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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Hey guys has anyone seen Dio?" Adri asks walking into the living room where Drew,Rora,Theo and I are.
Lia and Matteo had to go to Queens for some family thing.
"No but she told me she had to go see her parents but she'll be back" Rora shrugs as she does Theo's hair trying to make it look put together.
Adri groans then throws herself on my lap and snatches the controller out of my hand.
"What's wrong?" I ask massaging her head "She's been acting strange lately and it's concerning" she mumbles as she plays Fortnite with Drew.
"Mother intuition" Theo mumbles as he texts on his phone—probably texting Lia cause this fool is whipped.
So are you
When did I ask for your opinion?
"Maybe she's busy...?"Drew suggests.
Adri shakes her head, still focused on the screen. "Nah, if it was that, she'd tell us. She's making excuses—stuff that doesn't even make sense half the time."
Rora looks up from Theo's hair, her hands pausing. "Yeah, like, she's always got some last-minute thing with her family, but it's too much lately. It's not like her."
Adri's fingers mash the buttons a little harder than necessary, her frustration spilling into the game. "I just have a bad feeling, you know? Like, something's really off, and she's not letting us in."
Adri's always had a mother's intuition for Dio for some reason.
I keep massaging her head, trying to ease the tension I can feel building up. "We'll figure it out. She's probably just going through something. But whatever it is, she's not dealing with it alone. Not if we have anything to say about it."
Adri nods, but I can tell it's not enough to ease her worry. "Yeah, I just hope she knows that."
~/~/~
Adri's pacing back and forth across the penthouse, her footsteps the only sound breaking the tense silence. She's been at it for over an hour, muttering under her breath, a string of words that don't quite form sentences but all carry the same thread of anxiety. Dio hasn't come back, hasn't called, hasn't even sent a damn text, and Adri's losing her mind over it.
Dio said she was going to see her parents, but that was yesterday, and the silence since then has been deafening. I get it—Dio's been acting weird lately, and it's been setting Adri on edge, more than usual. But this? This is something else. Adri, who's always got a sassy remark or some sharp-witted retort at the ready, is now pacing like she's trying to wear a groove into the floor.
I lean against the wall, watching her, my face calm but my thoughts spiraling. I know her well enough to see the cracks beneath the surface. She's not going to take anyone trying to calm her down well, not right now. But someone's got to do something before she burns herself out.
