The next few days felt like uncharted territory for Maya. Everything was the same at school—same teachers, same classes, same people—but something had shifted between her and Lucas. After their coffee date, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Not just in the usual, infuriating way, but in a way that made her heart race when she saw him or thought about their conversations.

But that scared her. She wasn’t used to feeling this way—uncertain, vulnerable. And Lucas was still Lucas. The sarcastic, carefree guy she had always clashed with. How was she supposed to fit him into her world when she had spent years building walls between herself and everyone else?