The next morning, the sky looks too peaceful for what Ami feels inside.
Light glares through the car window. She watches the school gates approach: same cracked sidewalks, same cherry trees pretending to be something special.
*Back to prison.*
She steps out and adjusts her bag. The air smells like cheap cologne and cafeteria grease.
Inside, the hallway buzzes with its usual noise. Then:
"Ammiiiii~!"
The voice is shrill with fake sweetness. Ami turns, already knowing who it is.
Nyra.
*Bestie. Right. The same "bestie" who slept with Ron in my own apartment.*
Nyra hugs her too tightly. "You okay now? You looked totally pale yesterday~ I was sooo worried, bestie!"
Ami smiles faintly. "Yeah. Just a headache. But your concern? So touching, I could cry."
Nyra beams, oblivious, then blinks and laughs. "That's why you're my bestie."
Later that day, the music room is packed when Ami walks in. At the front, Soha Whitmore stands clutching a lyric sheet in both hands.
*Isn't that Soha Whitmore? The famous singer, in the future.*
*She looks so young.*
"I... I want to audition for the cultural fest," Soha mumbles.
Nyra leans against the piano, grinning. "Oh, honey, no. You sound like a seagull getting stepped on."
Snickers ripple through the room. Soha's face goes red.
In her last life, Ami stayed quiet.
Not today.
"Weird," Ami says. "I don't remember anyone asking you, Nyra."
The room goes silent.
Nyra's smile falters. "I'm just saying what everyone's thinking."
"No, you're just desperate to feel important." Ami grabs a chair, spins it backward, and sits.
A few students laugh awkwardly. Soha looks up in surprise.
"Sing, Soha. You don't need anyone's permission to exist."
Soha's eyes widen.
Nyra freezes.
*Gotcha.*
Outside the music room, Dio walks past with his guitar case strapped to his back. He stops.
The hallway is loud, but he catches it. That voice again.
*The girl from the nurse's room?*
Through the window, he watches Ami take Nyra apart in three sentences. No yelling. No drama. Just precision.
*Damn.*
He smirks and keeps walking.
*This school just got interesting.*