"Thanks for making a school where I didn’t have to stay the old version of me."

Chapter 37 + 38 of The Ruckus Maker Flywheel

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Chapter 37 — The Letter

The cafeteria was loud in that way only a middle school lunchroom could be — trays clattering, sneakers squeaking, laughter ping-ponging between tables.

Jordan sat at a round table near the corner, half-listening to a group of eighth graders debate which hot sauce reigned supreme.

Maria slid into the seat next to her. Her smile was steady. Confident. The opposite of the girl Jordan once worried she’d lose.

“I wrote you something,” Maria said, almost too casually. She handed Jordan a folded sheet of notebook paper. “Don’t read it now. You’ll cry and make it weird.”

Jordan laughed, startled, then nodded. “Noted.”

Maria grinned and turned back to her friends, who immediately roped her into a story involving cafeteria pizza and a TikTok dare.

Jordan tucked the letter into her bag and let the moment linger.

She didn’t open it until later — after the dismissal bell, after the last bus pulled away, after the building quieted like it always did in that strange hour between chaos and night.

She sat in her office, the daylight golden through the blinds, and unfolded the letter.