Day's POV
She hasn't looked at me all morning.
Not once.
Not in Literature when she always tugs my sleeve and whispers theories about tragic lovers. Not in Chemistry when she usually pokes my shoulder and asks if I think hydrogen feels lonely. Not even in the corridor, where she normally hurls herself into my side like she's spring-loaded.
Sky Ashford is ignoring me.
And it's driving me insane.
I lean back in my chair, watching her from two rows ahead. She's hunched over her notebook, hair waterfalling over her shoulder like a curtain she's hiding behind. Her braid's a little crooked. She always makes Kai fix it when it is.
But not today.
Today, she came to school without sparkles in her hair. No kisses blown across the hallway. No "Did you eat?" No "You look grumpy, did someone hurt you, should I fight them?"
Nothing.
Because yesterday, she saw me with Lila.
And walked away before I could explain that Lila is my sister.
Now she thinks I'm just another guy—flirty, careless, probably breaking hearts like it's a game.
But she doesn't know I've never even looked at anyone the way I look at her.
That I come to school early just to see her reading in the courtyard. That I sit near her in every class like a magnet pulled me there. That I've caught every single pen she's dropped, even if it meant bruising my ribs on a desk.
She's sunshine and glitter and daisy chains made from fridge magnets.
And she's mad at me.
I close my eyes and breathe through my nose.
I deserve it, maybe.
But I'm not letting her stay mad.
Not when she's the one person who makes this cold, grey place feel like something warmer.
I'm going to tell her. Today.
Even if she throws her shoe at me. (She's done that before.)
Even if she tells me to leave her alone.
Even if her dad tries to shoot me.
I'm telling her.
Because Sky Ashford deserves the truth.
And because I already lost her once.
I'm not doing it again.