Lahat ng Kabanata ng Heart On Ice, Puck The Rules : Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

Nova's POV The last day of the trip had been Friday. That gave me the entire weekend to pull myself together before school started again. I spent most of it in my room with the door closed. My mom asked once if I was coming down for dinner. I told her I wasn’t hungry and left it at that. I didn’t mention Mr. Grey. I didn’t mention the river or the jacket or the way the whole camp had looked at me. She had enough to worry about without adding this. The weekend moved too fast. Monday morning I stared at the ceiling and seriously considered staying in bed. Disappearing for the day felt easier than walking into Crestwood with that story already waiting for me. But not showing up would only make it worse. People would say I was guilty. Or broken. Or both. I sat up and called Ryker. He answered on the second ring, voice still rough from sleep but already carrying that lazy playfulness he used when he wanted to pretend nothing was heavy. “Reyes. To what do I owe the pleasure th

Ryker's POV I was already in bed with the lights off when the knock came. Twenty minutes earlier I had told my mother I wasn’t coming down for dinner. I meant it. After the day at school, the equipment room, and everything Nova had finally told me, the last thing I wanted was to sit at that table and pretend my life was still the neat version my grandfather preferred. “Mom, I told you I wasn’t hungry.” Her voice came through the door, careful. “I know, dear. But we have a guest, and your grandpa insists you come down.” I stared at the ceiling. “A guest? Who is it?” “It’ll be best if you just come down on your own. Wouldn’t want him to come up here. You know how he can get.” Yeah. I knew exactly how he could get when someone ignored a direct request. The lectures. The cold silence. The reminders about the family name and the future that had been decided for me before I could walk. I dragged myself up, pulled a shirt on, and went downstairs with the kind of heavy steps that m

Ryker's POV Her name lit up my phone for the fifth time before I silenced it completely. Nova had been calling and texting since six-thirty. Short messages at first. Then longer ones. Where are you? Did something happen? Please just tell me you're okay. I stared at the last one until the screen went dark and locked the phone in the center console. I pulled up to Harper's house at seven on the dot in the new car. She came out already dressed like the morning belonged to her, slid into the passenger seat, and shut the door with a soft, satisfied click. "Smile, Ryker," she said, checking her reflection in the visor mirror. "Or people are going to think you're not happy being with me." "Isn't it obvious?" I kept my eyes on the road ahead. "I'm not happy being with you. You literally blackmailed me into this." She was quiet for a stretch of road. When she spoke again, her voice was calm and measured, like she had already won and was simply waiting for me to accept it. "It do

Nova's POV I walked into class like I was already somewhere else.The hallway had been bad enough. My locker was covered. Fresh marker this time. Words I didn’t bother reading all the way through. Someone had drawn a stick figure with X’s for eyes and a teacher’s apple in its hand. I didn’t wipe any of it off. I just turned the combination, took out what I needed, and closed the door again.Inside the classroom it was worse.My seat had writing across the desk and the back of the chair. The whiteboard at the front had a new message in big uneven letters that made a few people laugh when I walked past it. I sat down without touching any of it. The words stayed exactly where they were.No one was coming. I was completely alone. That was the difference now. Before, some part of me still expected Ryker to appear at the edge of the damage and shut it down. Today that part of me was quiet. He was already in the room. Two rows back. Harper in the seat beside him like it had always been tha

Nova's POV I couldn’t remember falling asleep. One minute I was staring at the ceiling with Lily’s scream still echoing in my head. The next, someone was knocking on my bedroom door hard enough to rattle the frame. I pulled the pillow over my face. “Go away mom. It’s Saturday and it's not my turn to take out the trash.” The door opened anyway. My mother’s voice came through, soft and apologetic. “I’m sorry, honey, but you have a visitor.” I kept the pillow where it was. “This early in the morning?” “It’s ten a.m.” That got me upright. Ten. I had slept later than I thought, but my body still felt scraped raw from the night before. I muttered my way through finding a hoodie and sweatpants, complaining under my breath about people who didn’t understand the concept of weekends, until I reached the living room and stopped cold. Lydia sat on the edge of the couch. Her mother stood behind her with one hand resting on her shoulder. Daylight made the scars on Lydia’s face clearer t