All Chapters of Last Year - First Love : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter 21 – Under the LightsThe week of the Ridgeway game felt like the entire school was caught in a fever. Posters multiplied overnight, painted with bold words like Victory is ours and Beat Ridgeway. The pep rally filled the gym with deafening chants, teachers rearranged assignments to make room for “school spirit,” and even parents were invited. It wasn’t just a game—it was an event.Annie felt the weight of it pressing down in every direction. Students buzzed in the hallways, trading predictions and mocking Ridgeway’s star player. Teachers joked about skipping homework for “practice,” and parents arranged carpools to make sure nobody missed it.Through it all, Annie’s eyes were drawn—against her will—to Damien. He practiced harder than ever, his expression always tight, his focus sharp. But behind the intensity was a quiet shadow Annie couldn’t shake. She already knew Damien wasn’t going to invite Adrian. She couldn’t blame him.

Chapter 23The diner was alive with noise. Booths overflowed with students still buzzing from the game, their laughter spilling over the clatter of plates and the hiss of the fryer. Every table seemed to be a victory parade, with jerseys still damp from sweat and glitter lingering in the hair of cheerleaders.Annie slid into a booth beside Becky and Sussy, across from her parents and Damien’s. Damien was stopped every few steps by classmates eager to pat his back or shake his hand. His grin looked effortless, but Annie caught the flicker of something else when his eyes passed over Adrian, who had followed them in like a shadow no one invited.The adults were in high spirits. Damien’s mom gushed about the game, waving her hands in animated retellings, while Annie’s father nodded along with a rare smile.“Crazy how he just keeps bouncing back,” one girl said.Annie’s stomach tightened. She pushed her fries around her plate, h

Chapter 25 At home, Damien is the disappointment.Adrian is the golden child, the one their parents lift up in every conversation. Their mother calls him charming, says he has “the kind of personality people love.” Their father brags about his grades, his leadership at school, his way of making people proud. Relatives ask about Adrian first at gatherings, nodding as if Damien is just an afterthought.When something breaks, when tempers flare, it is Damien’s name that gets called. When Adrian makes mistakes, they are brushed aside. “He didn’t mean it,” their mother says. “He’s just playful,” their father insists. But when Damien slips, the judgment falls heavy.“Why can’t you be more like Adrian?”“Your brother never gives us this kind of stress.”“You’ll understand when you grow up—Adrian has what it takes to succeed.”The words settle into Damien’s skin like bruises.At school, Damien has no Adrian to compete

Chapter 27 The complaint at the window should have been nothing—just a neighbor tired of loud music. But for Damien, it was the first real interruption to the silence he’d wrapped himself in. He found himself replaying it in his head: her annoyed expression, the sharpness in her tone, and the way she vanished the moment he turned the volume down. It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did. At school, he started noticing Annie. She wasn’t in all of his classes, but she was around enough that he couldn’t ignore her. She wasn’t loud or attention-seeking, yet somehow she stood out to him. The way she raised her hand with quiet confidence, the way she laughed with her friends in the corridor—it unsettled Damien because he realized he was watching her when he told himself he wouldn’t. Then came the visit. His parents insisted on paying a courtesy call to the neighbors. “It’s polite, Damien,” his mother had said firmly. He didn’t want

Chapter 29 The week after Becky and Sussy’s advice stretched into something Annie had never experienced before: deliberate avoidance. She walked through school hallways like a ghost, careful not to cross Damien’s path. If she glimpsed him at his locker, she turned the other way. In class, she sat with her head down, scribbling notes that didn’t make sense. When her phone buzzed with Adrian’s name flashing across the screen, she silenced it. His texts stacked one after another—lighthearted at first, then questioning, then simply: Are you ignoring me? She read them all but replied to none. She told herself she needed time, space. But each ignored message tugged at her guilt. By Friday night, she sat on her bed with her knees pulled to her chest, staring at the ceiling. The silence was louder than any conversation she could’ve had. She hated how unlike herself she felt. Avoidance wasn’t her nature. She wasn’t