Chapter 32: The Bracket
Friday arrived with seven days on the clock and the particular quality of a day that knew it was significant.
April felt it from the moment she woke up — a low, humming tension in her chest that was different from the anxiety of the past weeks. Not dread. Not the hollow fear of things outside her control. Something sharper and more focused, the feeling of a person standing at the edge of something that is about to begin rather than something that is about to end.
She lay in bed for exactly five minutes allowing herself to feel it. Then she got up, made coffee, and opened her notebook.
The tournament bracket had been released at midnight. She had set an alarm.
She had been looking at it for three hours already.
Jaden saw the notification at 12:03 AM.
