Silent Hearts, Golden Lies

een a dark bl

one hand pressed against the door while she rummaged through her bag for the third time. She had already checked twice, and

ecked

ll

a moment and to

s, the incomplete Maxwell derivations, the Feynman citations, and the sketches. She hadn't thou

ed the lo

illed the air. Someone's music leaked from their headphones. It was the typical scene at St. Jud

her phone and

a dark blue noteboo

oon as she did, regret washed over her. The group chat had

started

i

not

lost p

from an unknown

saw Mila with something

Then she tucked her phone in

he had trained herself to move through difficult situations

rived on having an audience. That meant wherever she was with the

them in th

tain, the one St. Jude's referred to as "the Atrium" as if that made it grander. Mila held the notebook open i

written, she's drawn a diagram. Of some physics concept. With citations. She put citations

hed. "That

t page. "She's like a little science robot. Does she

pa

there made her expression shift from amused crue

gh now to see the ch

ose enough to stop

mile spreading across her

Sophie l

She drew specific people." She turned to show So

on

loud, but it was firm. Mila looked up, and the small grou

last few steps to

ended h

lly looked at Elara with the kind of smile someone

Mila said sweetly. "Yo

pt her h

your bag. I picked it up. I

give i

Sharp at the edges

ssroom. The two people." She showed it to Sophie, deliberately ensuring Elara saw her doing it. "You're quite good, actually. Very real

hit lik

eady, extended outward.

e group chat," Mila said. "Everyone would kn

it b

ame from be

resence was unmistakable, the way the surrounding studen

tepped b

shed over from the pitch. A grass stain marked his right knee. He regar

t back,

sted. "Julian. I was just looking

e, just devoid of any room for argument. "You took it and you

t the small group watching with the intrigued

ila said, though her tone

's just a notebook, there

silenc

of the other girls f

k toward Elara. Not graci

ained silent, refusing to glance at the open page, de

said, mostly to Julian. "You'r

ed at her f

eplied. "That'

alked away, ret

ith the notebook held tight against her chest a

walked

he went around the side of the science block, down the covered walkway th

seconds without an

ot tw

la

heard his footsteps before she spotted him and stoppe

okay?"

ned to

looking at her with the same concern he had shown since the che

checked the sketches, still there and undisturbed, not captured by a

mbled out. She hated it but pressed on. "I want you to know I wasn't...i

remained car

," he

.. so it's not..." She paused and s

something in his expression hinted at deeper thoug

ed out h

helping me ear

essage. "Don'

ou didn't ha

. I repay w

him, and he

stared at him. "I'm not saying it was me," Julian insisted, sounding serious. "I'm saying if it was a classmate with my height and hair, they got it right." She looked at him for three full seconds. Then, against her will, she felt her

, Chloe. Elara didn't recall when Chloe had gotten her number. The class list, like Kobe. The sam

ething worse. The page with three index cards she had drawn from memory late one night when she couldn't sleep. The small

not what

seme

is always i

copied from memory until her hand knew the curves of each let

loe. Interesting. What exactly do they

illed the hallway. Elara tucked her phone into her p

and put her pen to the paper. Her hand was shaking. She pressed it flat against the page until it stopped. Two semeste