Invisible String

Chapter 24

Iyaara/Ryker

Iyaara

Lunch break felt louder than usual—even though nothing around me had changed.
Same chaos. Same whispers. Same arguments. Same laughter echoing off lockers.

Ava was talking about something—a classmate? A meme? A whole conspiracy theory?
I wasn’t sure. I just nodded, pretending I was listening, while my brain was somewhere else.

Or… someone else.

Ryker.

His smile from earlier.
The way he waved back.
The way he handed me his blazer, even though he’s the kind of person who hates ruining his clothes.

And then—
The way my chest did… whatever it was doing.
Somersaults? Backflips? Panic cardio?

My heart was beating ridiculously fast just thinking about him.

And then it hit.

Not like a lightning strike.

Not like in the movies where violins swell and time slows.

No.

It was slower.
A creeping, warm, terrifying realization crawling up from my stomach into my chest.

My fingers froze mid-air.
My heartbeat ramped up like it was trying to escape.
And suddenly… the cafeteria felt too warm.

My breath caught.

My heart—yeah—my heart knew before my brain did.

Oh. My. God.

I pressed my lips together and stared at the table like it had suddenly become the most interesting object in the universe.

Ava suddenly stopped talking and squinted at me.

“Are you okay?” she asked, brows raised.

I forced a tiny laugh. “Yeah—just thinking.”

But my thoughts weren’t normal.
They were loud.
Chaotic.
Impossible to shut off.

Why did his smile matter?

Why did my chest feel weird when he waved back?

Why did the blazer moment replay in my head like some embarrassing slow-motion movie scene?

And why—why did seeing him talk to someone else feel… strange?

My mind kept trying to arrange all those feelings into something sensible, but only one sentence formed clearly:

I like him.

Not a small crush I could ignore.
Not something harmless or temporary.
But a real, terrifying, heart-racing kind of feeling.

My throat tightened—not in a sad way, but in the way that meant:

This is real, and I have no idea what to do about it.

Before I could stop myself—before I could think—I whispered:

“I… like him.”

Except it wasn’t a whisper.

It was out loud.

Ava froze, eyes widening like I’d just announced a national secret.

“Huh!? What did you just say?” she gasped, covering her mouth. “Who do you like?”

I stared at her, my brain screaming WHY DID I DO THAT.

“What?” I said, pretending I had no idea what she meant.