LOGINNova's POV I—" she started. "I don't—" "How many, Priya?" She looked away. The tears kept coming. "Three," she whispered. "Three times." I felt something cold settle in my chest. "Three times." "The river," she said, her voice barely audible. "And the locker room incident. And—" She stopped, swallowing hard. "And what?" She wouldn't meet my eyes. "And Lydia," I said, the words falling out of me like stones. "What did you do to Lydia?" Priya's head snapped up, her eyes wide with shock. "How do you know about Lydia?" The question hung between us, heavy and accusatory. I watched the color drain from her face, watched her expression shift from confusion to dawning horror. "How do you know about Lydia?" she repeated, her voice trembling. I stared at her, and for the first time, I saw the truth in her eyes. The guilt. The shame. The fear. Everything I had been trying not to believe was written across her face, plain as day. "I know about the lab," I said quietly
Nova's POV "Nova! Nova, wait!" Priya's voice echoed behind me, desperate and raw. I kept walking. "Please," she called out, her footsteps quickening. "Please just let me explain. I know you probably hate me right now. But please—" I spun around so fast she almost crashed into me. "Did you push me into the river?" My voice came out sharp, cutting through the empty hallway. "Did you?" Priya's face crumpled. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled over, tracking down her cheeks. Her whole body trembled like she was about to shatter. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes, I did." The word hit me like a physical blow. I staggered back, my hand pressing against the wall to steady myself. "But you need to know why," Priya said, her voice cracking. "You need to understand. Harper made me do it. She had something on me. Something that would have destroyed everything. Please, Nova. Just give me five minutes. If you still hate me after that, I'll leave. I'll never bother you again. Just ple
Nova's POV I got to school earlier than usual.No waiting by the curb. No checking the time for a car that wasn't coming. Those habits belonged to a different version of me, the one who still believed the fake dating had rules and protection. That version was gone. I walked through the front gates while the lot was still half empty and the hallways held only a handful of early students.I didn't go to my locker first.I went to the spot.The exact patch of ground where Lily had landed after falling from the balcony. I had looked it up months ago in old campus maps and news photos, cross-checking angles until I was sure. Standing there now, the air felt thinner, like the space itself remembered what had happened. Flashes hit without warning—night sky, the edge of the railing, the sick drop in the stomach that wasn't mine. I stayed still and let them pass. When they faded I turned to leave.That was when I saw it.A phone, half-buried under a thin layer of leaves and dirt near the base
Nova's POV I couldn’t remember falling asleep. One minute I was staring at the ceiling with Lily’s scream still echoing in my head. The next, someone was knocking on my bedroom door hard enough to rattle the frame. I pulled the pillow over my face. “Go away mom. It’s Saturday and it's not my turn to take out the trash.” The door opened anyway. My mother’s voice came through, soft and apologetic. “I’m sorry, honey, but you have a visitor.” I kept the pillow where it was. “This early in the morning?” “It’s ten a.m.” That got me upright. Ten. I had slept later than I thought, but my body still felt scraped raw from the night before. I muttered my way through finding a hoodie and sweatpants, complaining under my breath about people who didn’t understand the concept of weekends, until I reached the living room and stopped cold. Lydia sat on the edge of the couch. Her mother stood behind her with one hand resting on her shoulder. Daylight made the scars on Lydia’s face clearer t
Nova's POV I gave up in the shower.The water ran over the sticky soda and the last bits of trash still clinging to my skin. I watched it all disappear down the drain and decided I was done. Lily was dead. Nothing I did at Crestwood would change that. Lydia’s face was already ruined. No amount of digging or exposing Harper would give her back the years she had lost. The whole revenge plan had been a story I told myself to feel useful.Maybe it had never been about them.Maybe I had only needed a reason to keep moving after the transplant. A mission so I wouldn’t have to sit still with a heart that didn’t fully belong to me. And the feelings for Ryker—those sharp, sudden pulls toward him—might not even be mine. They could be leftovers. Echoes from a dead girl who had once texted him under a different name. If I hadn’t been carrying her memories, I probably never would have started the fake relationship in the first place.I blamed her for all of it, every single one of it. Standing t
Nova's POV I walked into class like I was already somewhere else.The hallway had been bad enough. My locker was covered. Fresh marker this time. Words I didn’t bother reading all the way through. Someone had drawn a stick figure with X’s for eyes and a teacher’s apple in its hand. I didn’t wipe any of it off. I just turned the combination, took out what I needed, and closed the door again.Inside the classroom it was worse.My seat had writing across the desk and the back of the chair. The whiteboard at the front had a new message in big uneven letters that made a few people laugh when I walked past it. I sat down without touching any of it. The words stayed exactly where they were.No one was coming. I was completely alone. That was the difference now. Before, some part of me still expected Ryker to appear at the edge of the damage and shut it down. Today that part of me was quiet. He was already in the room. Two rows back. Harper in the seat beside him like it had always been tha







