Jean's POV,
I intentionally let Shawn get into class before me.
Not because I believed him when he said he would punish me and that I would choose the punishment, but because I had been late to too many classes already. It was easier to slip in after him, to make it look like nothing about me had changed.
Like I was still the same careless, drifting version of myself everyone had always known.
But I wasn't.
Nothing about me felt the same anymore.
"Mr. Green, next time you come late to my class, you won't attend it," Shawn said, his tone as professional and controlled as ever.
I didn't respond. I simply walked further into the classroom, scanning for an empty seat. There were no assigned seats; people just sat wherever they felt like, like always.
"Jean…" June called softly.
I looked over, and I realized the seat beside her was empty. It looked like she had been saving it for me.
