Jojo’s P.O.V.
Lunch break.
Normally I cherished this sacred half-hour—a brief respite from the chaos of twenty-five first graders armed with glue sticks and questionable decision-making skills. But today? Today, it felt like purgatory.
My sandwich sat half-eaten on my desk, a sad monument to my spiraling thoughts. I had barely touched my apple slices. Usually, I would be laughing with Sarah and Jasmine over some ridiculous classroom anecdote, but now I was too busy dissecting every possible meaning behind Raven's absence this very morning.
It had been Selene—his sister—who had dropped off Lucy. Cool, effortlessly chic Selene, with her perfect eyeliner and 'I’m a writer' scarf. I had tried to act casual, but my heart had sunk like a stone, the moment I had realized it wasn’t him.
Was
