The Story of Us (Coates Academy #1)

by Zarin Madiyha

I take deep breaths, willing myself not to cry because I already did enough of that over the summer, but the hollow feeling in my chest just feels like it’s gotten deeper. It’s like there’s a cavern inside of me, like I’ve been excavated, and there’s no way to fill the space again because my heart was taken by someone who didn’t deserve it.

We wanted to stay in the bubble we’d created on our birthday, just the two of us separate from everyone else in an empty classroom, exchanging cards, gifts, and eventually pieces of our hearts too.

I convinced myself that the birthday we shared meant that we were fated, that all the small coincidences were just part of the invisible strings tying us together and leading us to one another.

There’s no world I want to live in where I can accept that Violet is done with me. She’s it for me, always has been and always will be.

She stares at me with a huge smile that she tries to hide, but I don’t let her. I call her name, and as soon as I do, her full smile is on display for me and me only. I’m greedy for it, and I quickly take a screenshot without her noticing.

You’re my future, I think.

She lets out a small breathy laugh, and I store it away in my memory, cataloguing it like I’ve done with so many other moments with her. I pull them out whenever I need them, if I’m sad or just need a burst of energy, I think about her and everything feels better.

She looks at me, not saying anything, but we don’t need words to talk to each other anymore. The silences spent with her are some of my favourite times. The easy understanding we have of each other, the way I can tell exactly what she’s thinking just by looking at her.

I’ve only ever had a crush on one girl in my entire life and she won’t even give me the time of day. I never understood why it was called that before, but now I do because it feels like my heart is being constricted every time I look at her.

And it means a lot to me that you listen when I talk about this stuff. I didn’t think anyone really paid attention.”

I love her mind, and I want to get back to hearing every thought that’s running through it.

She leans forward to kiss my cheek, and that feels electrified, too. I lift our joined hands to kiss the top of her knuckles, and she's smiling when I look up at her through my eyelashes. She’s just so pretty, and I can’t believe she’s mine, that I get to cherish her like this, be with her in our own world where it feels like all my worries disappear.

He makes me feel cherished like I’m something precious, and I never want this feeling to end.