It had been two years since then, and now we were on the edge of stepping into our fourth year at the academy.
At this point, Gabrielle seemed more determined than ever with her eyes having that quiet fire whenever she talked about running again, like she'd already carved it into her bones that she was going to win this time.
Rose, though, didn't bother to step onto the podium. She didn't try to run and didn't write speeches. But that was fine. By now, the three of us—Gabrielle, Rose, and me—had become so close that words like "candidate" and "rival" felt almost silly.
Some people still gave us weird looks when they saw the three of us together, like we were some strange constellation that shouldn't exist. And maybe they had a point. I mean, we really were the kind of group that made people tilt their heads and whisper.
But to us, it felt normal. Rose, Gabrielle, and I… deep down, we were just regular girls, even if everyone else thought we were something else entirely.
