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Charles was already there, front and center, turning around to look mockingly at me like the smug asshole he was. His father pulled strings around town, no doubt. The family was like royalty and he was Prince Prick. The seat next to him was empty, but his bag was perched on the chair like a territorial claim. The desk in the corner was empty. I dropped my bag onto it and pulled the chair out. The scrape of the wood was loud in the awkward silence.

Then Raven sauntered in. Of course, I’d noticed her. Who wouldn’t? She was smoking hot, the best-looking girl in town.

Charles pulled his bag away and grinned at her, but she walked right past him and headed straight for me. I heard the murmurs of disbelief. Charles’s grin of welcome faltered, his face twisting with rejection as she passed his desk.

“What are you doing?” His voice was sharp and furious.

“Sitting where I want,” she tossed back carelessly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world to reject the seat Boy Wonder had saved for her.

Charles’s jaw was clenched so tight I thought it might snap. His gaze burned into her back, but she was beautifully oblivious to him. She pulled out the chair next to me and slid into it. Her bag hit the floor with a soft thud, and she pulled out her notebook and gave me a wink.

I wanted to laugh. No one had ever chosen to sit next to the boy from the wrong side of town until today, but the coolest girl in town obviously didn’t give a shit about what anybody else thought. She acted like it didn’t matter where I was from, or I wasn’t dressed in designer gear, or what people might whisper about me behind my back. The teacher began her roll call in a monotone voice, and Raven sat next to me like it was the most natural thing in the world to do, and I fell in love.

But I didn’t know it was then. I just assumed it was a mixture of curiosity, raging hormones and lust. I tried not to stare too hard at her hands, her hair, her strip of exposed skin between her pants and her white socks, the soft curve of her cheek, her mouth. By the time the last bell rang, the sky had opened up. Rain came down in heavy sheets, soaking the pavement outside the school. Most kids waited under the awning, pulling out umbrellas or calling their parents for rides.

I didn’t have that luxury. My dad’s truck was a piece of shit I didn’t want to be caught getting into, and anyway, I wasn’t about to call him for anything. I pulled my hood up and started walking, the rain quickly soaking through my jacket.

“Hey!” Her voice stopped me. I turned, and there she was, running toward me with her bag held over her head like it might do something to keep her dry.

“What?” I asked, my voice unintentionally sharp.

“Wait up. I’ll walk with you.”

My heart made a crazy leap inside my chest, but I wasn’t about to show it. “You’re gonna get soaked,” I said, turning away from her.

“Already am.” She fell into step beside me, her bag still held awkwardly above her head. “We live in the same park, don’t we?”

I didn’t answer. I was too shocked. Really? This beauty lived in the same park as me and Charles was holding a seat for her. I looked at her. And noticed that her clothes were cheap. Yet, there was something so special about her that she transcended her poverty and shone like a little star.

She stopped trying to shield herself with her bag and we walked in silence for a while, the rain pouring down on us, soaking us to the bone. By the time we reached the bus stop, we were both dripping. Two empty seats waited under the shelter. I sat next to her, leaning back and letting the sound of the rain fill the quiet.

“You look good, wet,” she said with a soft laugh.

I watched her laugh and a smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

That was the start.

CHAPTER6

RAVEN

The late evening sun filters weakly through the curtains, casting long, golden streaks across the floor as I fold the last of my clothes. The closet is practically empty now—just a few hangers swinging like lonely skeletons on the rail. My hands pause over a faded hoodie, the fabric soft and worn, holding more memories than I’d like to admit. It’s ridiculous how something as simple as an old sweater can feel like a thread to a past life, one that now seems impossibly far away.

Sunny, my best friend’s voice crackles over the speakerphone, grounding me back in the present.

“I’m just saying,” she says, her tone light but deliberate, “you have to talk to Earl. He used to be so easy to talk to. Friendly, even. He can’t have changed that much.”

Easy to talk to? Friendly? Not anymore. The man I married looks like Earl, but he is a stranger.

“I don’t know, Sunny,” I say, shaking my head as I shove the hoodie into the bag. “He’s... different. Colder, harder. It’s like he’s carrying something, something dark, and I don’t know what it is. But one thing is for sure he is very angry with me.”

“With you? Why? He was the one who ghosted you and vanished off the face of the earth.”

I frown. “I know.”

“You have to ask him about it,” Sunny says firmly. Her voice crackles slightly over the speakerphone, but her conviction is loud and clear. “I know it looks like an unsolvable mess, but you have to try. What worries me is that you’re moving to Charles’s former home. It’s so weird. This entire thing feels like some sort of prank, and I keep waiting for the guys with the cameras to jump out.”

This makes me smile despite myself. “Same here, but I’m willing to play along, as long as my father gets his treatment.”