digging to do.”
The city stretched out before them.
Bright. Loud. Unforgiving.
But together, it felt just a little less terrifying.
And in that moment, the silence between them wasn’t empty.
It was a promise.
- Writer
