Adira's POV
England was cold. Not just the weather the people, the rules, the walls of the boarding school that felt more like a fortress than a home.
Two weeks in, I still felt like a stranger. I kept my head down in class, spoke only when asked,
and tried to ignore the stares when people whispered about my last name. Ashley, of course, loved the attention. She'd crowned herself queen of the seniors in less than a week, her sharp tongue and fake smile winning her followers faster than I could blink.
Me? I was content with invisibility. Or at least, I thought I was.
"Adira," a soft voice said as I was packing my books. I looked up to see Tiana — the girl with the warmest smile I'd ever seen. "You coming to lunch?"
I blinked. "Oh... I usually just eat in the corner."
"Well, not today," she said firmly, linking her arm through mine before I could protest. "You're sitting with me."
Her confidence startled me, but I followed. Maybe because, for the first time in weeks, someone actually wanted me around.
At the table, I learned that from Scotland and her mum was Irish though she'd live in London all her life. She laughed easily, cracked jokes about the teachers, and didn't flinch when Ashley passed by and sneered, "Still babysitting the loser?"
Tiana rolled her eyes. "Ignore her," she whispered. "Girls like that are noise. You? You're different."
Her words stuck with me.
That night, as I lay in bed, I realized something. For the first time since we'd landed in England, I didn't feel completely alone.
And maybe... just maybe... it was time to stop being invisible.