INICIAR SESIÓNJessaTwo months later.My room didn’t look like mine anymore.Not really.There were boxes everywhere—some half full, some taped shut, some still empty like I hadn’t quite figured out what belonged in them yet. My closet door was open, hangers spaced out in a way that made everything feel… temporary.Like this wasn’t my space anymore.Or maybe—I wasn’t the same person who first filled it.I sat on the floor in the middle of it all, a small pile of things in front of me. Old notebooks. Random papers. A couple of photos I didn’t even remember taking.I picked one up.It was from earlier in the year.I could tell.Not because of the date.Because of me.The way I was standing.The way I smiled—tight, careful, like I wasn’t fully there.Like I didn’t want to take up too much space.I stared at it for a second longer than I meant to.God.I barely recognized that girl.Not because she looked different.Because she felt different.I set the picture down gently and leaned back against my b
JessaBenny’s was louder than usual.Not in a chaotic, overwhelming way like a game night—but full. Packed with voices, laughter, plates clinking, music low in the background. The kind of noise that wrapped around you instead of pressing in on you.It felt… warm.Familiar.And for the first time in a long time, not something I had to brace myself for.“Okay, I’m just saying,” Mariah said, leaning back in the booth like she owned the place, “if we’re calling this a ‘last night’ thing, I feel like there should be more dramatic energy.”Jackson snorted across from her.“We still have two months.”She pointed at him.“Exactly my point. So this isn’t technically the last anything.”“Then stop calling it that,” he shot back.“I like the vibe,” she said.I smiled, sitting beside Noah, my shoulder lightly brushing his.It was weird.Not the bad kind.Just… aware.Aware of everything.The table.The people.The way this moment felt like it mattered more than it would’ve a year ago.“Food’s her
JessaThe gym looked different.It always did for games—loud, packed, overwhelming—but this was different in a quieter way. The bleachers were filled, but people weren’t yelling. There was no band blasting music, no chaos, no pressure to win something.Just rows of chairs lined up on the floor.Just families.Just… endings.I stood near the side with the rest of the seniors, the fabric of my gown brushing against my legs every time I shifted. The cap felt weird on my head, like it didn’t quite belong there yet.Or maybe I didn’t.“This is it,” Mariah whispered beside me.I glanced at her.She looked… good. Confident. Like she belonged here.Then again—Mariah always looked like she belonged.“Don’t say it like that,” I muttered.“Like what?”“Like we’re about to walk into the unknown and never recover.”She smirked.“Dramatic.”“You started it.”“Yeah, but I do it better.”I huffed a small laugh, but it didn’t settle the way I expected it to.Because this was it.No more “next year.”N
MariahThree months later.Graduation was close now.Close enough that everything felt different—even if no one was saying it out loud.You could feel it in the way teachers talked like we were already halfway gone. In the way people said “after graduation” instead of “next year.” In the way everything suddenly felt temporary… like we were all just standing at the edge of something, waiting to jump.And if I’m being honest?This year changed everything.Not just the drama.Not just the rumors.Us.Because Jessa isn’t the same girl she was at the start of the year.Not even close.And… neither am I.We were sitting on her bed, her laptop open between us, notes scattered everywhere like we were actually trying to study.We weren’t.I flopped back dramatically onto her pillows.“This is weird.”She didn’t even look up.“You’ve said that three times.”“I’m processing.”“You’re being dramatic.”“I am not being dramatic,” I argued, staring at the ceiling. “I am having a completely reasonabl
JacksonI didn’t notice it all at once.It wasn’t some big, dramatic moment where everything suddenly clicked.It was smaller than that.Quieter.The kind of thing you almost miss if you’re not paying attention.Jessa wasn’t hovering anymore.Not around me.Not around Noah.Not around anyone.And that should’ve felt normal.It was normal.Except… it wasn’t how things used to be.I leaned back against the kitchen counter, watching her from across the room.She was at the table, laptop open, papers spread out around her—not in that frantic, overwhelmed way from a few weeks ago. This was different.Organized.Focused.Like she actually knew what she was doing.She’d tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, type something, pause, read, then nod to herself like she was confirming it made sense.No sighing.No frustration.No “I don’t get this” under her breath.Just… steady.It was weird.I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, not taking my eyes off her.Because I couldn’t shake the feel
JessaIt was quiet.Too quiet for a school that had spent the last four years feeling like it was always watching me.The front doors were unlocked—probably because of some after-school event—but the halls were empty. No lockers slamming. No voices echoing. No whispers trailing behind me like shadows.Just… silence.I stepped inside anyway.I don’t even know why I came.Maybe I needed to see it like this.Without the noise.Without the people.Without the version of me that always existed here.My boots echoed against the tile as I walked down the main hallway. The sound felt louder than it should’ve, like the building wasn’t used to someone moving through it alone.I passed my locker.Stopped.For a second, I just stared at it.This stupid metal box that somehow held so many versions of me.The girl who kept her head down.The girl who pretended not to hear things.The girl who believed everything people said about her.I reached out, resting my fingers against the cool metal.“You’r
JacksonBy Wednesday, Ridgeville High felt… wrong.Not chaotic. Not loud. Just tense — like everyone was pretending things were normal while waiting for the next explosion. The hallway whispers followed me everywhere:“Did you hear?”“Daniel’s gone.”“No, like—gone gone.”I tried to ignore it. Trie
JessaBy the time the last bell rang, I could barely sit still.Not in the panicky way I used to feel walking down hallways — terrified someone would make a comment or laugh behind my back. This was different.This was… warm. Fluttery. Kind of electric.And all because Noah Carter wanted to hang ou
NoahI pulled into Jessa’s driveway slower than necessary, mostly because I wasn’t ready for the night to end. She sat beside me, quiet but not in a bad way — more like she was trying to hold on to the last few minutes before reality came rushing back.The streetlamps hit her hair in soft gold stre
JacksonThe second Noah shoved past me with Jessa in his arms, something in my chest snapped.I saw her face — pale, shaken, trying so damn hard not to fall apart — and all the noise around me turned into static. Bethany’s music, the people cheering at the idiots jumping into the freezing pool, the







