The bus ride ends with fake cheers and stiff legs. Everyone's loud again - dumping their backpacks onto the gravel, already planning who's bunking with who.
I stay quiet.
I always do.
The hotel looks like something out of a catalogue - all wooden beams, lantern lights, and "rustic elegance" that smells like cedar and cash.
I trail behind the group, fingers gripping my sketchbook. Not because I plan to draw, but because it gives my hands something to hold. Something to protect.
Inside, the teachers are calling names from a clipboard. Room assignments.
Pairs.
Everyone's already moving. Laughing. Claiming beds and throwing snacks on comforters like it's summer camp.
No one says my name.
Not once.
---
I stand still at the edge of the lobby.
Waiting.
And waiting.
Until there's only one name left to call.
And it isn't mine.
---
A teacher with glasses and an off-brand ponytail - Ms. Giles, I think - finally glances up.
"Oh," she says, blinking like I just materialized out of nowhere. "You're... Senaya?"
"Senna," I say, voice dry.
"Oh, right. You're the scholarship-"
She stops. Doesn't finish the sentence. Doesn't need to.
I already feel it in my stomach.
She flips through the pages again. "That's odd. You weren't listed."
I don't say anything.
Because what can I say?
Not when the whole class can hear this.
Not when people are already snickering behind their hands like this is some predictable punchline.
Not when even the teachers forgot to make space for me.
---
"I guess we just... missed your name on the list," Ms. Giles says, frowning like I'm the problem.
I stay quiet.
Quiet is survival.
She turns to the other teachers. "Do we have an extra bed somewhere?"
They murmur. Check the clipboard. Shrug. Say things like "I thought she was with-" and "No, those rooms are full."
The phrase we'll figure something out is tossed around like a dodgeball.
No one actually catches it.
I feel the heat rise in my face.
I hate that it's happening.
I hate that I knew it would.
---
And then:
"I'll take her."
Luca.
He says it from across the room like it's the most obvious solution in the world.
Like it's not about to set fire to everything.
The teachers go still.
So does everyone else.
Ms. Giles blinks. "You're roomed with Jeremy-"
"He can bunk with Leo," Luca says, already moving toward me. "They've been begging to room together anyway."
No hesitation.
Just action.
And then he's beside me.
Like always.
---
She stares at him, then at me.
Then - finally - she nods. "Alright. Just for tonight. We'll sort it out properly in the morning."
It's not a fix. But it's something.
And it means I don't have to sleep on a lobby couch like a forgotten suitcase.
---
Luca picks up my duffel bag like it weighs nothing.
"C'mon," he murmurs, low enough for just me to hear. "We're not doing this tonight."
"Doing what?" I ask.
"Letting them pretend you're invisible."
---
When we get to the room, it's quiet. Warm.
One lamp on. A view of the mountain trees. Twin beds, one already rumpled.
Luca sets my bag down by the untouched bed and turns to me.
He doesn't say anything else.
Just offers me the first peace of the day.
And finally - finally - I let myself sit down.
Because for once, someone made room for me.