ANNA'S POV (Continuing):
The name exploded out of both of us at once.
Silence.
Complete, stunned silence.
For a long moment, all we did was stare at each other in pure disbelief, like maybe if we looked long enough, one of us would say this was a joke.
But it wasn't.
It made sense.
And that was the terrifying part.
After what felt like forever, I finally found my voice.
"How is it possible," I said, my tone filled with utter horror, "that Theo is in love with… with that… bitch?"
Sevi gave me a look.
"It's Theo's choice, not ours."
I turned to him sharply.
"How can he fall in love with our biggest enemy?" I demanded. "He's supposed to hate Section A!"
Sevi sighed and leaned back in his chair, twirling the pen between his fingers.
"It can happen," he said calmly. "Sometimes the people we've hated for years… we eventually fall in love with them."
I stared at him like he had just lost his mind.
"Yeah," I said dryly, "in movies. Not in real life."
He chuckled softly.
"No, seriously. It's rare, but it's not impossible."
I crossed my arms tighter.
"The people we hate," I said stubbornly, "we hate forever. Even to death."
Sevi tilted his head, studying me in that annoyingly thoughtful way of his.
"Maybe for some people," he said. "But not always."
I looked away.
He continued, his voice softer now, more serious.
"And as for Theo…" He tapped the notebook. "If she was his childhood crush, then maybe he never really hated her in the first place. Maybe he was just… suppressing it."
I frowned.
"Suppressing it?"
"Think about it," Sevi said. "Because of his friends, the rivalry, the tension between sections, all that stupid school drama… maybe he convinced himself he hated her because that was easier than admitting he liked her."