The air felt different when I stepped into school the next morning.Something in the atmosphere had shifted, and for once, it wasn’t against me. The same hallways stretched out ahead, the same rows of lockers, the same fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. But the eyes that followed me? They weren’t the same.People stared, some looked away quickly, others held my gaze a little too long, almost like they were trying to decipher who I was now, to understand where I stood in the hierarchy. A few offered nods, half smiles. Even the ones who’d laughed along with Ella days ago were suddenly shy with their eyes, careful with their words.I didn’t strut. I didn’t smirk. I just walked. Back straight, chin up, the way a person with no grudged was supposed to walk. With the confidence of my inner wolf.By the time I reached my locker, someone had slipped a folded note through the vents. I hesitated before opening it.That comeback yesterday? Iconic. If you ever need backup, I’m in. - Tasha.Tash
The scent of cinnamon drifted through the air, pulling me out of bed before the alarm even had a chance to buzz. For the first time in a while, I didn’t mind being up early. My muscles still ached faintly from the stress of the past week, but something had awoken inside me—a quiet fire burning in the pit of my stomach.I padded down the stairs in fuzzy socks and found my mother humming at the stove, her back turned. She was holding on to a spatula, swaying from side to side."Morning, sunshine," she said without looking."Morning," I replied, walking over to grab two mugs from the cupboard. "You made French toast?""Figured you could use a little sugar before facing the world today."I smiled, pouring coffee into both mugs. She slid a plate stacked high with golden toast onto the table, then sat across from me. We ate in comfortable silence for a while, the clinking of forks and the occasional scrape of a chair the only sounds.Eventually, she looked up. "So," she said, her tone casua
The decision came as I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, blotting cafeteria spaghetti sauce off my shirt with a trembling hand. My cheeks still burned with humiliation, and the echo of laughter haunted my ears. Shawn had tripped me in front of the entire cafeteria, and everyone had seen.The same boy who had told me he loved me just about two months ago. The boy I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with. He humiliated me, and didn’t feel an ounce of pity.I was done.I pressed the paper towel harder into my chest, not caring anymore if it hurt. I didn’t want to be this girl. The one who got walked over. Who got mocked. Who got treated like a footnote in someone else’s spotlight.If Ella and Shawn thought I’d just take it, they didn’t know me at all.Not anymore.I stared at myself a moment longer, let the image of my tear smudged makeup and ruined outfit sear into my memory—because this would be the last time they’d ever see me like this.They wanted a show? Fine. I’d
I tried to keep my head down the next two days. I honestly thought if I just stayed out of everyone’s way, the drama would die down on its own. But I should’ve known better. Hartville High thrived on drama, and I had walked back in oozing with mystery.Where had I been and why was I back? Everyone wanted to know, and not everyone was pleased.Every hallway felt like a stage where I was the unwilling lead, dodging glances, whispers, and not so subtle sneers. People I used to sit with now looked past me like I was a ghost. Some did worse, snickering as I passed, making sure their words were just loud enough.But I didn’t react. Not to any of it.I sat in the back of every class, answered only when called, and avoided eye contact. I did my homework. I kept my voice low. I did everything short of vanishing into thin air. And still, it wasn’t enough.Ella had made it her personal mission to break me.It started with small, nasty comments every time I walked by her, bumping into me in the ha
My first mistake was thinking I could get everything back to the way it used to be.I started the morning excited, energetic, and all so ready to crush my first day back to Hartville high. Standing in front of the mirror, tracing the hem of my new dress—the fitting as if it had been made specially just for me. Dark green, hugging my curves just right, and golden accents that made my eyes look like they held stars. My hair fell in soft curls over my shoulders, and my lips were tinted in a neutral pink gloss.Breakfast had been quick. I barely ate, too anxious of what the day might bring and internally planning to capture back the hearts of Shawn and Ella. I also made a mental note to speak with Shawn and address our current relationship dynamics.Of course, I was going to let him know I wanted to be just friends. My heart couldn’t take anymore strain.The moment I crossed the threshold of our front door and into the sunlight, it all became too real, almost hectic. The air was too loud,
I stood in a field of stars.There was no ground beneath my feet, yet I wasn’t falling. Just floating in a velvet sea of light and space, suspended by something I couldn’t name. The stars pulsed gently, alive, a heartbeat echoing in the silence.And then I saw him.The mysterious boy from my dreams. The one I could never fully remember once I woke up. His face blurred at the edges, but somehow familiar, like a name on the tip of my tongue.He stood at the center of it all, bathed in starlight, his eyes a vivid silver that shimmered when they found mine. He looked wrecked. Like he’d been crying for hours, but hadn’t let a single tear fall."Please," he whispered, stepping toward me. “Don’t let me go.”My chest tightened. “I still don’t know who you are.”He ignored the statement, or maybe it just didn’t matter.“You promised me, Astra,” he said. His voice trembled like something fragile. “You said you’d never forget me. You said we were forever.”My throat closed up, the stars around u