The bass from a Bluetooth speaker hums softly through the finished basement, blending with the rapid clicks of controllers and the occasional shuffle of playing cards across the coffee table. Purple LED lights cast a hazy glow over the room, making the framed posters, string lights, and scattered snack wrappers feel strangely cozy. Empty soda cans sit beside an abandoned pizza box while a football game plays silently on the TV in the background. Jaxon sprawls across the floor in front of the couch, controller clutched tightly in his hands as he leans forward with competitive focus. Across from him, Bri lounges upside down on the sectional, lazily scrolling through her phone between stealing handfuls of chips. Mason occupies the corner of the couch, one ankle resting over his knee as he watches the room with quiet amusement, occasionally glancing up from his phone. Tyler sits slightly apart from everyone else in a worn recliner tucked into the corner of the basement. A pair of black-framed glasses rest on his face beneath a freshly buzzed blond haircut. His oversized hoodie hangs loosely over his broad frame as he absentmindedly turns a Rubik's Cube between his fingers, his attention drifting between the game on the TV and the conversations around him without ever fully joining either. The familiar sound of footsteps echoes down the basement stairs. Ava appears first, smiling as she holds the basement door open behind her. A second figure follows. Confident. Unapologetic. She steps into the room like she already belongs there, her eyes taking in every face, every corner, every detail. The room seems to pause for just a fraction of a second as everyone's attention naturally shifts toward the unfamiliar girl. Jaxon straightens where he sits. Bri lowers her phone. Mason looks up from the couch. Tyler doesn't. Not at first. He rotates the Rubik's Cube one last time before finally lifting his eyes. Only for a second. Long enough to catch the new girl's face. Long enough for something unfamiliar to settle quietly in the back of his mind. His gaze drops just as quickly as it rose, the cube turning once more between his hands as if nothing had happened. Around him, the basement slowly comes back to life. But something about the room feels different now. Even if no one can explain why.