The Moon Shines when the Sun Isn't Around

Part 26

Aneira walked back into school the next day with her usual confidence, but deep down, the tension from her last interaction with Oreo and King still simmered. She kept telling herself she was over it, that she didn't care about their opinions, but the truth gnawed at her in quiet moments. Today, though, she wasn't going to let anyone get under her skin. She was going to keep her distance.

She noticed immediately that King wasn't with Oreo. He was leaning against a locker, headphones in, casually flipping through his phone like he didn't have a care in the world. His posture was always relaxed, his expression unreadable. Something about him was different—always cool, collected, but with an underlying sharpness.

She tried to walk past without making eye contact, but King, as usual, picked up on everything. He noticed her before she even got close and casually pulled out one of his earbuds, his gaze locking onto her. It wasn't intimidating, but there was a quiet intensity to it that made her pause.

"Aneira," he said in that calm, nonchalant tone of his. It wasn't an invitation to talk, but somehow, it felt like she couldn't just walk away. She sighed inwardly, already feeling a sense of wariness. She knew he wasn't the type to let things slide easily.

"Hey," she said, forcing some casualness into her voice.

King tilted his head, his dark eyes steady on her. "You're good?"

She shrugged, trying to keep her cool. "Yeah. I'm fine." She glanced around, avoiding his gaze. She didn't want to get into anything heavy, not now. But King had a way of drawing things out of people, and he wasn't fooled by her indifference.

"You're not, though," he said, as if it were just a fact. "You can pretend all you want, but the way you're avoiding everything? It's written all over you."

Aneira shot him a look, her irritation flaring up. "I'm not avoiding anything, King. I don't need anyone psychoanalyzing me right now."

King chuckled, but there wasn't any humor in it. "You think I'm trying to psychoanalyze you? Nah, I'm just calling it as I see it. You've got a lot going on, and you're handling it in the worst way possible."

She tensed, not liking where this was going. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He leaned back a bit, his expression unreadable, but his words were sharp. "It means those pills you're popping aren't doing what you think they are. You think they're helping you manage, but they're just burying what you need to face."

Aneira's eyes narrowed. She crossed her arms, feeling defensive. "You don't know anything about me."

King shrugged, his voice still calm but piercing. "I don't need to know all the details. I've seen it before. You're using those drugs to numb whatever it is you don't want to deal with, but all they're doing is making it worse. It's a temporary fix. When it wears off, everything you're running from will still be there, only now, you've got a bigger mess to clean up."

His words hit harder than she wanted to admit, but she wasn't about to let him know that. "I don't need a lecture, King."

"I'm not lecturing you," he said, his tone still annoyingly steady. "I'm just saying you're better than this. You think you've got control, but you're letting your past own you. And those drugs? They're just dragging you further down."

Aneira clenched her jaw, feeling a mix of anger and something else—something deeper she didn't want to acknowledge. He wasn't wrong. She hated that he could see through her so easily. "Why do you even care?"

King paused, his eyes softening just a fraction. "Because you're not as put-together as you pretend to be. And I've seen too many people throw their lives away thinking they're in control when they're really spiraling."