Camila pov
I don't remember the last time my chest felt this light.
Maybe it was before Deron. Before everything started weighing me down in ways I didn't notice until I couldn't breathe anymore. But now, sitting on my bed with the evening light soft on my walls and my hair still smelling like the river breeze, I felt... new.
Anthony.
I finally had a name to match the boy from across the water. The boy with quiet eyes and calm in his voice. He wasn't just a moment anymore—he was real. Solid. And he drove me home i felt safe not for a second did i wonder if i would be safe with hi. Or if he would hurt me .
He was the calm after during and before the storm he was just the calm even the silence between us felt beautiful.
But disturbances arr to be expected in everything
My phone buzzed. I reached for it lazily, still smiling.
Lana: "Are you serious? After everything Deron's done for you? You just dumped him?"
I sighed. Of course.
There was always going to be someone who didn't understand. Lana had always liked the version of my life that looked good on the outside. The one with couple photos and "perfect" captions. She never saw what it cost me to keep that illusion alive.
Plus I could swear she like deron and not our relationship he referred to her as his angel and the only reason he came to school sometimes not that it bothered me they would make a cute couple all they had to do was keep me out of it .
I didn't reply. I wouldn't waste energy defending my decision—not today.
Another buzz.
Speaking of another couple that should just get together already they are perfect and everyone even the chairs and pencils at school knew they liked each other
Antwan: "About damn time 👏👏👏 toxic dudes belong in the trash."
And then:
Julia: "I'm proud of you. You deserve someone who actually sees you. Hope you're okay 💛"
That made me smile again—softer this time.
Because someone did see me.
Anthony had looked at me like I wasn't just some girl at the creek, or Deron's girlfriend, miss Andersons daughter or whatever people thought I was. He looked at me like I was something someone worth noticing.
I picked up the hairbrush on my nightstand and started running it through my curls i parted my hair down the middle and did two simple cornrows down the braids fell to my upper mid back . I didn't have any plans for tomorrow, but I found myself hoping, irrationally, that I'd bump into him again. That maybe he'd be at the creek. Or walking his dog. Or just—there.
There was so much I didn't know about him yet. What he liked. What made him laugh. Why his eyes looked like they carried secrets no one else had heard.
But I'd take my time learning.
For once, there was no rush. No pressure.
Just a beginning.
And it felt like the kind of beginning I'd been waiting for all along.
I grabbed my biology book and started studying I may as well I had finals soon September was coming to a close and so with a chapter of my life that should have ended three hundred words ago