All Chapters of THE LINE BETWEEN US : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I balanced the warm pastries in my left hand and the chilled bottle of fruit juice in my right, careful not to trip over the uneven path outside our front porch. My glasses kept sliding down the bridge of my nose, so I pushed them up again with a quick nudge, trying not to spill anything.“Be careful, Autumn,” Mom called from the doorway, her voice laced with that gentle amusement she always seemed to have when she caught me fussing over Damian. She was leaning against the frame, arms folded, a knowing smile tugging at her lips.“I will,” I said, trying not to sound too giddy. “I won’t be long.”“Tell him I said hi,” she added.I smiled sheepishly, cheeks warming. “Okay.”Turning away, I started down the road with a little more eagerness in my step than I meant to show. The air was warm, carrying faint scents of grass and sunbaked earth. Every step closer to the school’s field had my mind replaying the thought over and over, how happy he’d be when he saw the cookies.Not just any cook

I sat cross-legged at my desk, my textbook open, pen in hand, highlighter poised like I was about to strike… but the words refused to stick.The same sentence had been glaring up at me for the past ten minutes, and I couldn’t remember a single thing it said. I underlined it twice just to pretend I was doing something productive, but my mind kept looping back to the field.The sound of the whistle.The applause.The way Damian’s smile had shifted, glowing for her instead of me.I shook my head, dragging my eyes back to the page. Midterms. You need to focus on midterms, Autumn. That’s what matters. Not… I stopped myself from even thinking her name.But my chest tightened anyway, the image replaying like a movie I never asked to watch.Marianne.The way he’d run to her.The way he’d tucked her hair behind her ear.My pen scratched a meaningless doodle in the margin before I sighed and tossed it onto the desk. Who was I kidding? I wasn’t going to get any studying done tonight. My brain wa

The sting in my palms was still sharp when I looked up.The person who had tripped me was standing there, arms folded loosely over his chest like he’d just been inconvenienced instead of nearly sending me sprawling face-first into the lockers. His dark eyes swept over me with a slow, deliberate disdain, and then, because apparently the universe had a sense of humor, he gave me the nastiest look I’d ever seen.Not a guilty one. Not even a bored, indifferent one. No. A look that said I’m annoyed at you… as if I’d somehow wronged him.Something inside me flared.My cheeks were already hot with humiliation, but that look… that look ticked me off in a way I couldn’t swallow down. Before I could even think about staying quiet and avoiding further attention, I was already pushing myself to my feet, dusting off my jeans, and squaring my shoulders.“Really?” My voice came out sharper than I expected. “You trip me, and then you glare at me like it’s my fault?”His brows lifted slightly, but he

The last bell of the day felt like a release.I gathered my books so fast I almost forgot my water bottle under the desk, shoving it into my bag before I practically jogged out the door. All day I’d been replaying lunch , the way Damian had slid into the seat beside me, the burger, the casual arm over my shoulders. My heart had been doing these tiny, traitorous flips every time my mind wandered back to it.Now, all I wanted was to see him again before we went home.The hallway felt like a current, students spilling in every direction, but I cut through it with single-minded focus, heading for my locker. I didn’t even linger there long, just swapped my math textbook for the English one I’d need tonight, before heading straight for the garage where Damian always parked.His car was still there when I arrived, glinting faintly in the late afternoon light. That sleek, familiar shape instantly made me smile. I hovered a few feet away from it, leaning back against the wall so I wouldn’t lo

I woke up with light spilling softly through my curtains, the kind that makes you think the day is going to be good before you’ve even gotten out of bed. I stretched, still tangled in the blanket from last night, and then… realized something strange. My cheeks felt warm. My lips were curved.I was smiling.Had I fallen asleep like this? The thought made me want to laugh, because the only time I ever woke up smiling was on my birthday when I was eight and Dad surprised me with a kitten. But here I was, teeth still pressed together, my face already halfway to a grin before my brain was even awake.It didn’t take a genius to figure out why.I rolled out of bed, brushing my hair away from my face as I shuffled into the bathroom. The mirror confirmed it, I wasn’t imagining it. My reflection stared back at me with that faint, ridiculously soft smile that I didn’t know I was capable of first thing in the morning. My hair was a mess, my eyes still half-lidded, but there it was.The ghost of D