One evening, everything shifted.
She found him sitting alone behind the school, no smirk, no attitude — just silence.
"You okay?" she asked softly.
He shrugged.
Then after a pause, he said, "People think they know me. They don't."
She didn't push.
And for the first time, he opened up.
About his broken home.
About how no one expected anything from him.
About how it was easier to act like he didn't care.
Amara saw it then.
He wasn't just trouble.
He was hurt.