Winter break is over, but something feels weird, and I wasn't sure if I was relieved or not.

I should've been.

Amity Park was suffocating, even more so than usual. I mean, I was at home, so it would've been suffocating regardless. My parents had barely noticed when I came home, too wrapped up in either their work or protecting our city from ghosts to ask how my first semester had gone. Jazz, of course, had been her usual self—overly attentive, constantly checking in, and giving me that look whenever I so much as sighed too hard. I appreciated her, but even she knew there wasn't much she could do.

"It's okay, Danny. It was your first semester." She told me. "I understand it was hard, but take it from your grad school sister. If you keep your head up, you'll get through it. I promise."

And then, there was Dash.

He had been with me every step of the way. Through the awkward holiday dinners at my house, through the tense silences at his place when his dad got too nosy about our "friendship," through the nights I stayed over because I just couldn't deal with going home. He never pushed me to talk, but he never let me pretend everything was fine, either. He was patient in a way that made my chest feel too tight, like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I told him everything.

Some of it, he already knew. The hazing, the fight. The fresh bruises that had barely faded by the time finals rolled around. But the rest? The part of my past with Kwan that I had buried so deep I almost convinced myself it didn't matter anymore? That was different. That was something I wasn't ready to say out loud, but managed to anyway.

But none of that changed the fact that we were back. Back to campus, back to classes, back to pretending like nothing had happened.

Except I couldn't pretend, not anymore.

The weight of everything pressed down on me as Dash and I stepped onto the half-frozen sidewalks of campus, our shoes crunching against the salted pavement. The winter chill bit at my skin, but I barely felt it. My hands were shoved deep in my jacket pockets, my shoulders hunched against the wind. I hadn't said much since we left Amity, and Dash hadn't pushed me to. He always did this—gave me space until I was ready to talk. It was both frustrating and comforting, because it meant I didn't have to force myself to say something just to fill the silence.

The dorms loomed ahead, their windows glowing against the dull gray sky. Students moved in and out, some greeting friends they hadn't seen in weeks, others dragging their suitcases behind them with tired resignation. It was almost normal. Almost.

Because no matter how much I wanted to believe I could get through the rest of the year without seeing Kwan again—without hearing his voice, without remembering everything he had done—I wasn't that lucky. And I have a feeling it won't take long for him to show up.

The dorm felt… different.

Not in any physical way—the same two beds, the same desks cluttered with books and random junk we never got around to organizing, the same dull hum of the heater kicking in as the January chill tried to seep through the walls. But the air carried something heavier. Something unspoken.

I dropped my bag by the door, exhaling slowly as I looked around. "It's weird being back."

Dash sat on his bed, legs spread out, his hands braced against the mattress like he was grounding himself. "Yeah." His voice was low, thoughtful. "Feels… different."

I turned to him, eyebrows furrowing. "Like something's coming?"

He didn't answer right away. Instead, his gaze flickered toward the window, like he was looking for something just beyond the glass. "Like something's already here."

A chill ran through me, and I knew it wasn't from the cold. Because he was right.

There was something hanging in the air between us, something looming just out of reach. We weren't the same people who had left for winter break. Too much had changed. We had changed. And whatever was waiting for us now? It was going to be big.

Dash exhaled sharply and leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "Y'know, if you told me back in high school that we'd end up here—" He gestured between us. "—I would've laughed in your face."

I let out a chuckle, the tension in my body slipping away. "Yeah, same."

"But, I'm glad we're here."

I hesitated, my fingers twitching at my sides before I finally sat on the bed next to him. "Honestly, I used to think that no matter what, you'd always be a part of my past. That you'd be this… ghost of everything I wanted to forget." My voice dropped. "But you're not."

Dash watched me carefully, his expression unreadable, but I could feel the way his attention was locked on me. The way he was taking in every word like it meant something. "What am I, then?"

I met his gaze, my chest tightening with something I wasn't sure I was ready to name. "Someone I want in my future. You're mine."

His lips parted slightly, like he wasn't expecting me to say it out loud. But then, slowly, he nodded, something shifting in his eyes—acceptance, understanding, something deeper than just acknowledgment.

For a moment, we just sat there, the silence stretching but never feeling uncomfortable. It felt… solid. Like we had reached something real. Then Dash smirked, but it wasn't the cocky smirk I was used to. It was softer. Warmer. Reassuring.

"Good." He remarked. "Because I don't plan on letting you go."

I huffed out a breath that was almost a laugh. "What, no 'you're stuck with me now, ghost boy'?"

"Nah, too obvious. You already know you're stuck with me."

I rolled my eyes, but the warmth in my chest didn't fade. If anything, it settled there, something steady and certain. But then, after a beat, Dash leaned back, studying me again. "Do you ever think about what's next?"

"Huh?" I raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean us. We've come a long way from hating each other's guts in high school. We're… dating each other now. But, do you ever wonder where we're going?"

I swallowed, shifting slightly. "Yeah." I admitted. "I think about it."

"And?"

I hesitated. "I want… I want us to have a future together. You've been so supportive and loving to me, and… I don't want to lose what I have."

Dash's smirk faded, replaced with something more serious. More real. "Good, because I don't plan on letting you."

The weight of his words settled in my chest, not in a suffocating way, but in a way that made me feel grounded. I got closer to Dash, and rested my head on his shoulder. "Dash?"

"Yeah?"

I wanted to say that I was calm, and say that I love him, but to be honest? I can't. "Dash… I'm still scared. I'm unsure if I can handle everything that's going on. I'm scared of having to relive what happened to me. Dash, I don't want to have to see my rapist walking around here because it lets me know that every time I see him, it's only going to be a matter of time before he does it again. He likes having that power over me. He loves knowing that I'm terrified of him, and that as long as he's around, I'm never going to be safe." My voice strained on that last sentence. I kept a strong and somewhat steady face. "However, I think I'm stronger than I assume I am."

Dash looked at me, studying my eyes. His eyes shifted back and forth, then he smiled. "Danny. You are stronger than you think. You're so strong and resilient, and you're a warrior. Nothing can keep you down. I know things have been really tough for you, but I have seen you fight harder than ever to overcome all the obstacles. I'm proud of you. You got this, Danny. We got this."

Whatever was coming—whatever storm we were about to walk into—we weren't going into it alone.

We had each other.

And for now, that was enough.

The day was surprisingly smooth. I managed to get through my first day of classes without any sign of negativity coming around. Maybe Jazz was right. Maybe I would be able to get through this. But that feeling wouldn't last long, as I would soon find out, because between the time I woke up to the last time I saw Dash, something had happened with him and Kwan. Next thing I know, we're all in the frat house living room. Sean, Mikey, Kwan, Dash, and of course, me.

"I'm going to give you one chance. One chance, Kwan. Start talking." Sean grunted lowly. I didn't know what was going on, but it wouldn't matter in mere seconds.

"I admit it. It's all true."

Dash, who was silently watching Kwan, kept his arm around me. He kept his eyes on his teammate.

"What is true?" Sean questioned, anger evident in his voice.

The room got quiet. Kwan hesitated nervously, realizing that he was backed in a corner that he had no way of escaping from. "I—"

"Answer the fucking question..." Dash's voice was quiet and calm—too calm—and his hand went from resting softly on my shoulder to an open palm strike to Kwan's face and back to resting on my shoulder. "Before I break your face." He spoke.

"I admit to everything. I did it. It was a stupid thing to do, and I'm not… I'm not proud of what I did to him, but I can't change the fact that I did it." He took a shaky breath before continuing. "I admit to hazing Danny. I admit to being a complete idiot and thinking that was okay. I admit to allowing myself to be a part of such a traumatic situation. I also admit to…"

There's no way. There's no fucking way he admits THIS. No way at all. Ever since it happened, he's been denying it.

"I admit to what I did to Danny not long after hazing him. I admit to holding him down, I admit to humiliating him with a smile, and I admit to… assaulting him." He answered weakly, hanging his head in guilt.

The room had never felt so suffocating. Kwan's admission was like a gunshot in the silence, loud despite how quietly he'd said it. He wasn't lying. He wasn't running. He knew there was no way out. I felt Dash beside me, a steady presence, but I couldn't focus on him. Couldn't focus on anything except the weight of what was about to come out of my mouth. Sean and Mikey were in shock, but turned to me and waited until I was ready.

"Danny?" Sean whispered, his anger shifting to concern. "You okay?"

I swallowed hard. My heartbeat pounded in my ears as I lifted my head, my voice coming out hoarse, but firm. "Junior year, Kwan. Junior year..." I started, barely above a whisper. "It wasn't just the hazing."

The words felt foreign on my tongue, thick and sharp like glass, but I pushed through.

"Kwan—" I sucked in a breath. My hands shook, but I tightened them into fists. "You didn't just assault me. You didn't just haze me." I forced myself to look up at him in his eyes, my voice breaking as I finished. "You stole something that I'll never get back… my innocence."

Sean and Mikey stiffened, their shock and anger twisting into something darker.

I kept my expression as steady as I could, even as my stomach twisted. "You made sure I couldn't fight back. Made sure I was helpless—pinned me down, laughed while you did it, and made it clear that there was a message you wanted to send. You wanted to break me." My breath hitched. "And for a long time, Kwan… I thought you did."

Mikey's eyes widened in horror, realization crashing down on him. Sean's face went blank—too blank—like his body had shut down to keep him from snapping. Dash remained quiet, but even without looking at him, I knew he was staring daggers into Kwan's head and could see nothing but red.

I forced myself to keep going. I had already come this far. "You knew I'd never say anything." I said a little louder, my eyes never leaving Kwan's. "But… when I got here? When you saw me again? You knew I remembered. And you used it, Kwan. Every time I looked at you, you knew I was thinking about that day. And, let's face it: you loved every second of it. But I'll tell you right now, there's a price tag on your head, and after tonight…" I stepped away from Dash and got right in Kwan's face. The same fire I had when I fought him before break had returned, only this time, it was hotter than ever. "You're a dead… man… walking." I finished before I gave him an open palm strike that rang throughout the room, sending him to the ground.

A thick, suffocating silence followed.

Sean exhaled, slow and sharp, his chest rising and falling with barely contained fury. Mikey looked like he might be sick. Dash? Oh, he was ready to eviscerate his teammate.

When Sean finally spoke, his voice was cold. "You're done."

Kwan, even as he was wincing in pain, didn't argue. Didn't have one smart remark at all. He slowly rose to his knees and accepted his fate. Days prior, the rest of the frat—guys he had called his brothers—got wind of what took place, and they didn't fight for him. Sean only had one thing left to say to Kwan.

"Pack your shit and get out."

And just like that, Kwan was gone.

But the damage? That would never leave.

I just had to figure out how to live with it. Which, if I'm being honest…

It's going to be easier said than done.