Shadows between us

It started with a glance-fleeting but unforgettable.

Dahlia Rivers was everything Kayden McCallister wasn't: dazzling, popular, the golden thread that held their high school together. She glided through life effortlessly, her laughter a melody that stopped the world. Kayden? She was invisible, a shadow in the back of the room, safe in her silence.

Kayden had grown used to pretending she didn't want more. It was easier that way. But something about Dahlia pulled her in, like a moth to a flame. Dahlia wasn't just beautiful; she was magnetic, commanding attention without trying. She was everything Kayden wished she could be-and everything she could never have.

Their paths weren't meant to cross. But one rainy afternoon, they did.

Kayden was hidden in the library, her refuge from the noise of the world, when Dahlia appeared, escaping the storm. Their eyes met-Dahlia's bright and curious, Kayden's wide with panic.

"Hey," Dahlia said, her smile disarming.

Kayden only nodded, convinced it would end there. But Dahlia kept coming back. She sat with Kayden, asked questions, stayed even when her friends called her away. Kayden noticed everything: the way Dahlia laughed, the way her perfume lingered, the way her presence made Kayden's chest ache.

Dahlia talked about boys, her boyfriend, and all the things Kayden could never give her. Kayden tried to pull away, to protect herself, but Dahlia wouldn't let her go.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Dahlia asked one evening, her voice soft but insistent.

"I'm not," Kayden lied.

"Yes, you are. Did I do something wrong?"

The tenderness in Dahlia's voice was too much. Kayden couldn't tell her the truth: that she was falling for someone who could never be hers. Instead, she forced a fragile smile.

"No. Everything's fine."

But it wasn't. Dahlia belonged to the light, radiant and untouchable. And Kayden? She was nothing but shadow.