11 parts Ongoing she's been drawing the same shape on my stomach for the past hour. "What are you drawing?" I ask softly as I gently smoothing her hair back. She looks up at me with tired, blue eyes, and whispers, "Camelopardalis." Her voice is quiet, almost fragile, the way you get when you've crying for hours. I don't ask why she was upset last night, why she came to my house crying in the middle of the night.
"Camelo-what?" I repeat, raising an eyebrow. She lifts her head from my chest, nodding slightly. "It's a constellation," she says softly, "also known as the giraffe." A faint smile touches her lips, and she laughs quietly. That laugh-soft and genuine.
"Will you show me one day?" I ask, gazing into her sad but beautiful blue eyes. She settles back against me, her voice barely above a whisper. "Maybe," she shrugs.
- - -
𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐂𝐄 𝐉𝐀𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑-everyone calls him RJ-is the school's golden boy: star football player, Mr. #10, tall, athletic, blond, privileged. He has it all, the perfect life-except one thing: he needs to pass physics if he wants to keep playing. No matter how many tutors he's had or how hard he's tried, he's still failing. The fear of losing everything haunts him. The fear of being left behind.
𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐋 is the smartest young physicist you'll ever meet-quiet, reserved, and independent. She hates school, hates talking to people, and avoids anything that feels remotely social. She only two friends, who drag her along everywhere, but she's largely kept herself at arm's length from the world. Changing everything about herself so she can't remember something-someone who haunts her.
