Page 118 of Paper Doll

“What’d he do?” he asks, quiet and careful.

I close my eyes, mustering the courage to say it out loud. “He sent his brother a picture of me. In my underwear, with his…” I trail off with a shudder, trying to gather myself. “I knew he took it, but I stupidly thought maybe it meant something to him. ThatImeant something.”

Bryce is still for a moment, as if he’s processing my admission. He doesn’t curse or make some dramatic sound of outrage. He just sits there, solid and warm beside me, stubbing out the joint and leaning in.

“I’m sorry, Ava.”

“They’re all the same,” I murmur, the words slipping out like breath. “Every single one of them. There’s no way out, is there?”

“They’re not invincible,” Bryce mutters. He leans back on the bed, and I lean with him, our shoulders pressed together.

“They think they are,” I reply bitterly, wiping my cheeks with the back of my hand. “They’ve got everything. Power. Money. Control. They snap their fingers and people fall in line. I don’t want you caught in the crossfire.”

He pulls me in again, holding me like a secret. “So, we stop bitching and start the revolution,” he declares. “I’ve got your back, Aves. Always.”

Revolution.The word echoes in my mind like a flare in the dark. It’s reckless. Impossible. But also… it’ssomething. A spark. The tiniest flicker of light.

“I don’t know what that looks like,” admit, voice small.

Bryce shrugs. “We’ll figure it out, then.” He knocks his shoulder into mine. “Together.”

I’m not sure if he really believes that, or if he’s just saying it because I need to hear it, but either way, it works. The ache in my chest eases, if only just a little.

I look up at him, managing a weak smile. “Thank you.”

We sit there like that for a while, not talking but just keeping each other company. The room is quiet except for the hum of the campus waking up outside the window and the slow, steady rhythm of our breathing. The walls feel close, but not in a suffocating way. More like a cocoon. For the first time in forever, I feel… safe.

Eventually, the tension bleeds out of me enough that I can talk without crying. We fall into old rhythms, trading dry jokes and dumb memories, pretending like everything is normal. I start to feel like myself again; like the version of Ava before the Kings sunk their claws in.

Bryce is the only one who’s never asked me to be anything but that girl.

“So, about this revolution… do we ride at dawn or what?” he asks, eyes flicking toward mine.

“I don’t know,” I reply honestly. “I don’t even know where to start.” But I want to. I want to find a place to start. A plan. A crack in the armor.

There’s a long stretch of silence, the kind that isn’t heavy or awkward. My head drifts onto his shoulder, and he lets me just rest it there.

“Even when I said no,” I whisper, more to myself than him, “they still pulled me back in. Like they knew I’d cave eventually.”

“They’re just not used to anyone standing their ground,” he growls. “That’s what scares them, nobody ever fights back.”

“Maybe they would if they thought they could win,” I muse, my self-destructive thoughts suddenly shifting to something a whole lot more productive.Revenge.

The Kings are equally as arrogant as they are smart, equally as reckless as they are powerful. There has to be a way to bring them down, I just have to find it.

“You’re not like the other jerks here,” I sigh, the words soft but true.

He lets out a quiet laugh. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Yeah,” I say, cracking a smile. “I’m just… really glad you’re here.”

“Don’t worry, Aves. I’m not going anywhere.”

I exhale slowly, letting the tension slide off me like old skin. My body sinks deeper into the bed. Into him.

“You may think you’ve got it bad now, but just wait,” Bryce says after a beat, his tone shifting back to playful. “Finals week around here is a bloodbath.”

I actually laugh– a real one this time, even if it’s small. “You think we’ll make it that long?” I ask, glancing up at him.