't belong at Anan

oly, and a careless slouch that hinted at defiance. Girls looked at him, boys nodded at him, and teachers treaded li

't give

the difference was that Aarav saw through the script. He'd read it all before - the shallow flirtations, the status games

en cam

o hard not to. Her eyes were the first thing he saw: soft, unsure, and strangely proud. A girl wrappe

uldn't. No

ge of a breath, waiting to be sung. And the way she mouthed the words from Shakespeare,

at yet. But he kn

fasci

nt study. She had a rhythm to her walk, almost calculated, like she was constantly counting how many steps it t

left a book behi

pings and faded tape. It had fallen beneath th

first page wasn't locked or hidden. It w

s cut th

girl who saw everything but was seen by no one. A girl who dreamed i

a crush. This wasn't curiosity. This was something deeper - like he h

ust a quiet girl in class. She wa

her name just to feel how it tasted. She had looked at him like he w

sm

t sweet. It was honest. Like a crack of ligh

've left

liked to t

ous when she vanished from the lunchyard. And when he found her in t

at

f

o show up behind him. But when they mocked Ananya'

ean-girl bullshi

intimate from her and sp

epped out. C

words cut

eone so beautiful

y weren't used to being call

didn'

nya didn't deserve to hide. She had fire. She had d

asn't with a

moment - a flicker of

way, he didn't l

bicle door, brushing it with a ten

ng, he cou

echoed in

an

h him with her pen? Did she curse him for exposing her? Or did sh

cked up

d his

ty

ats walks like she carr

w what thunde

aved

t sen

e