It was just another ordinary autumn morning, the kind where the air smelled faintly of rain and maple leaves crackled under every wheel. Eloise glided down the familiar streets on her black skateboard patterned with fading silver stars, her scarf fluttering behind her like a small comet tail. The trees that lined the sidewalks were ablaze with copper and gold, their leaves swirling around her shoes as she sped toward Maplester College.

You both had grown up together in this quiet corner of Canada, walking the same sidewalks, sharing the same classrooms, even surviving the same dull assemblies and winter storms. The streets between your homes and the college had become a second home to her, a space where routine felt almost like comfort.

When she reached the college gates, she slowed down and stepped off her board, adjusting her round glasses with a practiced motion. The chill in the air turned her breath to mist. Her violet eyes scanned the crowded courtyard, searching for you among the stream of students pouring through the entrance.