At Luxford Academy, the elite boarding school for the ultra-rich, Adriana and Nicholas have been bitter rivals since childhood. Forced to live in the same dorm, their once-friendly pranks have escalated into daily clashes-sharp insults, constant bic...
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The library is quiet, save for the soft hum of whispers and the faint scratching of pens on paper. The only exception is our table, where everyone is fidgeting with a sense of unease. I watch Adri from across the table, her head buried in her notebook, her hair falling in waves over her face, obscuring her expression. But I know better. She's been like this for weeks—closed off, tense, exhausted. The dark circles under her eyes are proof enough she hasn't been sleeping, no matter how many times she says, "I'm fine."
I glance around at the others—Dio is nervously tapping her foot, Lia's eyes are darting back and forth like she's looking for an escape route, and Rora keeps flicking through a fashion magazine, but she hasn't turned a page in over five minutes. Theo is bouncing his leg under the table, and Drew, usually calm, looks like he's about to lose his patience. Matteo leans forward, whispering something to Dio, who nods subtly.
It's time.
"Adri," Rora finally says, breaking the tension. She has that tone—the one she uses when she's trying to be gentle but serious. "We need to talk."
Adri doesn't look up. "About what?"
"About you," Lia says softly, her hands twisting together in her lap. "We're worried."
Adri's hand stops moving, and she glances up, her eyes flicking between us, guarded. "I'm fine. Really."
I scoff. "Bullshit, Adri."
She flinches, but I don't back down. "You're barely eating. You're not sleeping. You're pushing yourself too hard, training every damn day, and you're stressing over Addy and tests like they're the end of the world when they're not. You can't keep doing this to yourself."
Adri's jaw tightens, and for a moment, I think she's going to lash out. Instead, she looks down, her grip on the pen so tight her knuckles turn white. "You don't understand," she mutters.
"Then make us understand," Theo says, surprisingly calm. "We're your friends. Let us in."
Adri lets out a shaky breath, and I see it—the moment the walls crack. "Addy's not doing well," she says quietly. "Her condition's gotten worse, but she won't do the surgery until the break so I can be there." She pauses.
"Figure skating finals are coming up and if I don't win I'm out of the team forever no skating anymore, coach said I lose I'm out and there's a contract I signed already and I c-can't lose skating, I love it too much it's like my own little talent that I can show the world" first tear drop.
"Then modelling my fucking agency is pushing me to do a lingerie shoot when I told them I don't want to they can't understand that" second tear drop.
"And my parents—they're out of rehab. They've been sending letters again, trying to worm their way back in. And these tests... I don't even know why I'm so stressed, but I am, and—" now they are just falling freely.
