It was Jace — her new stepbrother.
They had only been living together for two months. Their parents got married over the summer, a quick ceremony by the lake. Talia wore black, Jace wore a smirk. The only thing they agreed on was that neither of them had asked for any of this.
He was everything she wasn't — loud, reckless, charming in that bad-boy way that made teachers sigh and girls swoon. And yet... here he was, waiting for her.
> "You coming or not?" he asked again, less sarcastic this time.
Talia nodded and pushed through the doors, entering her last first day of high school.
---
Inside, the hallway buzzed with energy — cheerleaders laughing too loud, the theater kids already arguing about casting, and the quiet tension between students who had "history." It was the kind of place where secrets didn't stay secrets for long.
At her locker, Talia found a note.
> "Welcome back, songbird. I never stopped listening. — M"
She froze. M? Only one person ever called her songbird.
Maya.
Talia's ex-girlfriend. The girl who kissed her behind the bleachers and then ghosted her before sophomore year ended. The girl who chose safety over truth. The girl who still haunted her dreams.
"Trouble already?" Jace asked, appearing beside her, pretending not to look too interested.
Talia crumpled the note, shoved it deep into her hoodie pocket, and walked away.
> "Mind your business, stepbrother."
He laughed. "You are my business now."
Neither of them said it aloud, but they both felt it — the pull, the tension, the line they were dangerously close to crossing.
And the school year had just begun.