[BOOK2]
Friendship built their world. Love will break it open. ❤️
*****
I want her.
I want her more than I've ever wanted anything.
But I can't have her. Because the moment I admit that out loud, the moment I risk everything we've built, I could lo...
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The corridor outside the appeals room feels like it belongs to someone else. Too bright. Too clean. Every light hums. Every noticeboard looks smug with its neat rows of flyers about societies and mindfulness workshops and charity drives, like the building has decided it will pretend none of this is happening while it offers free yoga in the atrium.
A sign on the opposite wall reads HEARING IN SESSION SOON. PLEASE WAIT QUIETLY.
I am quiet. I am a thunderclap on mute.
My palms were slick. My knee wouldn't stop bouncing. I'd been sitting on the same cracked vinyl chair for nearly twenty minutes, waiting for them to call me in, waiting for the verdict that could erase everything I'd ever worked for.
Football. My reputation as an athlete. My future.
All hanging by a thread — and that thread was fraying fast.
Coach Daniels was inside, along with Fitz, the Student Union Rep, Dr Gillian... and someone else. I'd caught a glimpse through the narrow glass slit in the door earlier — a woman I didn't recognize. Mid-forties maybe, blonde hair pinned in a sleek twist, posture straight enough to belong to a military general. Her voice had carried through the door, calm but commanding.
I rubbed my palms down my trousers, trying to focus on the hum of fluorescent lights overhead instead of the pounding in my chest.
Then I heard it — the click of heels, quick and sharp.
"Theo."
My head snapped up.
Mum.
She was power walking down the corridor in a navy blazer and jeans, her braids pulled back in a low bun, eyes wide and searching until they landed on me. She exhaled shakily and pulled me into her arms before I could stand.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Her perfume—lavender and coconut oil—hit me all at once, then hugged her back, letting the tension in my shoulders melt for the first time all day.
"What are you doing here?" I mumbled into her shoulder.
She drew back just enough to cup my face "Coach Daniels called and said we could be here for morale."
Before I could answer, a deeper voice broke through.
"Theo."
I froze.
Dad stood at the far end of the hall, coat still on, hands buried in his pockets like he wasn't sure if he belonged. The overhead light caught the silver at his temples. He looked older. Smaller somehow.
Mum gave his arm a warning squeeze. "Behave," she whispered, and then stepped aside to give us space.
