𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐁𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐗𝐄𝐃 - ᴄᴏʟᴇ ᴡᴀʟᴛᴇʀ

vii.

I AM GRATEFUL.

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EVERY SECOND OF SCHOOL WAS A REAL TORTURE FOR NOVA. The last day before a short Thanksgiving break was a great reason for her teachers to lecture the girl and give her a lot more homework than the rest of her classmates. Halley couldn't accept the thought of spending her days in the place where she felt humiliated, embarrassed both because of her academical failures and meetings with Riley, like, everywhere.

They hadn't talked at all since the party. As soon as Nova saw the girl heading to her, she turned around and went away. Every single time. Maybe she realised the foolishness of her actions but was unable to solve the problem differently. Not yet.

Riley was the girl of her dreams: pretty, ambitious, funny and smart. She was better than Nova, herself, in almost every aspect of life, just like Aiden was. They truly had been similar to each other, Riley and Aiden. They'd easily got along during their first meeting almost a decade ago. Aiden was Riley's best friend in the whole world; she even called him 'a brother from another mother'. His death had broken her as much as it had affected Nova's universe.

When Nova was fourteen, she was sure she was literally in love with Riley. It felt pleasant, to feel something towards someone, she'd never been so sure about anything in her life before. However, now it was a burden. She hadn't neither power nor will to start something with a girl who was, basically, a female version of her dead brother.

And, honestly, she didn't feel anything even quite like the feelings she had towards Riley years ago. When Danny asked Nova if she liked the girl, she simply waved him off.

Now, in a desperate attempt to find Jackie so they could go to the Lark together, she could sense an intense glance of Riley watching her. Nova felt bad for her a little, knew she should've come up with an appropriate excuse for her behavior but it was decided to be delayed.

The Lark café was her high priority that day.

The weather was wonderful that day. A blizzard was coming, and the snow, in general, frightened people a little. But not Nova, she was the opposite of scared. Driving both Jackie and her to the café, Halley was watching how the snow slowly covered very familiar streets, diversifying the mundane.

As it had already been said, Nova loved winter dearly, and it made her a bit happy to experience the season before December got through the door.

Even the light in the Lark felt differently. It was much colder, as in colour, but warmer at heart. Nova didn't even fight a small, a little exhausted smile while she, accompanied by Jackie and Erin, was dealing with holiday lunch bags for those who ordered.

"We're staying open for the holiday," all of them heard a Will's announcement. Hayley and Nova exchanged a confused look, they didn't know it was a thing.

"We are?" both of them asked in unison.

"You are?" Edna's eyes glowed, a wide smile all over her face. "Count me in then. Thank you."

"Since when are we staying open on Thanksgiving?"

"Mato texted," Will easily responded. Nova, at some point, thought he simply made it up, judging by the speed reaction of him. Weird. "He heard about tavern closing and asked if we could open the doors for people that needed somewhere to go."

"And you said yes without asking me?" despite Hayley's grin, it was obvious she got disappointed.

Walter squinted. "It's not like we could've said no."