Silence. The usual silence.
Melody didn’t answer. But for the first time, she smiled. Not a polite smile. A real one. After school, she didn’t go straight home. She took the long way, through the old arboretum behind the academy. The cherry trees were blooming, petals falling like pink snow. She sat on a weathered bench, pulled out a notebook, and began to write. melody marks schoolgirl
That was the lie Melody wore best. She was prepared for everything except the life she truly wanted. Northwood Academy was a castle of old stone and older secrets. Its hallways smelled of floor wax and ambition. Melody walked its corridors like a ghost, invisible except when called upon to recite a perfect answer. Her friends—if they could be called that—were the other quiet girls: the ones who studied during lunch, who never raised their hands too high, who faded into the wallpaper. Silence
Sasha crunched a chip. “Good. The old you was boring as hell.” But for the first time, she smiled
Mr. Hanley blinked. “Yes… Miss Marks?”
“No time,” Melody said, her voice a soft bell. “I have a Latin quiz first period.”