ARIA
The sky had already begun to fade into that soft orange-gray that meant evening was closing in when my phone buzzed again. I was halfway down the block that curved away from school, the pavement still warm under my shoes even though the air was starting to cool.
> Adrian: I will meet you at the tutorials hall in five minutes.
For a second I thought I’d read it wrong. I stopped under the trees lining the street and stared at the words until they blurred. I wanted to ignore the first message he’d sent earlier, the one asking me not to go home. But this one—this one caught me off guard.
I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.
My pulse jumped, confusion and curiosity tangling inside me in a way that made my chest tighten. I looked back toward the school gates.
The building stoo
