Shadows of You

Chapter 1

Luna Wren's POV

The hallway of Evergreen high feels endless, like a tunnel where no one ever notices me. My footsteps echo faintly, drowned out by the buzz
of laughter and chatter from students passing by. Not one glance comes my way, and that's how it's always been. I've become skilled at blending into the background, a ghost floating through pristine white walls and polished lockers that reflect faces-but never mine.

I keep my head down, Letting my hair fall like a curtain to shield my face. My books press against my chest, grounding me, though they feel heavier today. Something in the air feels different-charged, almost. It's probably nothing.

But then, I see him.

Leaning casually against the door to my next class is someone unfamiliar-a boy I've never seen before. His presence is magnetic, drawing my gaze even though I wish to look away. His dark hair falls just slightly into his eyes, sharp and calculating, like he's sizing up the room before even stepping inside. His green eyes seem too bright, unnatural even, piercing as they scan the hallway. I catch my breath when, for the briefest second, they meet mine.

Who is he?

I tighten my grip on my books, lowering my gaze to the ground. I slip past him and into the classroom before he can notice me staring-or maybe he already has.

*****
The school day drags on, each minute crawling slower than the last. I'm half listening to Mrs. Jones when I feel a tap on my shoulder. My head snaps around, and there he is, the boy from this morning that I had now come to know as Kai Voss. His green eyes meet mine, sharp and deliberate, and for a moment, I forget what I was going to say.

"Um, what is it?" I ask, trying very hard to keep my voice even. His gaze doesn't waver, almost like he's studying me.

"The teacher asked you a question," he replies, his voice low and calm, like he has all the time in the world.

I turn back to Mrs. Jones, whose disapproving look is enough to remind me of my mistake. "Ms. Wren, if you'd be so kind as to join us in class," she says. "I'm sorry," I reply, my voice steady. The words don't carry any real apology, but they're enough to satisfy her. I glance back briefly at Kai. He's already looking away' like the entire exchange was nothing to him. But something about it lingers, unsettling and hard to place.

"Ms. wren please come up to the board and work out this problem for me" Mrs Jones speaks again in a casual tone surprising me "huh" I say "Come solve the math problem on the board" she says again. I sigh of course she would call on me. Look now I'm not dumb or anything. I'm quite capable of solving the stupid problem but I absolutely hate standing in front of the entire class with dozens of eyes staring at me.

I hesitate my fingers tightening around my pencil. I wanted to sink into my seat, but instead forced myself to stand smoothing my sweater as I walked to the board feeling every pair of eyes focus on me.

The equation was written in bold white letters:

solve for x: 2x^2 - 5x - 3 = 0.

I bit my lip, staring at the problem. My mind moved faster than my hand.

"Start whenever you're ready" Mrs. Jones said, but her voice faded into the background as I focused.

"Okay" I murmured, picking up the marker. It's a quadratic equation, so I need to use the quadratic formula.

I wrote it out carefully, my neat handwriting filling the board

x = -b (+/-) sqrt (b^2 - 4ac) / 2a

I glanced at the coefficients in the equation. Here a = 2, b = -5, and c = -3.