Samira's POV
By the time I walked into school that morning, the air already felt different. It wasn't necessarily louder or more chaotic; it was just charged. It was the kind of shift you could not explain unless you were standing in the middle of it.
Conversations dipped the moment I passed. A few heads turned a second too late to look away. Someone near the lockers laughed, then quickly stopped when I glanced in their direction. I frowned slightly but kept walking toward my locker, keeping my expression neutral. If people were watching, I was not about to give them anything interesting to look at.
"Sam!"
Novia's voice cut through the hallway before I even reached my destination. I did not turn immediately; I already knew what was coming.
"Samira, wait!" Amanda's voice followed, slig
