Scattered Dreams, Billionaire Promises.

shoes would click rhythmically against the polished floors, echoing through the grand corridors with a confidence only the pr

ing late afternoon study sessions, the citrus tang of freshly waxed floors in the science wing, the velvety

ish, fresh paper, and structured fut

ectively around Liam's small, sweaty palm. Beside her, Nia's oversized backpack dragged along the ground, bumping against her heels with each step. The school in front of

from the weight of the moment. This wa

world of polished wood a

world of scuffed tile

ather w

't peaceful or soft-it was sharp, l

open with a finality that made her heart seize. And then-the sound. That sound. A cry unlike anything she had heard before,

as if color drain

y dinners they used to enjoy, with clinking silverware and gentle teasing, turned to hurried meals eaten in silence. The piano in the corner

e pronounced, her skin dull and pale. She wore the same cardigan three, sometimes four days in a row. Kira would watch her mother stand at th

ing to go wa

ut Kira had heard it anyway. She always listened now.

d said, his voice strained with guil

"But Kira is excelling-she needs that struct

ry. Without Robert's salary, there's no way

hat w

. No discussio

ded and placed gently into a donation bag. Her name tag-embroidered on the

s and cracked sidewalks, past graffiti-smeared walls and potholes big enough to swallow Liam whole. She held Liam's hand tig

er," Kira whisper

longer be

ale-was thick in the air. The walls were lined with peeling posters and chipped paint. Lockers were dented and

s and coffee-stained teeth, barely gl

ed as she walked them down the

here would be no excepti

too-polished shoes, the too-perfect braid, the too-straight po

omehow, they

s called on her first. She was the girl others asked to partner with, the one who stayed after class to hel

nvisible. Or wo

ay was a tr

anvers-handed her a tattered math workbook with anothe

one," she said, her voice wear

grip. She sat in the back of the classroom, beside a boy who kept picking a

monstrations-just copied notes from a projector. And gym was chaos. She was paired with a girl

s the fi

e food smelled metallic, and the mashed potatoes looked more like paste than food. Nia refused to ea

to pretend this was

e, she fe

asn't

wasn'

s sur

only the

-

had fallen asleep with her head on Kira's lap, and Liam was standing nearby, excitedly showing a boy his Pokém

k beneath her shoes. One tear slipped down he

t o

let them se

am. No

lready los

solid, steady. He used to scoop her up, call her "my little lioness," and chase away every worry with just a smile. He'd read to her

he had wer

sile

ch si

leeping face and over at Liam's lau

isappear into grief. Could

neede

he lighth

-

d weren't easier-but t

pack whatever food they had into brown paper bags-sometimes just slices of toast and fruit, sometimes leftover

ad down, and learned to silence her vocabulary so she wouldn't be called out for

dry a drenched textbook after Nia's juice box exploded in her backpack. The school librarian,

those moment

He came home covered in dirt and grass stains, talking animatedly about goals scored and near-misses.

ess. She cried often-sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes in the middle o

er had a

ermanently shadowed, her voice thin and disconnected. On the worst days, she didn't speak at all. Just sat a

a took

tories in the same voice her father used to, even if it made her cry later. She kept the heat off when it wasn't f

sn't scared. She pre

fully-she began

t having power. It wasn't about m

ep going, even when every p

about

. And

y times the world

ll's life had been shattered beyond reco

uld re

by p

by

h l

h f

e strength