Monday afternoon felt... hollow.
Tyler walked through the halls of Parkside High feeling like a ghost. The usual chatter and chaos buzzed around him, but none of it reached his ears. Room 3B—where just last week they'd been solving teenage emotional crises like undercover therapists—was locked. A bright pink notice was taped to the door:
> "CLUB ACTIVITY SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE — ADMIN"
Tyler stared at it for a long moment. He felt like someone had drawn a chalk outline around his chest.
"Ty!"
Zara's voice cut through the noise like a razor. She approached with her usual combat boots stomping, her black denim jacket covered in pins that sparkled under the hallway lights. She held up two plastic cups with lemon slices floating inside.
"Drink this before you spiral into emo oblivion," she ordered.
He took the cup without thinking. "What is it?"
"Lemonade. Emotional support edition."
Tyler gave her a sidelong look. "You made this?"
"Hell no. Stole it from the teacher's lounge. They owe me."
They stood there in the hall, sipping lemonade while other students passed them, whispering or sneaking glances. Zara didn't care. Tyler pretended not to.
"We're not done," Zara said.
Tyler blinked. "What?"
"The club. Just because the school banned it doesn't mean we stop. We find a loophole."
He frowned. "Like what? Doing it in secret?"
"Even better," she grinned. "We rebrand."
---
2. Loophole Found
Zara dragged him to the library during lunch.
"Ms. Hewitt owes me a favor," she said, pushing through the double doors. The librarian looked up and immediately narrowed her eyes.
"I'm not helping you make protest posters again, Zara."
"It's not that. We want to start a book discussion group."
Tyler choked on his granola bar. "A what now?"
Zara elbowed him. "We'll call it something lame like 'Teen Dialogues: Voices of Youth.' It sounds academic and harmless. You talk. I sass. Nobody cries… much."
Ms. Hewitt looked between the two of them. "You're trying to get around the suspension, aren't you?"
Zara batted her lashes. "We would never undermine school policy."
Tyler gave her a look that screamed: We're totally undermining school policy.
After a long sigh, Ms. Hewitt said, "If it's supervised and follows the new club guidelines, I'll allow it. But no relationship drama in the library."
"Of course not," Zara said, lying through her teeth.
They high-fived as soon as they left.
"We're back, baby," she whispered.
---
3. Eli and the Unsaid
That afternoon, Eli caught up with Tyler in the courtyard.
"You look less like a kicked puppy today."
Tyler shrugged. "We found a workaround. Library sessions, under a fake book club name."
Eli chuckled. "Zara's idea?"
"Obviously."
There was a beat of silence. Tyler shifted on his feet.
"Hey," he said suddenly, "about Friday… when you said that thing…"
Eli raised an eyebrow. "Which thing?"
Tyler's mouth was dry. "The part about maybe it's not her."
Eli's smile faltered, but he didn't look away. "Yeah?"
"I just—" Tyler shoved his hands in his pockets. "Was that… about me?"
Eli's voice dropped to a near whisper. "Do you want it to be?"
Tyler's heart did a backflip. "I don't know."
"That's okay," Eli said, and his voice was so gentle it made Tyler ache. "You don't have to know. Not yet."
They stood in the quiet, the school bell ringing far in the distance, like an echo from another life.
---
4. First Library Session
They called it Teen Dialogues: Finding Our Voice.
Five students showed up.
Zara introduced herself as the "resident snark consultant," while Tyler played the shy academic type who mostly listened. It worked.
A girl named Hannah talked about being ghosted by her childhood best friend after she came out.
A guy named Des asked if it was "too late to stop being the funny guy" and actually be taken seriously.
One by one, the group opened up. There were fewer jokes. More silence. But no one left.
Afterward, Zara sat beside Tyler in the quiet library, swinging her legs beneath the table.
"You did good, Shrink."
"So did you," he said, surprising her.
She gave him a real smile, the kind without sarcasm. "We're not just fixing other people, you know."
"I know."
"We're fixing ourselves too."
Tyler didn't say anything, but he didn't have to.
The pink flyer was still on the door of Room 3B. But the club hadn't ended. It had just evolved.
And Tyler Grant, self-appointed invisible nobody, was becoming something else entirely:
Seen.
Rain pelted the windows of Parkside High like a bad mood made visible.
It was Thursday—two weeks since the club had been shut down, one week since its library rebirth—and already the school's whisper network had adapted. Students now referred to the meetings as "the book club that talks back."
Tyler sat at the back of the library, a notepad open in front of him. No one had come in yet, but he wasn't alone.
Zara was late. Again.
He tapped his pen. Waited. Rewrote the same sentence three times: Feelings aren't problems to be solved.
Then she burst through the library door, soaked and grinning.
"I stole a soda from the vending machine and got chased by Coach DiMartino. How's your day going?"
Tyler blinked. "Normal. Unlike yours."
Zara shook out her damp hair like a dog. "Live a little, Shrink."
He smirked but didn't reply. Instead, he passed her a paper towel from his backpack.
They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes until someone else arrived—a girl Tyler didn't know.
Purple eyeliner. Nervous eyes. Rainbow pin on her backpack.
She paused at the threshold like the room might bite her.
Zara waved her in. "Safe space, rainbow edition."
The girl smiled, barely.
"My name's Lila," she said, sitting across from them. "I... I heard you help people. Not like, therapy help. Just… the kind where you don't call their parents?"
Tyler nodded. "That's kind of our specialty."
---
2. Lila's Story
Lila hesitated before speaking. She kept her hands in her hoodie pocket, fingers twitching.
"I don't want this getting out," she said. "Like, I'm not out. Not officially. My friends think I am, but my parents..." She trailed off, biting her lip.
Tyler leaned forward, elbows on the table. "You don't have to say anything you're not ready to."
Zara leaned back, watching her carefully. "But if you do want to say something, this is probably the best room in the school to do it."
Lila nodded slowly. Then the words came, all at once.
"My girlfriend broke up with me because I wouldn't tell my parents about us. And I wanted to. I really did. But the thought of my dad looking at me like I'm broken, like he did when I dyed my hair or brought home a B in math... I panicked. She said I made her feel like a secret. And maybe I did. But I wasn't trying to hide her. I was hiding me."
Tyler let the silence breathe for a second. Then he said, "Secrets aren't always lies. Sometimes they're shields."
Zara added, "But even shields get heavy when you carry them too long."
Lila sniffed and wiped her eyes. "She said she still cares. But she needs space. I just... I want to be brave. But I feel like I'm stuck between two lives."
"Maybe bravery," Tyler said softly, "isn't loud. Maybe it's just... choosing to stay kind to yourself while you figure things out."
Lila smiled through her tears. "That sounds like something from a poem."
Zara smirked. "Don't encourage him. He'll start quoting Sylvia Plath again."
That made Lila laugh. It was a small, hopeful sound.
---
3. DMs in the Dark
Later that night, Tyler sat in his room, the rain still tapping at his window. His phone buzzed.
Eli: You up?
Tyler: Yeah.
Eli: Can I say something weird?
Tyler: When have you ever needed permission?
Eli: I keep replaying that moment at the bleachers.
Tyler: Same.
There was a long pause.
Eli: I've liked you for a while. Not sure when it started. But I think it's real.
Tyler's heart stuttered. He stared at the screen. The words sat there, blinking at him.
He typed.
Tyler: I think I like you too. I just... don't know what to do with that yet.
Eli: You don't have to. Just don't shut me out, okay?
Tyler: I won't. I promise.
And somehow, despite the nerves, Tyler fell asleep smiling.
---
4. Detention Drama
The next day, a surprise visitor crashed their session.
A loud voice barked, "This is NOT an approved club activity!"
Mr. Reeve. Again.
Ms. Hewitt tried to intervene. "They're within policy. It's a student-led dialogue group."
"Led by a teenager dispensing emotional advice like candy. This is liability, not learning."
Tyler stood up. "We're not giving advice. We're listening. That's all."
Reeve pointed at both of them. "Detention. Tomorrow. Both of you."
Zara stood too. "What about me?"
"You're already on my list," Reeve muttered.
The library door slammed behind him.
Zara turned to Tyler and shrugged. "Guess we're officially rebels now."
Tyler groaned. "Great. Just what I needed. A record."
"Think of it as street cred."
---
5. Messages That Matter
Later that night, Tyler opened his locker and found a folded note inside. No name.
> "You saved my friendship. Thank you."
Another note was tucked behind his bike wheel:
> "I told my mom I'm bisexual. She hugged me. I didn't think she would."
Tyler held the second note longer.
He didn't know who these people were.
But somehow, he mattered to them.
And for the first time in a long while, that was enough.