The air inside the auditorium was thick with the smell of fresh paint, glue guns, and too much excitement. Students ran everywhere — tying ribbons, testing the sound system, hanging banners that kept falling down.
Harper stood in the middle of the chaos like a general commanding a very sparkly army.
"Alex! Higher — no, higher! That's crooked!" she shouted, pointing her clipboard at the banner.
"I swear, it's straight!" Alex called back, stretching on his tiptoes.
"It's not," Harper said flatly.
Behind him, Liam was half laughing, half catching Alex by the waist before he could topple backward. "Baby, if you fall, I'm not explaining to the principal how you broke your neck on glitter."
Alex shot him a glare over his shoulder. "Then stop distracting me, Liam!"
"You make it too easy," Liam said with a grin, his eyes soft and amused.
