THE ART OF FALLING
she whispered, voice tentative.
Nora didn’t look up. Her eyes were shadowed, unreadable. “I’m not broken,” she said flatly. “Just awake.”
Trisha frowned but didn’t push. She had seen this transformation before friends who hardened after betrayal but she had never seen it this intense.
Nora opened her locker and pulled out her sketchpad, brush, and pencil. She began to draw with furious intent, each stroke sharp, deliberate, every line a dagger. Her eyes haunted, her hand steady, her thoughts sharp and burning. On the page emerged a boy with a bleeding heart, vulnerable yet imposing. Every curve, every shadow of the drawing screamed Jaden. But this was no romantic sketch. This was a declarati