The last week of term crept in quiet, like rain that didn't want to fall. The campus, once full of noise and protest, was now wrapped in calm the kind that felt too still to trust.
Exams were done. The halls smelled faintly of ink and exhaustion. Boxes of projects lined the walls. Posters from old debates still clung to the bulletin boards, half peeled, forgotten. The school had survived, but the people in it hadn't come out the same.
Devon stood outside the main gates, bag slung over his shoulder, wind tugging at his jacket. Raya was beside him, tapping on her phone, her red nails glinting in the sunlight. She looked lighter now like someone who'd fought her battles and finally chosen peace.
"You ready?" she asked softly.
Devon nodded, though the weight in his chest said otherwise. "Yeah… I think so."
She gave a half-smile. "Don't think too much. We move, yeah?"
"Yeah."
Across the courtyard, Kylie stood with Iver, the distance between them and the departing two stretching like a silent fault line. She didn't speak at first, just watched. The breeze caught her hair and threw strands across her face, but she didn't move to fix it.
Iver glanced at her. "You good?"
Kylie exhaled. "I dunno, Ive. It's like… everything's ending, innit? Not just term everything."
He chuckled softly, that calm tone that always found her in the chaos. "Nah, not ending. Just changing, yeah? We'll be alright."
"Will we?"
He looked at her properly now, his voice steady. "Yeah. Even if it ain't the same, we'll be alright."
They both turned as Devon and Raya began walking down the drive. The car that waited for them gleamed in the afternoon sun. For a second, Devon stopped just for a breath, just enough for his gaze to find Kylie's.
Time folded. The noise of chatter, the rustle of wind it all fell away. It was like that first day again, when everything between them had started with nothing but a look and a pulse that hit too hard to ignore.
Raya noticed the pause. She didn't say a word, just slipped her hand through his arm and gave a small, firm tug.
"Let's go, Dev."
He nodded. "Yeah."
The car door shut with a dull thud, and the engine's hum filled the air. Kylie felt the sound ripple through her ribs. Iver's hand brushed her shoulder gently.
"Come on," he said. "Let's get inside before the rain starts."
She nodded, but her eyes didn't leave the car until it turned the corner and disappeared completely.
The dorm corridors echoed faintly that evening. Most of the students had already packed up, laughter spilling through half-open doors, music leaking into the hall. But for Kylie, everything played at half volume.
She sat by the window in the common room, knees pulled up, sketchbook resting on her lap. The rain had finally come thin and cold, tracing lines down the glass.
Iver walked in with two cups of tea. "Brought you somethin' warm, mate."
"Cheers," she said, voice soft.
He sat beside her. They didn't speak for a while, just watched the rain blur the lights outside. Then, quietly, she said, "He's gone, isn't he?"
"Yeah. But maybe that's how it's meant to be."
Her lips pressed together. "Maybe."
Iver leaned back, smirking faintly. "You know what's mad? Through all the madness debates, protests, the fire, all that you still managed to hold your own. Proper respect, that."
She laughed quietly. "You're tryna gas me up, yeah?"
"Nah," he said, shaking his head. "Just sayin'. You don't see your strength like the rest of us do."
There was something warm in that. Something steady. Something that didn't demand to be more than it was.
She looked at him then, properly. "Thanks, Iver. For everything. You've been there when I needed someone."
He smiled. "Always will be, Kye."
Out by the school gates, Devon stared out the car window as the rain began to fall harder. The world outside blurred into streaks of grey and green. Raya was half-asleep beside him, her head resting on his shoulder.
He thought of the fire alarm, the sprinklers, the water that fell like freedom that night. How Kylie had stood there laughing, drenched but alive.
He closed his eyes, and for a brief, cruel second, he could still hear her voice through the rain.
Back on campus, the rain slowed to a drizzle. Kylie and Iver stayed by the window, watching as the sky cleared and the last light of day caught the wet pavement like glass.
The campus looked calm again no protests, no fires, no shouting crowds. Just students packing up, saying their goodbyes, chasing one last laugh before the break.
Kylie drew a small wave at the corner of her sketchbook a tiny ocean, endless and quiet.
Iver leaned over. "What's that then?"
She smiled faintly. "Just… somethin' that used to mean a lot."
He nodded, understanding more than he said. "Maybe it still does. Maybe it always will."
And there, between the fading storm and the settling silence, something unspoken passed between them. Not love, not yet. But a promise.
A promise that maybe, after everything burned and broke, something new could still grow from the ashes.
When the rain stopped, and the sun slid low across the campus, the air smelled of wet grass and quiet hope.
The school had changed. So had they.
And though the ocean they'd built once crashed and scattered, the tide still whispered of beginnings.
Because all they had was love at first sight
A love that was never meant to be.
A forbidden tide they both drowned in,
And somehow, survived.