86Please respect copyright.PENANAOOcKcFom2b
86Please respect copyright.PENANAaXVyVEU7SZ
Naomi hadn’t meant to check the student feed.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAyFLn0YAor9
She told herself she didn’t care. But curiosity betrayed her by morning.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAXGlUXJs6GT
> *“Did you see Naomi and Levi’s duet? I got chills.”*
> *“I swear she was looking at him like a love song.”*
> *“Rivals my foot. They’re clearly obsessed with each other.”*
86Please respect copyright.PENANAkUpdMaAXIM
She scrolled in silence, the glow from her phone making the words feel louder than they were. Some comments were flattering. Most weren’t cruel. But none of them felt *right.*
86Please respect copyright.PENANAX7zvoei764
It was one thing to perform with Levi in secret, where the music belonged to them alone. But now it belonged to everyone else—and everyone had an opinion.
86Please respect copyright.PENANA8vVbJhgLK7
> *“Naomi looked at him like she forgot anyone else was watching.”*
86Please respect copyright.PENANAF6jWauRuml
She turned off her phone and shoved it under her pillow.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAWJAbBZbZCx
Because the worst part?
86Please respect copyright.PENANAVPTdbtWDni
That comment was true.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAGURFVU6yGh
---
86Please respect copyright.PENANAUrIVWN7Rps
The halls buzzed with post-show chatter. Naomi kept her head down, earbuds in, hoping her focused pace would signal that she wasn’t interested in rehashing it.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAogbuEawhpy
Still, whispers trailed after her like background noise she couldn’t mute.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAhueecJplhB
“Leomi” someone whispered.
86Please respect copyright.PENANALGiGnT48lZ
Someone else giggled. “Did you see the way she *breathed* during the bridge?”
86Please respect copyright.PENANAunJWLLZKOq
Naomi clenched her jaw and pressed forward, but the knots in her stomach tightened.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAx06QIdQ54M
Someone had scribbled **#Leomi** in dry-erase marker across the corner of the whiteboard in the practice room.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAbzh2AKckH1
It shouldn’t have bothered her. But it did.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAPQPDdknOxV
---
86Please respect copyright.PENANA403bkNNLXk
Levi was already leaning against her locker when she arrived. Arms crossed, one brow raised, as if none of it fazed him.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAsBgCpcgfj7
“You’re trending,” he said.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAzEAsUoAt0W
“I noticed.” She didn’t look at him as she twisted the lock open.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAOkWVZiR86r
“You okay?”
86Please respect copyright.PENANAfJwKQxAW0a
That surprised her. Not the question itself—but the *way* he asked it.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAmE69SN2KdM
Quiet. Careful. Real.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAxrwsnUibBZ
“I don’t know,” she admitted after a moment. “I didn’t think people would react like this.”
86Please respect copyright.PENANA677zODftkn
Levi nodded slowly. “Yeah. It’s weird—people seeing something you didn’t mean to show.”
86Please respect copyright.PENANAtSmv0NYHLM
She turned her eyes to his.
86Please respect copyright.PENANABPOTnJNuzy
“They think we’re a couple.”
86Please respect copyright.PENANAW1zbgmzWUP
He didn’t flinch. “They think we have chemistry.”
86Please respect copyright.PENANARSsH5m0Eeu
A pause.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAiMGhLXGWrv
She hesitated. “Do we?”
86Please respect copyright.PENANAbhkEJJUFC9
His eyes locked with hers.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAgQXyvkXm8q
“I don’t fake music,” he said quietly.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAxXgFCOy0Mc
And just like that, her breath caught.
It was too much. Too close.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAmyg4Ggk9gv
She shut her locker.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAhCJus35uvS
“I’ll see you at rehearsal,” she mumbled, and brushed past him before he could say anything else.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAappNY9koEl
He didn’t follow.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAnsoQvGqESl
---
86Please respect copyright.PENANARyjYFn3J1X
Rehearsal that afternoon was a shell of what it used to be.
86Please respect copyright.PENANA6KM5blz15C
Ms. Arinze sat behind the soundboard, brows pinched. Naomi sat at the piano. Levi with his guitar. Their timing was intact. Their notes in place.
86Please respect copyright.PENANA1sMkrUOTF0
But their harmony?
86Please respect copyright.PENANAgPLxZxU87g
Fractured.
86Please respect copyright.PENANARvVP13NYuW
Their music fit like puzzle pieces forced into place—technically correct, emotionally hollow. Like something had been locked behind invisible walls.
86Please respect copyright.PENANALzX1X89FCU
“Everything alright with you two?” Ms. Arinze asked, pausing the track.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAE6ADOvc5I3
“We’re fine,” Naomi said a little too fast.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAx4UUcJLZFm
Levi didn’t speak. He strummed one string, low and unresolved. The note died in the silence.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAi3zhOMgPUX
---
86Please respect copyright.PENANAphRMLKJJ7p
That night, Naomi sat in the dark at her keyboard.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAonGR9A6nwi
No light. No sound. Just the weight of her own thoughts.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAqFls5OYhTG
There was music inside her. Beautiful, complicated, aching music.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAq7QHPJ9iPA
But her fingers wouldn’t move.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAMAGOHuFx5n
And in the stillness, she realized something that scared her more than the rumors, the spotlight, or even Levi’s silence.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAwKA1p3FIJb
She didn’t want to be just rivals anymore.
86Please respect copyright.PENANATnoRm48P0Z
But she didn’t know who she was if she wasn’t competing.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAAAJXobIo32
And worst of all—
86Please respect copyright.PENANATUABbD1PCW
If she let herself feel this, really feel it…
86Please respect copyright.PENANA9rkDgvQSCk
She wouldn’t be able to hide behind rivalry again.
86Please respect copyright.PENANAwEBau3R4eh
---
86Please respect copyright.PENANAwQO7ZVjOnA
Is there a character you’re starting to relate to — or one you don’t trust yet? Drop your thoughts!
86Please respect copyright.PENANARz2tKJUx14
86Please respect copyright.PENANAufBZsAs0aP
86Please respect copyright.PENANAibdcEuqXuW