Monday arrived with noise.
Lockers slammed, laughter echoed, and the school felt alive again---as if it hadn't been holding secrets just a few days ago.
Christopher walked in with Leo, Ethan and Evan all around him for once .it felt normal .Right.Almost too normal .
"You're unusually quiet today,"Evan said ,bumping his shoulder lightly.
"That's my line ," Leo added, eyes lingering on Christopher a second longer than needed.
Christopher smirked. "Maybe I'm just enjoying your company. "
Ethan laughed. "Liar .you only get like this when something ' s on your mind."
Christopher didn't reply.
Across the hallway, Zia stood with her friends. Sofee was talking---fast,animated--but Zia barely heard her.
Her eyes moved instinctively, landing on Christopher without meaning to.
And like always...he felt it.
Their eyes met for half a second.
Nothing obvious.
Nothing suspicious.
Yet something unspoken passed between them--something warm,dangerous, and theirs .
Sofee noticed.
"You've been distracted lately, "She said ,narrowing her eyes."who are you looking ay?"
"No one ," Zia replied too quickly.
Sofee didn't look convinced.
In class,Christopher sat by the window, sunlight falling across his desk.Zia was two rows ahead .close enough to feel .far enough to miss.
The teacher droned on,but Christopher's attention drifted--back to the store room,the note,the way Zia's fingers had rested on his wrist like she belonged there.
Choose yourself.
The words stayed with him.
After class, Leo slowed his steps,letting Ethan and Evan walk ahead.
"You okay ?" Leo asked quietly.
Christopher nodded. "Yeah."
Leo hesitated, then smiled--soft,careful."Good ."
Zia was stopped near the stairs when someone called her name .
"Zia."
Jason.
Confident posture. That familiar possessive ease.
"We're still on for this weekend, right ?" He asked ,resting a hand casually on the railing beside her.
Zia stiffened just a little. "Yeah ...I guess. "
Christopher saw it from a distance.
The way her shoulders tensed.
The way her smile didn't reach her eyes.
Something uncomfortable settled in his chest.
That evening ,Zia found a folded note in her bag.She hadn't seen Christopher near it.
She opened it.
Some silences feel safe.
Some feel like cages.
I'm starting to know the difference.
She pressed the note to her chest,heart racing.
Two people.
One secret.
And feeling that were slowly refusing to stay quiet.