Chapter 2
1202 Words
Jace Woods
I’m Jace Woods.
The quiet one. The invisible one. Marvin likes the spotlight, the cheers, the chaos. Me? I prefer the edges. Watching, calculating, never acting until I know exactly what needs doing.
And right now… I was watching her.
Cass Winfield.
The girl who dared to laugh in Marvin’s face. The girl who had the audacity to demand he pay for the dent he left in her car. A dent that would have destroyed most people’s moods for weeks. But not hers.
She was bold. Reckless. Dangerous. And infuriatingly fascinating.
I leaned against my car in the parking lot, arms crossed, letting the warm winter sunlight hit my face as I studied her from across the lot. She didn’t see me. Probably thought I was just another background character in Marvin’s little drama. But I noticed her. Every flicker of her eyes, every tense movement in her posture, every defiant step she took like the world owed her something and she wasn’t about to wait for permission.
She had fire. And fire was trouble.
Marvin, as always, was oblivious to subtlety. He thrived on drama. On making people react. On winning every glance, every word battle. But she? She wasn’t bending. She wasn’t flinching. And that intrigued me more than I cared to admit.
I kept my distance, not because I was afraid, but because I liked watching the storm from the eye of it. Sometimes storms were best admired before you stepped in.
By the time lunch rolled around, I’d already seen the aftermath of her confrontation. Marvin’s little stunt in the parking lot had spread like wildfire across the school. Whispers. Giggles. Shocked glances. People pointing, muttering, replaying the moment in their heads.
Most would have crumbled. Most would have made themselves smaller, humiliated, embarrassed. But not her. She had stared him down and laughed. That took guts. Or stupidity. Sometimes it was hard to tell which.
And then I saw it: the first hint of the next move.
The posters.
Bright, obnoxious, and plastered across the hallways as soon as first period ended. I didn’t even have to get closer to see them. From here, I could make out her face, mid-laugh, scribbled with ridiculous captions: “Pay Up, Charity Case!” and “Cass the Clown Strikes Again!”
I felt it before I even realized I was holding my breath.
Marvin didn’t just play games with people—he orchestrated them. And now, the entire school had been turned against her, using her own defiance as a weapon.
It wasn’t subtle. It wasn’t clever. It was brutal.
And she walked right into it.
I followed her through the halls at a distance, invisible, careful. She didn’t notice me. She didn’t notice anyone, actually. Her focus was all on the whispers, the pointing fingers, the snickers behind her back. And yet… she didn’t falter. She didn’t shrink.
She squared her shoulders. Lifted her chin. Walked like she owned the hallway even as the entire school laughed at her.
I couldn’t help but admire it.
Dangerous, reckless, infuriating admiration.
By the time she reached the cafeteria, the posters had already begun to do their work. People were whispering, pointing, snickering. Some were outright laughing. I could see the way she froze for a split second when she realized what was happening, but it was just a flicker. She squared her shoulders and strode to her usual seat like she didn’t care.
I watched her. Fascinated.
And then I saw Marvin.
As usual, he sat at the hockey table with his arm draped around the coach’s daughter, all confidence and arrogance. But this time, there was a gleam in his eyes. A spark that meant he was watching, waiting, enjoying the chaos he’d created.
Typical.
And then, as if to make sure the humiliation was complete, he stood, walked across the cafeteria, and theatrically dropped a bag of glitter on her table as he passed.
I almost laughed.
Almost.
Cass froze, hands gripping the edges of her tray. For a heartbeat, she looked as if she might scream, run, cry but she didn’t. She tilted her head, eyes narrowing, and then this was the part that made me raise an eyebrow she smiled. A small, sharp, almost dangerous smile.
She was planning something.
I could see it in the tilt of her jaw, the fire in her eyes. That girl wasn’t done.
Later, as the day dragged on, I followed her silently between classes. I watched the way she flinched when someone whispered, but also the way she laughed under her breath when she realized she could turn it back on them.
She was a fighter.
And fighters were interesting.
I stayed in the shadows, watching, learning. She didn’t know it yet, but I was keeping tabs. Because something about her felt… different. Important. Dangerous.
By the time school ended, I had a clear idea of how this little war would unfold. Marvin would escalate. She would retaliate. And the rest of the school would get caught in the crossfire.
And me? I’d be watching. Always watching.
Cass WinField
The walk home should have been peaceful. Should have been quiet. I should have felt victorious. After all, I’d made Marvin pay. Literally.
But instead, it felt like the entire school had turned against me. The posters, the whispers, the pointing fingers… they had set me up for public humiliation.
I clenched my backpack straps tightly, trying to ignore the glances, the snickers, the muttered names. Cass the Clown. Charity Case. Pay Up. Every word burned like fire on my skin.
And just when I thought I could escape, I heard it.
“Hey, charity case!”
I froze.
Someone had thrown a glitter-filled balloon from the second-floor hallway. And it hit me square in the chest. Glitter rained down, sticking to my hair, my shirt, my backpack. The cafeteria prank had turned into a hallway ambush.
I looked up, and of course, everyone was laughing.
Of course, Marvin’s little stunt had worked.
My cheeks burned. Anger, humiliation, and frustration all rolled into one.
I wanted to yell. To scream. To storm off and never come back.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I wiped the glitter off my chest, straightened my shoulders, and glared at the crowd.
“Really?” I shouted. “That’s the best you’ve got?”
A few people gasped. Some laughed louder. Some whispered, impressed.
I didn’t care.
I was Cass Winfield. And I didn’t back down.
Later, when I finally got home, I sat on my bed, brushing glitter out of my hair, and replayed the entire day in my head.
Marvin had made me his target. He thought I was easy. Soft. Vulnerable.
But he was wrong.
And then I remembered the way Jace had been watching me. Quiet. Observant. Calculating. Not laughing. Not smirking. Just… watching.
My stomach twisted.
Something about him was different. Something dangerous.
And I wasn’t sure if that was good… or terrifying.
Either way, it wasn’t over.
Not by a long shot.
By the time night fell, I had made a decision:
Marvin Woods had started a war.
And I was going to make sure I didn’t lose.
- Writer
