Between Uniform And Lies

Chapter One: New Session

I wake up before my alarm, the sound of my mother coughing cutting through the quiet. Her cough is rough, deep and loud, like it’s ripping something inside her. I lie still, staring at the ceiling, my chest tight but I don’t move until it stops.

When it finally stops, I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding then I sit up slowly. My brown curls are all over my face falling into my hazel eyes. I push them back, but they jump loose. My eyes look tired and heavy like they’ve seen too much already.

Eighteen, and I feel older than anyone should.

I pull on my uniform carefully. The skirt, the shirt, the buttons, the collar, I check them twice. At Crownfall Academy, looking neat is a shield and shields matter more than people here.

My mother sits at the table, staring at a cup of cold tea.

“First day of the new session,” she says.

“Yes,” I whisper.

She wants to ask if I’m ready, wants to ask if I’ll be okay, but she doesn’t. Some things hurt too much to say. I step outside, the cold air sending shivers down my spine. I walk fast, faster than I need to, like the speed can push the weight off my shoulders.

***

The gates of Crownfall Academy stand tall before me. Students spill out of cars, drivers opening doors, laughter bouncing off the walls. Everything feels easy for them but not for me.

Students jam the hallways chatting and laughing, shoes clicking on the floor and expensive bags swaying at their sides.I pull my bag close, my shoulders curl in. I don’t want anyone noticing me or noticing I exist. Someone bumps into me “Watch it,” a girl snaps, her eyes darts over my uniform

I'm sorry,” I say, quickly.

I always apologize first even when it’s not my fault even when it’s stupid.

***

At my locker, Emily shows up beside me.

“New session,” she says softly.

“Yeah,” I answer.

She smiles faintly, and for a second, I felt a little bit better.

As we walk to class, a group of girls ahead starts laughing. One of them glances at me slowly then whispers something, they laugh.

I feel my stomach twist. My skirt? My bag? My hair? Something’s wrong. My chest tightens, and I tell myself to keep walking, be invisible.

Then the hallway shifts, people step aside without thinking, voices rise, heads turn. A hush almost, in my chest.

Lucian Dominic walks past, he doesn’t rush, he doesn’t look at anyone, he moves like the hall belongs to him. People react without thinking, someone laughs at a joke only he can make, girls fix their hair, boys stand taller.

I freeze for a heartbeat.

Everyone knows him, everyone respects him, fears him and he belongs to a world I can only see from far away.

Emily leans close “He’s everywhere,” she whispers.

I don't answer “I've been here long enough to know that already” I tell myself

He doesn’t look at me, not once and then he’s gone, swallowed by the crowd. The noise returns, but it feels different, lighter, brighter, untouchable.

I slide into my usual seat at the back while Lucian sits near the front. The teacher smiles at him differently, softer and easier.

A boy beside me leans over. “You’re on scholarship, right?” he says, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Yes,” I say. “ I've been in this school a whole year now, why is he still asking?” I think, feeling the stink.

He nods like he figured it out “Makes sense.”

The girl next to him snickers.

My face burns and my hands shake as I write in my notebook, my pen presses too hard. “Don’t cry, don’t cry” I say to myself.

Lucian answers a question without raising his hand, the teacher smiles at him, everyone smiles at him without correcting him.

***

Break comes, hallways are cruel and cold

A girl brushes past me. “Careful, don’t want cheap rubbing off,” she says and

her friends laugh.

My chest feels like it's squeezing shut, I look down at my bag, adjust my skirt and try to disappear.

In the cafeteria, the divide is impossible to ignore. Lucian’s table is loud, wide, full of people who belong, his bag is tossed on a chair and his food barely touched. His world feels so bright and untouchable while my table is small, and quiet. Scholarship students sit together, eat quietly and don’t take space.

***

The bell rings, students cheer, bags thrown on shoulders. Excited plans, parties, drivers waiting. Music and Laughter. Lucian stands, people move for him. He doesn’t notice me, or anyone else. I pack my books slowly. “Don’t rush,” I murmur. Mistakes happen when you rush.

Then someone bumps me hard in the hallway. I look up and it's Lucian.

For a moment everything goes quiet, his eyes meet mine blank, calm like I’m nothing.

My bag slips, the strap of my cleaning bag peeks from under my uniform.

His eyes flicker there but just once and my heart raced.

No one at school can know, I tell myself

He doesn’t say a word. He steps past, disappearing again but I can’t move. The shame hits me first. Hot, deep, impossible to ignore.

What if he saw?

And worse

What if our worlds just touched and everything I’ve built to survive starts to crumble?

He stops. Slowly, he turns back not to look at my face but at my bag. His eyes dropped to it again,longer this time and sharper.

I freeze.

The hallway keeps moving around us laughter, voices, shoes on marble but I can’t hear any of it.

Lucian lifts his gaze back to me.

Something changes, not anger, not curiosity but recognition. I feel like I can't breathe but he doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t have to, he turns and walks away.

But I know, I know with a sick, sinking certainty settling deep in my bones that he saw and whatever he just noticed is going to follow me home.