Keep It Quiet, Miss

Alessia Bellini has mastered the art of moving through life with something missing inside her chest.

At nineteen, she lives on autopilot, numbing herself with smoke and counting down the hours until each day ends. School is just another system to endure, a place where whispers follow her and the word freak sticks a little too easily.

Home isn't much better, just an empty house that never quite feels like hers.

The only things that make sense are the quiet corners of bookstores, the roar of her motorcycle, and the fragile illusion that if she keeps going, eventually something will change.

Then one night, in the cold, something does.

A stranger steps in when Alessia needs it most, sharp-eyed, composed, and impossible to forget. Alessia tries to bury the moment, to convince herself it meant nothing.

Until Monday morning.

Until that same woman walks into her classroom.

Her new AP Literature teacher.

What begins as shock quickly twists into something far more dangerous, an all-consuming pull Alessia doesn't understand and can't control. Every glance lingers too long. Every word feels loaded. Every boundary becomes something she wants to test, even when she knows exactly how wrong it is.

Because Ms. Sterling is not supposed to become something more.
Because Alessia is already too close.

And because some connections don't ask for permission before they ruin you.

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TW: Substance abuse; Harsh language; Sexual content; Mention of self-harm and suicide.

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