The alarm buzzed at 6:30 a.m., shrill and unwelcome, stabbing through the fog in my head. I slapped it off and lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling. My body felt heavy, like I’d just run laps in a storm, but my eyes refused to close again. Maybe it was nerves. Maybe I made myself check my phone and saw that Ryan had finally texted back.Yeah, we can talk. What’s up?I’d typed out a dozen different responses before settling on the plainest thing I could manage. Where are you?He’d answered a few minutes later. Going to class right now. Catch me in the cafeteria this afternoon.So here I was, dragging myself out of bed even though my muscles ached, my chest felt light and weak, and a part of me wanted nothing more than to sink back under the covers. But I couldn’t. Not with this conversation hanging over my head.I pushed myself to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and let the lukewarm water pound on my shoulders. My mind raced the whole time. What would I say? Why didn’t yo
“Sky?” June's voice continued to be a mix of worry and alarm, the kind that made my chest tighten even more. She was really, really, really alarmed right now. I could tell from her face. “Hey, what’s wrong? Why are you crying like that?”I sniffed hard, dragging the back of my hand across my face, but it did nothing to stop the tears. “I—I don’t know,” I stammered, shaking my head. “I just… I don’t know.”June frowned, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as if that would help her think clearer. “No. Don’t give me that. Something’s up. You don’t break down out of nowhere like this.”“I swear I don’t know what’s wrong,” I whispered, but even to my own ears it sounded weak.She narrowed her eyes at me like she could see straight through the excuse. “Skylar,” she said firmly, “you’re shaking. Talk to me. What happened?”My lips trembled. The words scraped their way out before I could stop them. “Ethan was here.”June blinked. “Ethan? Your brother?”“Yeah. He just left.” My chest squee
It was several minutes after the door had clicked shut behind Ethan, and even as silence pressed down on the room like a heavy blanket, I felt very restless as if I had been chased by a fox. For a while, I just stood there, staring at the wood, half expecting him to come back and say he didn’t mean any of it. That he hadn’t just sliced me open with his words. But the handle stayed still.I dragged a hand down my face and began pacing across the dorm floor, the rough edge of the rug brushing against my bare feet with every turn. The words kept replaying in my head, sharper each time.Had Ryans been called to a disciplinary meeting and I didn’t know?When? Before he came to spend the day with me? Or after?And why didn’t he tell me?Did he think I couldn’t handle it? Or worse—did he think I was the problem? That I was his problem…The thought hit me so hard I stopped mid-step. My chest tightened as the air slipped out of me in little gasps. Was I… too much trouble for him? Was he tired
I clenched my fists so tightly my nails bit into my palms. My chest felt like it would burst with all the tangled mess of anger, humiliation, and confusion Ethan had just dumped on me. For a moment, I wanted to snap back at him, to hurl every bitter word bubbling in my throat. But something inside me—maybe the tiny sensible voice that still had a shred of patience left—warned me that exploding at Ethan right now was the last thing I should do.Not when we were alone. Not when he was Ryans’ best friend.I forced my lungs to drag in a long, shaky breath. My eyes stung, but I blinked hard, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing me crack. I turned away from him, staring at the dull beige wall by my desk, tracing the faint crack that ran down from the ceiling. I focused on it, used it to tether myself back, to smooth over the rage burning in my blood.When I finally turned back, I made sure my face was as calm as I could manage, even though my jaw ached from how tight I was holdin
I refused to go back to sleep. Not after that crazy dream. I so could not go back to sleep.The fragments of it clung to me like cobwebs—sticky, invisible, refusing to let me breathe. Caleb’s face kept flashing in my mind, like a slideshow I hadn’t asked to see. His voice, too. That stupid laugh that used to make me melt. I sat up straighter on the bed, tugging the blanket off my legs like it was his fault I was restless.“You’re not sleeping?” June’s voice broke into my thoughts. I looked at her and then blinked in surprise. One minute she had been lying down on her bed and the next minute, she was standing by the closet, tugging on a hoodie and slipping into sneakers.I shook my head. “Couldn’t. What are you doing?”She tilted her head, eyes narrowing at me for a beat before she zipped up the hoodie. “Wearing my clothes. I’ll be out for a while. Just need a stroll. Clear my head.”I raised my brows. “At—” I glanced at the clock on the wall. “—this time of the day?”June shrugged, al
I must have drifted off sometime after June went quiet on her side of the room and had gone to sleep. It was very late in the evening and the room was dark, except for the thin slice of hallway light slipping through the blinds, and I remembered watching that silver light crawl across the floor until my eyes closed on their own.Then the dream started.It was like someone had dropped me into a painting—colors too bright, edges too sharp, every detail so vivid it almost hurt to look at. I was standing in a garden I didn’t recognize, surrounded by flowers that looked like they’d been stolen out of a fantasy novel. Roses the size of my head, lilies glowing faintly like lanterns, vines twisting themselves into heart-shaped arches.Someone was brushing my hair. I looked down and realized I was wearing a dress. Not just any dress, but a flowing white gown that sparkled faintly as if the fabric itself had been dipped in starlight. The fabric had tiny silver beads all over it. The strange th