Spring break arrived, and Lena was looking forward to a week of peace. No school, no drama, just time to relax and read the medical journals she had been collecting.

On the second day of break, she decided to turn off her phone and spend the day completely disconnected. She was tired of social media, tired of seeing updates from classmates, tired of the constant buzz of notifications. Her mother had always said that sometimes you need silence to hear your own thoughts.

For two blissful days, Lena read, helped her mother in the garden, and caught up on sleep. She felt more peaceful than she had in months.

On Thursday morning, she finally turned her phone back on to check for any important messages. The screen lit up with notification after notification - missed calls, text messages, social media alerts. Her heart began to race as she saw the sheer volume.

Most of the messages were from Maya: "Call me NOW" "Lena where are you???" "Please answer your phone" "Something terrible happened"*

But it was the flood of social media posts that made her blood run cold. Post after post with Aaron's picture, with words like "RIP" and "Gone too soon" and "Can't believe it."

With shaking hands, she scrolled through the posts, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

"Aaron Blackwell, 17, drowned yesterday at Cedar Lake Resort. Such a tragedy - he was so young and had so much life ahead of him."

"Still can't believe Aaron is gone. Just saw him last week and he seemed so happy."

"They said he was with friends at the hotel pool. He was such a good swimmer too. Life is so unfair."

The phone slipped from Lena's hands and fell to the floor. She stared at it, her mind refusing to process what she'd just read.

Aaron was dead. Aaron was dead, and she'd been reading peacefully in her room while it happened.

She picked up the phone with trembling fingers and called Maya.

"Lena! Oh my God, where have you been? I've been trying to reach you for two days!"

"Is it true?" Lena whispered. "About Aaron?"

"Yes," Maya said softly. "It happened Tuesday night. He was at some hotel with his friends, and they were swimming in the pool late at night. Somehow he drowned. They said he hit his head or something, but the details are all mixed up."

"But he was a good swimmer," Lena said, her voice hollow.

"I know. Everyone's saying the same thing. It doesn't make sense."

Lena ended the call and ran to her room, slamming the door behind her. She threw herself on her bed and cried until she couldn't breathe. Aaron was gone. The boy who had said her name like it was something sweet, who had encouraged her dreams, who had made her feel special even if it was all a game - he was gone forever.

She cried for the boy she had loved despite everything. She cried for all the conversations they would never have, all the moments that would never come. She cried because she was only thirteen and didn't understand how someone so alive, so vibrant, could just disappear.

Her mother found her hours later, still crying into her pillow.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"Aaron," Lena choked out. "He's dead, Mom. He drowned."

Her mother's face filled with concern. "Aaron? The substitute teacher?"

Lena nodded, unable to speak.

Her mother sat on the bed and pulled her into her arms. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry. I know you cared about him."

"I did care about him," Lena sobbed. "Even though I knew he was playing games, even though I walked away, I still cared about him so much. And now he's gone and I never got to tell him..."

"Tell him what?"

"That despite everything, he made me feel like I mattered. That when he said my name, it sounded beautiful. That he was the first person who ever asked about my dreams."

Her mother held her tighter. "Then he knew, sweetheart. People always know when they've touched someone's heart, even if we never say the words."

But Lena couldn't be comforted. Aaron was gone, and with him went her first taste of what love might feel like. He had died exactly one month before his eighteenth birthday, with so much life unlived.

She stayed in her room for the rest of the week, refusing to eat, refusing to see friends. All she could think about was Aaron - his smile, his voice, the way he had looked at her like she was something precious.

Her first love was gone, and she felt like part of her had died with him.