Silent Hearts, Golden Lies

ex

ar didn't e

ind the desk had a coffee stain on her collar and reading glasses perched so low on her nose

am

ing came out. Just air. Just the fa

up facing her gaz

rt. I don't hav

turn around. She pulled out her phone instead, alre

ior. Transfer fr

phone acros

at it like Elara ha

can't

ine behind her. Elara

oice, bored. "Just process her, Mrs. F

trar proc

left of it, and walked away without looking at whoever had spoken. She

are always beautiful. High ceilings. Marble floors that clicked under every shoe. Lockers that were

ed third in the country. Dress code strictly enforced. Annu

d agreed, which meant there was something in it fo

ation worked on the third try. Inside, someone had left a

She didn't need smili

istry textbook into the l

round. The one in the middle was tall, blonde, wearing her uniform like it had been tailored for her specific

irls, shorter, dark-haired, spoke

didn't lower her voice at all. "Look at

blazer. It was fine. It was c

n," the third girl said, b

rling, because that's who this was, Elara could tell just f

eyes

f smile. The kind that looked perfectly

hloe said, sweet as bad me

walke

y. She'd learned a long time ago how to keep her hand

self. That's the plan. Invis

briefly against the cold

ers. You can do

bell

Advanced

straight to the back row, third seat from the left, beside the window. From here she could s

ge. Her handwriting was small and precise, the kind tha

er at the whiteboard. Two girls in the middle were sharing earphones. A group of guys near

argumen

er walked in. Becau

d up from h

it was loud, but because it was real. Tall. Six feet and something, broad across the shoulders, the kind of build that came from discipline no

ced, like someone used to assessing spac

ectly in fr

r gaze back to

ss and something clean, like early mornings and cold water. She noti

in at 8:04," the teacher said as she enter

d. Not defensive. Just correcting the record with t

Mrs Victoria pointed a

I'm writing you up. S

, like he genuinely respected the w

n her page. Then crossed it

at her cros

invisible. Everythin

s not

The juice soaked straight through the sleeve of Elara's blazer. Mila apologized with a smile that didn'

ssed paper towels against her sle

seme

of it was still hanging around. The teacher, Mr. James, paired them alphabetically. Elara's partner was a boy named Victor who took one look at

he'd wo

was the equi

p shelf, and Elara was five-foot-four. She reached. She go

olley

ray t

both hands, already watc

over her head

m of the tray, completely steady

went

. Large. A faint scar across the knuckle of the index finger

look

now balanced and safe. He wasn't looking at her. He was checking the tray, making sure

id no

er di

onds they just loo

a normal thing a person did, and returned to h

nductivity kit sitting

. That specific quality of so

nced si

room. Her eyes moved from Elara to Julian's back,

t smile t

d back at h

e not as stea