The bell rang like a warning shot — sharp, metallic, final. All the students rushed to their classes in order not to be late.
Gradually, students filed into Room 2B with the usual buzz of early-term energy. New backpacks, faded uniforms, gossip whispered behind raised folders. It was a normal day. It looked like a normal day.
But Ivy Noelle knew better.
She sat by the window, third seat from the back, where the sunlight hit the floor just enough to shadow her desk. Her notebook lay open, but the page was blank. She wasn't here for lessons. Not really.
She was watching her.
Liora Vale entered the classroom five minutes late, as always, and still managed to be the first thing everyone noticed. Her blazer is slightly off the shoulder, her hair is in a loose braid, and the silver charm on her bracelet catches the light with every movement.
She smiled. People smiled back.
Ivy didn't.
She didn't need to. She was memorising everything — the tilt of Liora's head, the cadence of her laugh, the way she barely glanced at people when she greeted them. Liora Vale was perfect. Cold, maybe. But perfect.
As Liora sat, Ivy's hand slipped into her backpack. Her fingers brushed against textured paper, then wax — a letter. Cream-coloured sealed with deep red.
She held it for a moment under her desk, feeling its weight. Her breath hitched slightly.
"If you read this... it means you're the kind of person I believed you were."
No one noticed when she stood after the bell. The teacher had begun roll call. Ivy crossed the aisle silently, heart thudding like a second ticking clock.
She placed the envelope gently on Liora's desk.
No name on the back. Just one, on the front, written in red ink:
Liora.
Then she turned and left the classroom.
Ivy went to the back of the school, where she always hung out alone. She didn't seem to mind it, though she was rather unnoticed. She brought out a book to read, but she was distracted by her inner thoughts. She finally gave in to the continuous disturbances, staring at the crabapple tree nearby and slowly drifting into a daydream.
A thought crossed her mind.
"I wonder what she thought about the letter."
She shrugged, trying not to allow one measly idea to destroy her impending peace.
Back at class, Liora sat on her seat chatting happily with the other classmates. It was no secret that she was the centre of attraction; an unconscious glow, radiant and alluring, came from her, attracting those whose interest it piqued.
In Liora's backpack lay the letter that Ivy had dropped some minutes ago. Ezra, who was chatting happily with Liora, was sent by her to retrieve her miniature mirror. As Ezra searched through the bag, he laid his eyes on an unfamiliar item. He thought,
"What is a letter with Liora's name on it doing here?"
"It's definitely not from herself, who would be that weird to send a letter to themself?"
Liora! he called out, bringing out the letter and waving it in her face. Liora looked at it with a puzzled face. She asked, "What is that?" moving closer and snatching the letter out of Ezra's hand. Ezra looks at her with a smirk, "Bruh, chill; it's just a letter, unless... it's from your secret admirer," his smirk spreading wider across his face, turning into a smug grin.
Liora rolled her eyes at Ezra, "What makes you think so?" "It's pretty obvious, you know, but then it could mean something else," Ezra replied with a faint smile on his face. "Maybe we should let the class know about it," he said, looking at Liora, waiting for a reply. She didn't reply to him so as not to push the situation further.
Ivy returned from the schoolyard, and she wasn't far away.
She stopped halfway down the stairwell outside, where the window overlooked the back of the classroom through slats in the blinds. Just enough to see.
She watched.
Liora paused the letter in her hand, her fingers hovering over it, reading the red letters like they were alive.
For a moment, she didn't move.
Then — slowly — she opened it.
Ivy couldn't see her expression, only the stillness of her shoulders. That told her enough.
After a moment, Liora tucked the letter into her bag like it was nothing. No reaction. No alarm.
But then, just as Ivy turned to leave, she saw it.
Liora looked up —
and stared directly at the window.
Right at her.
Their eyes didn't meet. They collided.
And Liora smiled.
Not the one she gave the class.
Something sharper.
Something... that smiled back.