It didn't take long for people to notice.
"Yo, man — you coming to Jamie's party Friday?"
"No."
Heads turned. That was new.
"You sick or something?"
Alex didn't even look up from his notebook. "Busy."
They stared like he'd grown a second head. Alex always showed. He was the guy who got into fights for fun, who flirted because he was bored, who never remembered a name twice.
But now?
He stayed back after class. Sat through lectures without whispering. Didn't cut school. Didn't text back the girls who used to trip over themselves to get his attention.
He didn't want noise anymore.
He wanted quiet. Her kind of quiet.
"You've been weird lately," Leo, his best friend, said one day. "Ever since you started hanging around that girl."
Alex rolled his eyes. "She has a name."
"That's what I'm saying, man. You know her name."
Alex didn't respond.
Leo raised his eyebrows. "You like her?"
"No."
"Liar."
Alex closed his locker slowly. "It's not like that."
"Then what is it?"
He didn't know.
He just knew he hadn't thrown a punch in weeks. The last time someone shoved him in the hallway, he'd just walked off.
He wasn't angry like he used to be. Or maybe he still was — but she made the rage quiet.
He'd started reading more, showing up early to lectures. Not to impress her — just to be around her. She made the air feel easier to breathe.
She didn't even know what she was doing.
And that was the scariest part.
She had no idea she was saving him.
Leo clapped him on the back. "Well, whatever it is, it's messing with your head. You're turning soft."
Alex smirked. "Maybe I'm just tired of pretending I'm not."
He was tired of being the guy everyone expected him to be — loud, reckless, cold. With her, he didn't have to pretend. He could just be... quiet. Curious. Real.
He hadn't kissed anyone in months.
He hadn't wanted to.
Because none of them looked at him the way Ava did — like she saw something under the anger. Like he wasn't just the guy with fists and swagger. Like he was worth listening to. Like he was... enough.
And maybe — just maybe — that's when he realized.
He didn't want to hook up or mess around.
He wanted to keep her.