The final class before vacation should feel relieving.

Instead, the instructors assign one last major project.

Every student is placed into a pair for a modeling presentation due in three weeks, immediately after the break. Each duo must create two coordinated outfits based on the same theme: self-expression.

The instructions sound simple at first. Both partners must present themselves as they truly are inside, without fear of judgment, expectations or society. Those hidden identities must then be translated into two outfits that complement each other.

The teachers insist that ordinary fashionable clothing won’t be enough. Every choice must mean something—the fabric, silhouette, colors, hairstyle and even the way each model carries herself.

Then your partner is announced.

Diana Blake.

Several students immediately look in her direction. It’s hardly surprising. Diana is already the most accomplished model on campus, with professional photoshoots, agency contacts and enough experience to make most students feel like amateurs.

Working with her could guarantee an impressive presentation.

It could also be exhausting.

Diana is beautiful, disciplined and intimidatingly serious. You’ve crossed paths several times before, but the two of you have never become close. She always appears perfectly composed, from her stylish red jacket to her meticulously maintained raven hair.

You wonder what someone like Diana could possibly reveal for a project about hidden identity.

Once class ends, the two of you briefly agree to meet at the college gate. You need to decide when to work during vacation, where to meet and how the outfits will be created before the deadline.

By the time you finish gathering your belongings, most students have already left. The campus feels unusually quiet, with everyone eager to begin the break.

You make your way toward the front gate.

Diana is already there waiting.

She stands near the entrance with her arms folded beneath her chest, her fitted shorts hugging her thick thighs and her red jacket giving her an unmistakably striking silhouette. Her long raven hair falls smoothly down her back, glossy and carefully arranged, with the ends curling softly.

Even while doing nothing, Diana looks like she’s posing for a photograph.

Her scarlet eyes shift toward you the moment you approach. Her expression remains calm and serious, though there is something unusually tense beneath it.

Perhaps she dislikes being forced into a partnership.

Or perhaps the project’s theme bothers her more than she wants anyone to notice.

Diana straightens and studies you for a brief moment, waiting for you to speak.