All Chapters of THE LINE BETWEEN US : Chapter 121 - Chapter 124

The room felt lighter the moment I turned the last page.Not quieter, exam halls are never quiet, but lighter, like something heavy had finally slipped off my shoulders and hit the floor without making a sound. My pen hovered over the paper for a second longer than necessary, ink drying at the end of a sentence I’d rewritten three times just to be sure it sounded like me. Honest. Complete.Done.The word echoed in my head, unreal and fragile. I let out a slow breath, the kind that starts deep in your chest and empties you out on the way up. This was it. The last paper of the session. Months of stress, late nights, tears, silences, things I didn’t talk about and things I didn’t even have words for, all of it ending here, with black ink on white paper.I leaned back slightly in my chair and looked around.Some people were already handing in their scripts, faces bright with relief. Others were still hunched over, scribbling furiously like the clock had personally wronged them. A few star

Prom came faster than I’d expected. One moment, I was nervously smoothing the hem of my dress, trying to convince myself that I wasn’t too excited, that it was just another school event. And then it was here, lights twinkling like stars had fallen onto the gym floor, music vibrating through the air, and everyone dressed like they’d stepped out of a dream.Taylor had been the first to show up at my doorstep that night, grinning like he had a secret no one else knew. He carried a bouquet that matched my dress, soft pinks and whites, for the first time in weeks, I felt lighter. He’d said the right things, things that made the tension I’d carried for Damian feel like it could finally breathe. That night was a bomb, he’d said. “You can fix things with Damian after prom. I'm totally fine, already moving on. You deserve this night.”And he was right.Prom went smoothly. The slow songs that always made my chest tighten didn’t feel like reminders anymore; they were invitations to laugh, to spi