Hailey's pov
After the last bell rang, the school exhaled.
Lockers slammed, voices rose, the tension of the day loosening into something louder and careless. I walked out beside Violet, the late afternoon sun washing the front steps in pale gold. My body still felt tired, like I’d been carrying weight I hadn’t set down yet, but my chest wasn’t as tight as it had been that morning.
“Do you have to go straight home?” I asked.
She glanced at me, surprised. “No. Why?”
I hesitated for half a second, then shrugged. “I was thinking about going into town. Just… not being here for a bit.”
Her smile came easily. “Shopping?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Something normal.”
“I’m in,” she said without hesitation.
That alone made me feel lighter.
The mall was busy in that distracted, after-school way. Mus
