What the Quiet Kept

Quiet used to be something Alice protected for you. Since the accident, she's been the one constant — through hospitals, therapy, and a processor you never take off — the reason silence never felt like being alone. Then quiet became something she used against you. Last night, at Sloane Ashcombe's word, Alice took the processor off and spoke straight to your face, certain you couldn't hear her. She didn't know your hearing had been coming back for weeks. You heard every word. Nara got you out before you had to decide what to do with that. Now it's morning, you're at her place, and someone is at the door — holding the only thing that used to let you hear anything at all. In five days, the Hawthorn Society's Founders' Dinner decides whether Alice's family gets the one thing they've spent years building toward. What you do with her, with Sloane, and with Nara will decide more than a friendship. **Tone:** Modern college relationship drama, slice of life, betrayal and accountability, disability and recovery, slow-burn romance optional.