Principal Morticia Black Hollow made announcements sometimes. Usually about rules, or ghost activity, or which wings of the school were currently exploding with unstable magic.
But this morning's announcement was different.
She stood at the front of the main hall, all sharp cheekbones and dark lipstick, and her voice echoed through the speakers like a curse.
"Today is what we call a Werewolf Day."
Students groaned. Jay had no idea what that meant. She looked at Keifer. He looked slightly less calm than usual.
"It means," Morticia continued, "that any skin-to-skin contact between students with high aura compatibility will cause temporary, aggressive magical spikes. It is not dangerous, but it is *extremely* inconvenient. The maintenance team is tired of repairing the west wing windows."
She paused. Her eyes found Jay and Keifer immediately. Of course.
"Therefore. Today, no touching. No holding hands. No accidental brushing. No *looking* at each other for extended periods. Your auras are too synchronized. One glance held too long and you might set the curtains on fire." She smiled coldly. "Have a nice day."
The hall erupted.
Jay's soul left her body. Keifer's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. Beside them, Lyra gasped like she'd just been given the best gift of her life.
"NO TOUCHING?" Lyra whisper-shouted. "NO EYE CONTACT? This is the greatest day in Black Hollow history. This is content. This is *angst*. I'm going to cry."
Adrian was already pulling out his observation device. "Fascinating. A forced separation experiment. The data will be invaluable."
Bella clutched her sketchbook. "Star-crossed lovers, kept apart by cruel fate and bad school policies. I need to draw this."
Daniel just stared at the ceiling. "So today is going to be exhausting."
Mila patted Jay's arm—then yanked her hand back. "Oh, sorry. Am I allowed to touch you? Is that safe? Should I not?"
Jay groaned. "I don't know. I don't know anything anymore."
Keifer looked at her. Just looked. For one second.
The nearest curtain flickered. A tiny wisp of smoke curled up from the fabric.
Morticia sighed loudly from the front of the hall. "I said *no looking*."
Keifer immediately turned his head away. Jay stared at the floor, her face burning.
This was going to be a very long day.
---
The first class was Magical Theory, usually fine because they sat far apart. But today, the teacher announced a partner exercise.
"Pair up! You'll be practicing deflection charms. Very hands-on work. Find a partner."
Jay immediately looked for Keifer. Force of habit. She caught herself, whipped her head down, and stared at her desk like it held the secrets of the universe.
But then the teacher started reading names from a list.
"Mr. Watson, you'll work with Miss Vance."
Jay's head snapped up before she could stop herself.
Miss Vance. Seraphina Vance. Tall, blonde, pretty, smart. Nightthorn, but the quiet type. She was already walking toward Keifer's desk, smiling politely.
Jay's eye twitched.
"And Miss Mariano," the teacher continued, "you'll work with Mr. Thorne."
A boy appeared beside her desk. Leo Thorne. Crimson Oath. Friendly. Good at magic. He smiled warmly. "Hey, Jay. Guess we're partners today."
Jay forced a smile. "Hey. Cool. Great. Awesome."
She did not feel cool, great, or awesome.
Across the room, Keifer was standing very still. Seraphina was saying something to him, gesturing at the textbook. He nodded once, stiffly. His hands stayed at his sides. His eyes did not leave his own desk.
But Jay felt his gaze. She *knew* he was aware of exactly where she was. Who she was with.
The exercise began. Leo was patient and helpful, showing her the proper wrist motion for the deflection charm. "You flick it like this, see? And then push the energy forward."
"Got it," Jay said, trying to focus. She glanced across the room.
Keifer was standing rigid. Seraphina was leaning slightly closer, pointing at something in his book. Her shoulder almost brushed his arm.
Keifer stepped back.
A full, deliberate step.
Jay's heart did a little flip.
Then Leo gently touched her wrist to adjust her wand grip. "Sorry, your angle is a little off. Try tilting it more like—"
A loud *crack* echoed through the room.
Everyone turned.
Keifer's desk had split clean in half. He stood beside the wreckage, expression perfectly calm, hands in his pockets.
Seraphina stared at the broken wood. "Did you…?"
"Faulty furniture," Keifer said flatly.
The teacher sighed. "Mr. Watson. The maintenance team is *still* fixing the west wing. Control yourself."
"I am perfectly controlled," Keifer said.
His eyes flicked to Jay. One second. Two.
The chalkboard behind him emitted a thin curl of smoke.
He looked away immediately.
Jay bit her lip so hard it hurt, trying not to laugh. Or cry. Or both.
Leo looked between her and the destroyed desk. "Uh… is everything okay?"
"Fine," Jay squeaked. "Everything's fine."
---
At lunch, the teasing was nuclear.
They couldn't sit together. Couldn't even sit near each other. Jay's friends formed a protective (and very amused) barrier around her at the Crimson table. Keifer sat at the far end, surrounded by his usual silent guards.
But the whole cafeteria *knew*.
"Did you see her face when he got partnered with Seraphina?" Bella whispered loudly. "I thought the windows were going to shatter."
"I saw *his* face when Leo touched her wrist," Adrian said, adjusting his glasses. "His expression didn't change, but his magical signature spiked 400%. Four. Hundred. Percent."
Lyra leaned across the table, eyes glittering. "Jay. Be honest. On a scale of one to ten, how much do you want to walk over there and sit in his lap right now?"
"LYRA."
"Just asking! For science!"
Mila patted Jay's hand—carefully, slowly, making sure it wasn't technically skin-to-skin. "It's okay to miss him, you know. It's romantic. Tragic, but romantic."
Daniel didn't even bother to speak. He just pointed at Jay's tray. She hadn't touched her food.
"I'm not hungry," Jay muttered.
"You're lovesick," Adrian corrected.
"Same thing," Bella said dreamily.
Across the cafeteria, Keifer sat motionless. He wasn't eating either. He was staring at his water glass with unsettling intensity. A first-year student walked too close to his table and he flinched—actually *flinched*—like he was afraid someone might accidentally touch him and trigger some kind of magical catastrophe.
Lyra spotted it. "OH MY GOD, HE'S PINING. THE PRESIDENT IS PINING. SOMEONE PAINT THIS."
"He looks like a sad statue," Mila observed.
"A very hot, very grumpy sad statue," Bella added.
Jay pressed her face into her hands. "Can we please talk about something else?"
"No," all her friends said in unison.
---
The afternoon was worse.
They had outdoor survival training. The teacher split everyone into pairs for an obstacle course. Jay was paired with Leo again. Keifer was paired with Seraphina again.
It was *deliberate*. Someone in administration was clearly having fun.
The course involved climbing, crawling, and a lot of close-quarters maneuvering. Jay tried very, very hard not to look at the other side of the field, where Seraphina was gracefully scaling a rope wall while Keifer stood at the bottom, looking like he wanted to be literally anywhere else.
"Focus, Jay," Leo said, offering his hand to help her over a log. "You're distracted."
"I'm not distracted," Jay lied, taking his hand.
Fifty meters away, a tree branch snapped clean off and crashed to the ground.
Keifer stood beneath it, face impassive.
The teacher groaned. "MR. WATSON."
"Wind," Keifer said.
"There is no wind."
"Then it was rotten."
Jay snorted into her hand. She couldn't help it.
Leo looked at her strangely. "Did you just…?"
"No," Jay said quickly. "Allergies."
---
By the final period, the whole school was talking.
It wasn't just their friends now. Random students Jay had never spoken to approached her in the hallway.
"Are you and the President okay?" a first-year girl asked, big worried eyes. "My friend's cousin said he broke three desks today."
"He broke one," Jay corrected. "And it was faulty furniture."
The girl looked deeply unconvinced.
Another student, a Nightthorn boy, actually had the nerve to smirk at her. "Heard your boyfriend got partnered with Seraphina all day. You jealous?"
Jay stared at him until he looked away.
"Didn't think so," she muttered.
But she was. She was so jealous it was embarrassing. She hated it. She hated that everyone could see it. She hated that Keifer probably *knew* she was jealous, and was probably enjoying it, the smug, impossible—
She rounded a corner and almost walked straight into him.
They both froze.
Two feet apart. No touching. No eye contact. Just… presence. The air between them hummed with all the words they couldn't say.
"Jay," he said quietly.
"Don't," she whispered. "We're not supposed to—"
"I know."
Silence. Her hands itched to reach for him.
"Leo is very helpful," she said, then immediately wanted to punch herself.
Keifer's jaw tightened. "Seraphina is very… competent."
"Is she."
"Yes."
"Great."
"Fantastic."
A nearby plant wilted slightly.
They stood there, not looking at each other, not touching, vibrating with frustration.
Then Keifer said, very low, "I didn't touch her once."
Jay's heart did a somersault. "I didn't touch Leo either. He touched my wrist to fix my wand grip. That's different."
"I know." A pause. "I still wanted to break his wand."
She bit her lip, trying not to smile. "That's very mature, Mr. President."
"I'm not feeling very mature right now."
Her face heated. She heard him exhale slowly.
"This is ridiculous," he murmured. "One day. One day without you and I can't—"
The bell rang, shrill and unforgiving.
He stepped back. She stepped back. The moment shattered.
"Tomorrow," he said, not a question.
"Tomorrow," she agreed.
He walked away. She watched him go, her chest aching in a way that was both terrible and wonderful.
When she got back to her dorm, her friends were waiting.
"WELL?" Lyra demanded.
"Nothing happened," Jay said, collapsing onto her bed.
"Liar," Mila said gently. "You're glowing."
Jay touched her face. It was warm. She was glowing. Just a little.
Bella sighed dreamily. "You had a moment, didn't you? A hallway moment. I can tell. Your aura is all soft and pining."
"I hate all of you," Jay said into her pillow.
"You love us," Adrian said. "We're documenting your love story for future generations. It's important work."
Daniel, for once, didn't complain. He just handed Jay a cup of tea. "You look like you need this."
She took it. "Thanks."
He nodded. Then, quietly: "He looked miserable all day. Everyone noticed."
Jay stared into her tea. Her chest felt full.
"Good," she whispered.
---
The next morning, the Werewolf Day rule was lifted. Morticia announced it with visible relief—the maintenance team had apparently complained.
Jay walked into the main hall and saw Keifer waiting. He was standing by the doors, hands in his pockets, scanning the crowd. When he saw her, something in his face shifted. Softened.
She walked toward him. He walked toward her.
They met in the middle. No one said anything. No one teased. Even Lyra was quiet, watching with huge, glittering eyes.
Keifer reached out and took Jay's hand.
The touch was simple. Just fingers lacing together, palm against palm. But the warmth that flooded through her was immediate, grounding, *right*. His thumb stroked across her knuckles once, twice. She squeezed back.
"Never again," he said quietly.
"Never again," she agreed.
Behind them, someone sniffled loudly.
"I'm not crying," Bella announced. "It's just dusty in here."
"It's not dusty," Adrian said.
"THEN I'M ALLERGIC TO ROMANCE."
Jay laughed, leaning into Keifer's shoulder. He pressed a kiss to her temple, quick and soft.
And the school, for once, just let them have their moment.
At least until Lyra yelled, "OKAY, SAP TIME IS OVER, WHO WANTS TO START A BETTING POOL ON THEIR NEXT BIG DRAMA—"
Adrian immediately pulled out his notebook. "I have categories prepared."
Jay groaned. Keifer sighed.
But he didn't let go of her hand.
And neither did she.