Chapter 1: Bubblegum Dreams in a Crowded Hall
The fluorescent lights of St. Benedict’s Academy buzzed like a swarm of restless bees, their hum vibrating through the linoleum and up into Reynaldo’s bones. He adjusted the strap of his sketchbook, the leather binding worn smooth from years of surreptitious glances, and pushed through the crowd of lockers that lined the hallway like a forest of metal trees. The air smelled of chalk dust, sweat, and the faint metallic tang of the subway tunnels just beneath the school—an underground river of humanity that pulsed with its own rhythm, separate from the orderly chaos above.
Reynaldo’s wavy dark hair, still damp from the morning shower, curled slightly at the nape of his neck, and he brushed it back with the heel of his hand, his fingers lingering just a second too long. He was late. Again. But not to class—not today. He was late to *her*.
The hallway stretched ahead, a ribbon of noise and movement, where the scent of bubblegum—cherry, strawberry, and something faintly tropical—cut through the usual school-day odors. His pulse quickened.
He could feel it in the way his ribs tightened, in the way his breath hitched just a little too sharply when he turned the corner. There, near the end of the hall, leaning against her locker with that effortless confidence that made his stomach twist, was *her*—Katelynn Mahoney, or Bubbles, as everyone called her, her long honey-blonde hair catching the sunlight like spun gold.
She was mid-blow, her lips pursed around a wad of cherry-flavored gum, her cheeks hollowed just so as she worked the bubble into a perfect sphere.
The light caught the freckles dusting her nose, turning them into tiny constellations, and Reynaldo’s breath caught in his throat. He had drawn her like this a hundred times—her lips slightly parted, her emerald-green eyes crinkling at the corners as she laughed at her own creation, the bubble shimmering like a soap bubble caught in the wind. But in person, she was even more breathtaking. Even more *alive*.
A wet *pop* echoed down the hallway as the bubble burst against her palm, and she laughed, the sound bright and carefree, like wind chimes in a summer breeze.