CHAPTER 25: THE FIRST PERSON
The strange thing about habits was that you never noticed them forming.
Nobody woke up one morning and decided that a certain song would become their favorite.
Nobody decided exactly when a place started feeling like home.
And nobody noticed the exact moment a person became important.
It just happened.
Slowly.
Quietly.
Then one day, you looked back and realized they had been there all along.
The week passed peacefully.
School continued as usual.
Teachers assigned homework nobody wanted.
Students complained.
Kai suffered dramatically.
Life moved forward.
On Thursday afternoon, the entire class was forced to sit through a guest lecture about university admissions.
The speaker seemed enthusiastic.
The students did not.
By the thirty-minute mark, half the room looked ready to surrender.
Kai looked especially defeated.
"If I disappear," he whispered to Jaden, "tell my family I fought bravely."
"You haven't fought anything."
"I've fought boredom."
"You're losing."
Liora bit back a laugh.
Across the room, Mira had already started doodling flowers in her notebook.
Even Evren looked slightly exhausted.
The lecture continued.
Somewhere near the end, the speaker asked a question.
Nobody answered.
The silence stretched.
Then Kai raised his hand.
The entire class immediately knew something terrible was about to happen.
"Yes?" the speaker asked.
Kai stood confidently.
"Do universities accept emotional support students?"
The room exploded.
Even the speaker started laughing.
Liora nearly fell out of her chair.
The lecture officially lost whatever authority it still had.
After school, the friend group gathered near the convenience store across from campus.
The sky was bright.
The weather had finally cleared after days of rain.
Mira bought snacks.
Kai bought more snacks.
Jaden questioned both of their life choices.
Everything felt familiar.
Comfortable.
The kind of afternoon that would eventually become a memory.
While the others argued over flavors, Liora found herself reaching for her phone.
A new message waited.
Rowan.
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing she even thought about.
Just instinct.
Rowan
survived another day?
Liora
barely
Rowan
tragic
Liora
kai asked a university lecturer if emotional support students exist
The typing bubble appeared almost instantly.
Rowan
i think i already like kai
Liora laughed.
A real laugh.
The kind that escaped before she could stop it.
"What?" Mira asked immediately.
Liora looked up.
"Huh?"
"You laughed."
"So?"
"You were looking at your phone."
Kai narrowed his eyes.
"Suspicious."
"Oh my god."
"Very suspicious."
Jaden shook his head.
"We need hobbies."
"You need hobbies," Liora corrected.
The conversation moved on quickly.
Nobody cared enough to investigate.
But as they started walking home, Evren found himself thinking about that laugh.
Not because it bothered him.
Because it was different.
Like she'd been sharing a joke nobody else had heard.
The thought disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
Still, it lingered somewhere in the back of his mind.
That evening, Liora sat cross-legged on her bed with her homework spread around her.
Or at least that had been the original plan.
Instead, she found herself messaging Rowan.
The conversation drifted from one topic to another.
Music.
Movies.
Teachers.
Dream jobs.
Random memories.
The sort of things people talked about when there wasn't really anything important to discuss.
And somehow, those conversations were becoming her favorite.
At one point, Rowan asked:
Rowan
what's something you've always wanted to do?
Liora stared at the question.
Then looked toward the shelf beside her desk.
Her camera sat there.
Surrounded by stacks of Polaroids.
Little pieces of her life.
She thought for a moment before replying.
Liora
travel
Liora
take photos everywhere
Liora
i think that'd be nice
The reply took longer this time.
Rowan
i can see that
Rowan
honestly it suits you
For some reason, that answer made her pause.
Not because it was romantic.
It wasn't.
Not really.
But there was something strangely comforting about being understood.
Even in a small way.
Especially in a small way.
Later that night, her aunt called from the kitchen.
"Liora!"
"Coming!"
She put her phone aside and headed downstairs.
Dinner was simple.
Comfortable.
The kind of meal she'd eaten a thousand times.
Her aunt talked about work.
Liora listened.
Occasionally contributing to the conversation.
Everything felt normal.
Then her aunt asked casually,
"How's school?"
"Good."
"Your friends?"
"Good."
"Evren?"
The question caught her slightly off guard.
Only because it felt so automatic.
Evren had always been included in that category.
School.
Friends.
Evren.
As though he belonged to all three.
"He's good too."
Her aunt smiled.
"That's nice."
The conversation moved on.
Yet later, as Liora returned to her room, she found herself thinking about it.
How natural that question had been.
How long Evren had been part of her life.
How impossible it felt to imagine school without him.
The thought lingered only briefly.
Because her phone lit up again.
A new message.
Rowan.
Without thinking, she opened it immediately.
Then froze.
Not because of the message.
Because of what she'd just done.
A realization quietly settled over her.
Earlier that day, something funny had happened during class.
A teacher had accidentally called Kai by the wrong name.
The entire room had laughed.
And afterward, when she'd wanted to tell someone about it—
the first person she'd thought of wasn't Mira.
Wasn't Jaden.
Wasn't even Evren.
It had been Rowan.
The realization wasn't painful.
Or shocking.
It simply existed.
A small truth she hadn't noticed until now.
For years, most stories ended with Ren.
Funny stories.
Bad days.
Good news.
Random thoughts.
He'd always been the first person she'd tell.
Not because she planned it.
Because that's how things had always been.
Now?
The answer wasn't quite so simple anymore.
Her phone buzzed again.
Rowan
did i accidentally scare you away
Liora laughed softly.
Then typed back.
Liora
no
Liora
just thinking
Rowan
dangerous activity
Liora
says you
Rowan
fair
A smile appeared on her face.
Outside her window, the city lights glittered beneath the night sky.
Inside, another conversation continued.
Easy.
Comfortable.
Familiar.
And somewhere between routine and attachment, something had quietly shifted.
Neither of them noticed.
But if someone had asked Liora who she'd wanted to tell things to first now—
the answer was beginning to change.
And that frightened nobody.
Not yet.