50 parts Complete The first time Maya Thompson saw Jaden Carter, he was catching a dodgeball meant for her skull.
It was freshman year, under the bleached fluorescent lights of the high school gym. She'd been hiding in the shadows, a book pressed to her chest like armor, when the ball came flying-a red blur of violence. Then he was there, all effortless grace and cocky grins, snatching it mid-air.
"You okay?" he'd asked, his voice warm, his eyes brighter than the sun. She'd nodded, mute, her cheeks burning.
She didn't know then that he'd shatter her twice: once when he stopped seeing her, and again when he stopped seeing himself.
The first crack in their story wasn't the lies, the rumors, or even the night he let the world turn him into a ghost.
It was the moment she gathered the last of her strength from her broken heart and asked, "Was it all just a love game to you?"
Was it?
