Reality Check

Hadley’s POV

We were back at Pembroke.

Back to lecture halls that smelled like old coffee and stress, back to pop quizzes and midterms no one warned you about, back to early-morning swim practices where your body hurts but your brain finally shuts up.

And honestly?

It helped.

Being around Maddox, being alone with Maddox, had completely scrambled my head. Kissing him, sneaking touches, pretending w