Amalia Romano is sixteen years old now. Still a dancing prodigy, she lands herself a photoshoot for a magazine that'll help her get to where she wants to be.
It seems like everything's going perfectly fine. Her grades are booming, she has a nic...
I hum to myself as Taylor Swift blasts in my ear. My pencil is busy on the paper, shading and crosshatching and colouring in the drawing of an octopus. Our topic in art class is the ocean, and I'm deciding to focus on the animals within it.
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I smile at the drawing before letting my hand relax, finding it aching. I've been drawing for two hours, desperate to get my project done before I go back to school tomorrow. It took a lot of convincing for my father to decide I can, but I'm sick of being at home. I wanna see my friends.
And I want to walk in with Archer.
I look at the brace on my left hand and frown, then drop my head against the back of my seat.
I turn around when there's a knock at my door. "Come in!" I exclaim.
The door opens, and Cole walks inside. He smiles at me, walking over. I stand and shuffle into his arms when he extends them out to me. He wraps them around me and pulls me to his chest.
"You okay?" He asks me softly.
"Mhm." I mumble. He runs his fingers through my hair before letting go. He keeps his hands on my shoulders. "How's your hand?"
"Fine." I mumble.
He kisses my cheek. "Good. Get dressed."
"Why?"
"I'm gonna teach you self defence." He says, smiling.
I furrow my eyebrows. "What?"
"Did you not hear me?"
I frown. "I mean why?"
"So you can knock people out. C'mon, get changed."
"I'm tired." I mumble.
"Suck it up. Hurry and meet me downstairs in a few minutes." He orders before leaving, not giving me any time to protest.
I sigh and walk over to my drawers. I'm about to pull leggings out when there's another knock at my door, this one softer.
"Come in!"
The door opens and Archer walks inside. A smile instantly blooms onto my lips, and suddenly I feel giddy.
"Hey." He says.
"Hi." I reply, smiling.
He closes the door behind him and walks over to me. "Are you okay?"
"Yep." I say. Petal stands up on my bed and begins to wag her tail. Archer regards her warily before turning his attention back to me. "You?"
