CHAPTER THREE: The line between hate and love
411 Words
By the third week, Isla had stopped trying to understand Lucien Drake.
One day he ignored her like she didn’t exist; the next, he appeared out of nowhere just to make her uncomfortable.
It started small — a chair pulled from under her in the library, her project mysteriously missing from the art room. No one dared accuse him, but everyone knew.
When she finally cornered him after class, her voice shook.
“Why are you doing this?”
Lucien looked up from his phone, expression unreadable.
“Doing what?”
“You know what.”
He stood, closing the distance between them until she had to step back. “If you think I’m the worst thing that can happen to you here, you’re wrong,” he said quietly. “I’m the only one who’s keeping worse people away.”
Her eyes widened. “By making my life miserable?”
A low laugh escaped him — not cruel, but tired. “You wouldn’t understand.”
He brushed past her, leaving her confused and angry… but also strangely curious.
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Later that evening, Isla walked alone across the courtyard. The campus lights shimmered against the dark sky. She didn’t notice the two upperclassmen following her until she heard footsteps behind her.
“Hey, scholarship girl,” one of them said, sneering. “Need company?”
She clutched her books, quickening her pace — but they didn’t stop. One reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“Let go—”
“Didn’t you hear her?”
Lucien’s voice sliced through the air like ice.
He stood a few feet away, hands in his pockets, expression calm but eyes burning. The two boys froze.
“Get lost,” he said simply.
They did — fast.
Isla’s heart hammered. “You— you followed me?”
Lucien’s gaze softened for the briefest second. “I told you. Stay away from trouble.”
“I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t make everyone hate me!” she snapped.
He didn’t answer. Just stared at her with something dark and complicated behind his eyes — regret, maybe.
Then he said quietly, “You should thank me, Isla. I don’t protect just anyone.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but he was already gone, swallowed by the shadows of the courtyard.
---
That night, as she sat by her window, Isla whispered to herself,
“I don’t need him.”
But her heart refused to believe it.
- Writer
