I sat on the couch, feeling the weight of the day. My legs trembled slightly from exhaustion. The wet dress stuck to my skin uncomfortably. Laura emerged from the kitchen with a coffee cup. Her eyes gleamed with a mischievous plan. She settled next to me on the couch. "Well done in the park, Stella!" "But today isn’t over yet." "I have something better for you." "Let’s go to a dance class." "Then to Sergei’s cottage for a...

I woke in the morning as the Los Angeles sun sliced through the blinds, casting sharp golden rays across my room’s worn wooden floor. I lay in bed briefly, the blanket tangled around my legs. For the first time in a week, I felt a sense of lightness. The past week had been exhausting—my strategy with Laura’s wild ideas had shaken me, but the results were showing. The boys had shown up, their gazes and hints setting my fac...

I woke early that morning, before the alarm clock could ring. My heart pounded, and my body trembled with nervous shivers. It felt as if I’d spent the night wandering through restless dreams I couldn’t recall. Laura’s plan haunted me—a wild idea of wearing revealing clothes to lure my class boys to attend. The memory of Sergei’s hands on me on the dance floor tangled with the sharp gazes of the boys at school. I lay in be...