Liam's POV
Same Day. Same School. Different Weight.
Liam hated attention.
Always had.
So when his name started getting whispered in the halls, followed by Elena's, he knew something was brewing. Worse than usual. His locker had a paper heart taped to it this morning. The guys from his math class snickered every time she walked past.
He didn't say a word.
But he noticed everything.
The way Elena's shoulders squared when she walked. How her hands trembled only a little when she held her books tighter. She was pretending to be fine. Just like he used to.
It made something twist in his chest.
"She's bold," Ben muttered beside him during lunch. "Girl from St. Claire's sits next to you like she owns the place. What's that about?"
Liam didn't answer. He bit into his sandwich instead.
"Seriously, man. Are you two a thing now?"
Liam glared. "No."
Ben whistled low. "Could've fooled me. She looks at you like you invented gravity."
Liam shoved the rest of the sandwich into his mouth and stood up. "Drop it."
But the words followed him all the way to the benches out back.
He didn't plan to find her there. Again.
Yet there she was.
Under the crooked tree. Hair tied up. A sketchbook on her lap. Elena.
Always Elena.
Liam's chest tightened. He remembered her face from the first time they met, when she asked for directions without looking down on him. She didn't flinch when he growled at her. She didn't back off when Maeve cornered her. She didn't give up.
Why?
He stood for a while, watching her pencil move across the page. She was sketching something with long strokes. She didn't notice him yet. Or maybe she was pretending not to.
Liam stepped forward.
"You're really not scared of her, huh?" he asked.
Elena looked up, a little startled. "You mean Maeve?"
He nodded.
"She's loud, not scary," Elena said simply. "And honestly? I think she's just scared I'll take something she thinks belongs to her."
Liam's jaw tightened. "Nothing here belongs to anyone."
She tilted her head. "Don't lie. Maeve looked at me today like I was stealing her whole world."
He didn't respond.
He couldn't.
Because part of him had always known Maeve looked at him that way. Like he was her anchor in a storm. And for a long time, he let her believe that, because he didn't know how to be anything else.
But now?
Now there was Elena.
Bright. Brave. Too rich for this place. Too stubborn to leave.
"You should stop," he said finally. "Before they really start going after you."
"You mean they haven't already?" she said, with a small smile.
He looked down at the dirt by his shoes. "I don't want to be the reason your life gets harder."
"You're not," she said softly.
He looked up.
Her eyes didn't waver.
She meant it.
No one had ever looked at him like that before, like he was worth sticking around for. Not even Maeve. Maeve had clung to him, sure. Out of survival. Out of shared history. But Elena? She chose to be here. Every day. Every fight. Every whisper. She chose him.
And that scared him more than anything.
"You still didn't answer my question from earlier," she said.
He frowned. "Which one?"
"Why do you think I care?"
Liam shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at the horizon. The sky was bleeding pink and orange, same as it did every fall afternoon. Same as when his mom left. Same as when his dad drank himself to sleep in the garage. Same as when he first saw Elena standing at the edge of campus, too clean for the graffiti-covered walls behind her.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But I'm scared to find out."
She didn't push.
She didn't say anything clever or soft.
Just nodded.
And for the first time all day, the noise in his head got quieter.
Later that night, as he laid in bed staring at the ceiling, Liam thought about the way she stood her ground. How she didn't shrink around Maeve. How she looked at him like he mattered.
He closed his eyes and let the memory of her voice settle into his bones.
They weren't there yet.
But maybe…
Just maybe…
He didn't want her to leave.