My Romance Life System

The days leading up to Friday were a weird kind of quiet. A new routine had settled into the apartment, one that didn't involve him just hiding in his room. Kofi would wake up and make toast, and Thea would eventually emerge from her room and eat a slice in silence at the dining table. It was still awkward as hell, but it was a start.

He came home from school one afternoon to find her sketchbook left on the coffee table. 'I shouldn't look. That's an invasion of privacy.' He looked anyway. After a few blank pages, he saw it. A perfect sketch of a sparrow. It was really good. A few pages later, a blue jay. 'She's actually drawing.'

He felt a quiet, warm feeling in his chest. He closed the book and put it back exactly where he found it.

On Thursday night, he stood in front of his open duffel bag, feeling completely useless.

'Okay. Folding. Nina said folding. Like files in a filing cabinet. How hard can that be?'

He picked up a t-shirt and tried to fold it into a rectangle. It came out looking like a sad, lopsided napkin. He tried again. Worse.

He let out a frustrated sigh. 'This is so much harder than it looks. Why is folding a skill? I'm just gonna roll it.'

He resorted to his old method, rolling his clothes into tight logs and stuffing them into the bag. It wasn't pretty, but it zipped. He felt a small sense of victory. He flopped onto his bed, completely drained.

'A school trip.' He stared at his ceiling. 'I'm going on a school trip. With friends. And my… sister.' The word still felt weird, like a costume he was trying on. The responsibility of it all was a heavy weight on his shoulders. He had to make sure Thea was okay. He had to make sure Jake didn't ask Ruby about any more food groups. And he had to deal with whatever was going on with Nina after their almost-kiss in the hallway.

'My life is so much work now.'

A small, fluttering feeling started in his stomach. He was terrified. He was also, stupidly, excited. He rolled over and buried his face in his pillow.

'This is going to be a complete and total disaster.'

He couldn't wait.

---

Thea was awake before her alarm. She sat on the edge of her bed in the dark, her packed duffel bag sitting by the door like a silent accusation.

'I can't do this.'

The thought was a cold, sharp spike of panic in her stomach. Her mind was already playing a horror movie on a loop. The bus, full of loud kids. The whispers. The stares. Jessica would be there.

'She'll do something. She'll find a way to hurt me, and everyone will just watch again. I can't go through that.'

The apartment was so quiet and safe. She could just stay here. Just pretend to be sick. Kofi wouldn't be mad. He would understand.

'I'll just tell him I'm not going.' The decision made her feel a little less like she was going to throw up. She felt a wave of relief. She didn't have to go. She was safe here.

A soft knock on her door made her jump so hard her teeth clicked.

"Thea?" Kofi's voice was quiet on the other side. "Are you ready? The bus leaves in an hour."

Her legs felt shaky as she stood up and walked to the door. Her hand rested on the knob.

'Just tell him. Just say you're sick.'

She pulled the door open. He was standing there with his own bag over his shoulder. He looked tired, but he gave her a small smile. Then his smile faded. He saw the look on her face. He saw the panic.

"Hey," he said, his voice soft. "You okay?"

She couldn't speak. She just shook her head, feeling the hot sting of tears behind her eyes. 'I'm so pathetic.'

Kofi just looked at her for a long moment. He didn't offer any useless words like 'it will be okay'. He just set his bag down on the floor.

Then, he held out his hand.

Thea stared at it. It was just a hand, held out in the space between them. The look in his eyes was quiet and steady. It wasn't pity. It was an offer. A silent question. 'Are we doing this together?'

Her own hand felt icy cold. She slowly raised it, the movement feeling heavy and strange. She placed her trembling hand in his.

His fingers closed around hers. His hand was warm and solid. It wasn't a tight grip, just a firm, steady pressure. A silent promise. 'I'm here. You're not alone.'

A strange warmth spread from her hand up her arm, pushing back the cold panic in her stomach. The horror movie in her head stopped playing.

She looked up from their joined hands and finally met his eyes.

'Okay,' she thought, taking a shaky breath. 'Okay. We can do this.'

---

The school was pure chaos. Two huge buses idled by the curb, and the lawn was a swirling mess of students and luggage. Kofi kept a firm grip on Thea's hand as they stepped onto the school grounds.

'Okay. Just get to the bus. Find Nina and the others. It's like a video game escort mission, but with way more social anxiety.'

The whispers started almost immediately.

"Look, it's her."

"Is that the girl who got beat up?"

"Who's she with? Is that the new psycho kid?"

He felt Thea's hand tighten in his, her whole body tensing up. He squeezed back. 'I'm here.' He kept his eyes locked straight ahead, focusing on finding Nina in the crowd. He finally spotted her leaning against the first bus, looking cool and unbothered in a pair of sunglasses.

'Almost there. Just a few more feet.'

"Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in."

The voice was sharp and familiar. Kofi felt all the muscles in his back tighten. He stopped, turning slowly.

Jessica stood a few feet away, a perfect, poisonous smirk on her face. Her two friends stood behind her like a pair of bored, identically dressed bodyguards. Her cold eyes weren't on Thea. They were fixed directly on him.

Her smirk widened. "I was hoping I'd see you," she said, her voice loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. She took a slow, deliberate step toward them. "We have some unfinished business to discuss."

Thea's breath caught in her throat. 'Jessica.'

A cold spike of fear shot through her, a familiar, sickening lurch in her stomach. It was a reflex, a muscle memory of terror. Her first instinct was to let go of Kofi's hand, to shrink away, to make herself small and invisible. Her fingers started to pull back.

But his grip tightened. Just a little. A warm, steady pressure that said, 'I'm not letting go.'

She froze, her eyes darting from Jessica's cruel, smiling face to the side of Kofi's head. He wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Jessica, and his expression was completely, utterly blank. He looked… bored.

'He's not scared of her. He's not scared at all.'

Jessica took another step, her eyes flicking to their joined hands with a look of disgust. "Unfinished business," she repeated, her voice a sickly sweet poison. "You know, I was surprised to hear you were even coming on this trip, Thea. Don't you have… bigger things to worry about?"

Thea flinched, the insult landing like a physical blow. But the warmth of Kofi's hand was a steady anchor in the sudden, stormy sea of her panic. She held on tighter.

Kofi didn't even glance at Jessica's friends, who were whispering behind her. He just looked at her, his voice flat. "We don't have any business."

"Oh, I think we do," Jessica said, her smirk widening as she turned her attention fully to Thea. "Look at you, all brave now that you have a new guard dog. It's pathetic. You're still the same sad, little ghost you've always been."

'She's putting on a show for everyone.' Thea could see it now. The way Jessica's voice was a little too loud. The way her eyes kept darting around to make sure people were watching. This wasn't about her. It was a performance.

Kofi took a small step forward, putting himself slightly in front of Thea. He still held her hand. "We're getting on the bus now."

It wasn't a request. He just stated it like a fact. He turned his back on Jessica, a complete and total dismissal, and started walking again, pulling Thea along with him.

"Hey! I'm not done with you!" Jessica's voice was sharp, cracking with fury at being so thoroughly ignored. "This trip is seven days long! You can't hide behind him forever!"

Thea kept her eyes fixed on Kofi's back. She could still hear Jessica yelling, but the words didn't feel like they were hitting her anymore. They were just noise, bouncing off the invisible shield of his calm. He didn't slow down. He didn't look back.

'He's not even listening to her.'

They reached the group of friends by the bus. Nina pushed her sunglasses up onto her head, her arms crossed, a look of pure, murderous rage on her face. "You want me to handle her? Because I will absolutely handle her."

"It's fine," Kofi said, his voice still quiet. "She's not worth it."

He finally let go of Thea's hand, and her fingers felt suddenly cold and empty. But the feeling of his steady grip was still there, a ghost of warmth and safety. She looked back over her shoulder. Jessica was still standing there, fuming, but she wasn't following them. She had lost.

Thea looked at the faces around her. At Nina's fierce, protective glare. At Ruby's quiet, worried frown. At Jake, who just looked confused but ready to fight something if he had to. And at Kofi, who was now just talking to the bus driver, his expression as calm as if he'd just been discussing the weather.

She stood there, surrounded by the noise and the whispers of the other students. But for the first time in a very, very long time, she was not worried. She was not alone.