Todos os capítulos de Once in a lifetime : Capítulo 21 - Capítulo 30

Chapter 21: Fallout POV: Elias My phone had forty-three notifications by the time I woke up, and I knew before I even unlocked it that something was wrong. The photo was already everywhere on the school platform — Mark's backyard, the string lights, my hand fisted in Asher's shirt, both our faces lit up in a way that left no room for misinterpretation. The caption sat under it like a verdict. These two are about to be STEPBROTHERS. Guess that's not stopping anything. Comments had already stacked up in the dozens, some cruel, some just gawking, a few tagging half the swim team like it was gossip too good not to share immediately. I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at it until my hands started shaking. My phone buzzed again. Asher, one wall away, texting instead of walking over, like even that felt too dangerous this morning. You've seen it. Yeah. We have to go in like nothing's different. I didn't know how to do that. I got ready anyway, moving through the motions on autopilo

Chapter 23: The Second Blow POV: Elias Brooke was waiting outside the pool facility when I came out, arms crossed against the afternoon chill, watching the door like she'd been standing there a while. "Hey," she said. "Got a second?" "Not really in the mood, Brooke." "It's not about that." Something in her voice made me pause, some register I hadn't heard from her before, careful and deliberate instead of the usual easy familiarity. "It's important. Please." I should have kept walking. I didn't. Some instinct told me whatever this was, walking away wouldn't make it stop existing. "Fine. What." She took a breath, and for a second I thought she might actually lose her nerve. She didn't. "I posted the photo," she said. "The one from Mark's party. That was me." The words landed somewhere behind my ribs before my mind had fully processed them, a cold drop that spread outward slow and total. I didn't say anything right away. I was too busy re-running every look I'd gotten on campu

Chapter 25: Was Any of It Real POV: Elias I found him in his room, dropping his bag by the desk, still in his practice clothes, and the second he turned and saw my face, he went still. "Elias." He said my name carefully, like something might shatter if he got the tone wrong. "What happened?" "Brooke posted the photo." My voice came out flat, controlled, none of the storm underneath it allowed to reach the surface. "She told me herself. And she told me something else, too." "What." "About the bet." Something crossed his face — not surprise, not exactly. Recognition. The look of someone watching a door they'd been holding shut finally give way. "I talked to Noah," I said before he could say anything else. "He confirmed it. Weeks ago. You told him you could get inside my head before Nationals. Rattle me. Crack me open in front of the whole team." "Elias, it's not—" "I have one question." I kept my voice level, kept my hands still at my sides even though every part of me wanted

Chapter 27: Alone in the Water POV: Elias I found Coach Reyes in his office before practice before anyone else was on deck and said what I'd come to say without sitting down. "I want a new training partner." He looked up from his clipboard, studying me for a moment, no surprise in his face at all. "Effective when." "Today, if possible." "Any reason I should log for this." "No." I kept my voice even, professional, giving him nothing to work with beyond the request itself. "Just that it needs to happen." He held my gaze a second longer, some understanding passing behind his eyes that he didn't bother putting into words. Whatever he'd pieced together from the photo, from the locker room incident, from whatever version of the story had reached him by now, he didn't ask me to explain it further. "Done," he said. "I'll adjust the lane assignments before warmup." That was it. No speech, no concern voiced out loud, no attempt to talk me out of it or into explaining myself further. I

Chapter 29: Turning Tide POV: Asher The pool deck didn't feel like a minefield anymore, exactly. It felt more like a room everyone had agreed to be careful in, which wasn't the same thing as comfortable, but was better than the first week after the photo, when every conversation had felt like it was happening around a hole in the floor. Elias was already in his lane when I arrived, goggles on, headphones in, exactly where he'd been every morning for weeks now — two lanes over, fully absorbed in his own warmup, a wall built out of nothing but posture and distance. I didn't look for longer than a glance. I'd gotten disciplined about that, at least. Look once, register that he was fine, physically present, upright, and then get to work on my own lane like the sight of him didn't still cost something every single time. I dropped my bag by the block and started my own warmup, falling into the rhythm that had become the only thing keeping the last few weeks from feeling entirely shapele