ASHLEY’S POV
The next morning, I woke up with my heart pounding like I’d just sprinted a mile.
The kiss.
It hit me all over again the moment I opened my eyes - the heat of it, the way his hand cupped my jaw, the roughness in his breath, the chaos in my chest. I lay there staring at the ceiling. My lips tingled with the memory. It didn’t feel real. It felt like a dream I shouldn’t have had. It was like a secret I couldn’t stop replaying.
But the world didn’t let me keep it secret for long.
By the time I got to school, the hallways were louder than usual. The second I stepped inside, whispers followed me like a trail. Heads turned. Eyes lingered. My stomach twisted.
I kept my head down, pretending not to notice, pretending I didn’t hear snippets like—
“She’s the one from the video, ri
