Between Firelight and Silence I was known as the sports captain of my school — loud on the groun...

Between Firelight and Silence I was known as the sports captain of my school — loud on the ground, quiet everywhere else. The first day of ninth grade began like any other, inside the school auditorium filled with noise, laughter, and new faces. I walked in with my friends, pretending confidence, when my eyes stopped on someone I had never seen before. She was standing near the stage. Calm. Simple. Different. It wasn’t love. Not yet. It felt like something unnamed quietly sitting inside my ch