Fire Burning

Lunch

The first day of school always came too early. The alarm was brutal, the sun too loud, and the nerves louder.

But it wasn’t an alarm that woke me—it was a knock.

Then the door creaked open.

“Rise and suffer, princess.”

Ari’s voice. Low, rough with sleep and sarcasm.

I rolled over, groaning into my pillow. “Go away.”

He didn’t.

Instead, I felt the edge of my blanket tug just enough to make me groan again.

“I was told to make sure you were awake. I didn’t agree to be nice about it.”

I peeked out at him. Hoodie half-zipped, boxers and sweats hanging low on his hips, hair an actual mess. Somehow, he still looked... unfairly good.

“You’re a menace,” I muttered.

“Gotta keep the energy consistent.” He turned, walking off. “Five minutes. If you’re not in the kitchen, I’m stealing your toast.”

I got up.

The hallway smelled like coffee and cinnamon. Sarah—Ari, Hades, and Addie’s mom—was already in the kitchen, humming softly as she stirred something on the stove.

“Morning, sweetheart,” she said as I walked in.

“Morning.”

She handed me a plate like it was automatic. Toast, eggs, fruit, and a mug of tea.

Ari was already at the table, picking at his eggs like they offended him. Jeremy walked in a second later, hair still damp, biting into an apple like he hadn’t slept at all.

Hades was leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee, dark eyes half-lidded, already dressed and unreadable as always. He nodded toward me in quiet acknowledgment.

Addie came flying down the stairs with Madeline in tow. Jonathan, Duke, and Alec were already shouting outside, their voices drifting through the screen door.

Their house was chaos in the most familiar way.

I sat between Ari and Jeremy while everyone else spilled in, arguing over cereal, trying to steal bites, and crashing into chairs.

Sarah handed out napkins like armor.

“I’ll take the van,” Addie said with a mouthful of toast. “Everyone else, pile in.”

Jeremy tossed his keys in the air and caught them. “We’ll take Emery.”

Of course.

So, like clockwork, the group split—Addie, Madeline, Jonathan, Duke, Alec, and Hades climbing into the old van while Ari slid into the passenger seat of Jeremy’s car and I climbed into the back.

The drive wasn’t long, but the silence stretched thick between all three of us. Jeremy tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in rhythm with the music. Ari stared out the window like he was cataloging the clouds. I stared at the back of their heads, trying not to overthink every second.

The school came into view too fast.

Too real.

We pulled into the lot behind Addie’s van, and the chaos immediately started again—Duke running up to the front doors like he was late to a concert, Alec trying to follow him while texting, Madeline and Addie posing for a first-day-of-school selfie like it wasn’t 7:52 AM. Hades trailed behind them, quiet and unreadable, a calm anchor to all the noise.