جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 220

JessaBenny’s was loud in that warm, messy, happy way that only happens after a big win.The windows were fogged up from too many people and too much laughter. Someone had pushed a bunch of tables together, and half the football team was crammed around them, still in jackets and hoodies, still buzzing with adrenaline.Everyone was talking at once.Jackson was in the middle of it, of course—getting slapped on the back, getting his crown stolen and put on someone else’s head, getting it stolen back. Mariah sat beside him, pretending she was annoyed while absolutely glowing.I watched them for a second and smiled.Then I felt Noah’s hand find mine under the table.Just like that. Natural. Easy.My heart still hadn’t figured out how to act normal around him.“So,” Mariah said, leaning across the table, “I vote we officially declare this the best homecoming game in Ridgeville history.”“Only because we won,” someone said.“Details,” she replied.Everyone laughed.Food came. Fries disappear

NoahBy the time I got home, my head felt like it had been run through a blender.Not because anything terrible had happened.Not because Jessa and I had fought.Not even because the whispers had gotten worse.It was because everything was loud.The school. The looks. The way people suddenly thought they were entitled to opinions about my life. About her.About us.I tossed my keys on the counter and stood there for a second, staring at nothing. My mom was still at work, my dad was probably in the garage at home, and the house felt too quiet in the wrong way.My phone buzzed in my pocket.Jessa.I smiled before I even opened it.You survive the day?I typed back:Barely. You?Three dots appeared.I’m okay. Just… tired of people.Yeah. Same.I stared at the screen for a second, then typed before I could overthink it:Want me to come over?There was a pause. Long enough that I wondered if I’d said something wrong.Then:I’d really like that.Decision made.⸻The drive to her house felt

NoahBy the time I heard about it, it was already old news.Which was kind of the point.I was at my locker, half-listening to Reyes complain about his chem quiz, when Jackson came up beside me and leaned his shoulder against the metal like he had something heavy sitting on his chest.“You hear what my sister did this morning?” he asked.I looked up instantly. “No. What happened?”He didn’t smile. Didn’t joke. Just shook his head once, slow.“She shut it down. The rumor.”My stomach tightened. “How?”Jackson glanced down the hallway, then back at me. “Didn’t yell. Didn’t cry. Didn’t freak out. Just told them straight up that she didn’t pay you, she didn’t beg you, and she wasn’t embarrassed to be with you. Said if people had a problem with that, it said more about them than her.”Something warm and electric spread through my chest.Pride. Relief. Awe.“Then,” Jackson added quietly, “she walked away.”I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.That sounded like her.The new

JacksonNoah slid into the seat next to mine like nothing had happened.Which was impressive, considering five minutes earlier he’d been wrapped around my sister in the middle of the hallway like this was some kind of after-school special.I didn’t say anything at first. Just watched him pull out his notebook, tap his pen twice, and pretend the room wasn’t buzzing the way it always did when something new hit the social food chain.Finally, I leaned back in my chair and muttered, “Since when do you do PDA?”He sighed like he’d been expecting it. “This school?” he said quietly. “You kind of have to.”I snorted. “Wow. Didn’t take you for the ‘play the system’ type.”He glanced sideways at me. “Neither did I.”I waited for him to say more. He did.“And,” he added, voice lower, “I liked it this morning.”I grimaced instantly. “I don’t need to know that. That’s my sister, remember?”He smirked, unapologetic. “Pretty hard to forget when her twin is glaring at me like he’s calculating bail mo

JessaWeeks passed.Not in a dramatic, movie-montage way where everything suddenly became perfect.More like… life just kept going.The leaves outside Ridgeville High turned brittle and brown, then disappeared altogether. The air got sharper. The mornings got darker. Teachers started mentioning finals like it was a threat.And the holidays started showing up everywhere.Christmas lights wrapped around porch railings. Stores blasted music that made you feel weirdly nostalgic even if you weren’t nostalgic. Someone in the cafeteria wore a Santa hat unironically.It was like the whole world was shifting into something softer.And in some ways…So was I.The chatter had died down.Mostly.People weren’t whispering every time Noah walked beside me anymore. They weren’t filming us in the hallways like we were some kind of social experiment.The internet had moved on, because of course it had. The internet always moved on.Now it was just… normal.Noah texting me dumb things during class.Noa