Chapter Three – New Blood
954 Words
Crestwood High didn’t exactly roll out red carpets for new students.
If you arrived mid-semester, you were either invisible within a week or turned into gossip before your second lunch break. The former was mercy. The latter was entertainment.
On Tuesday morning, entertainment walked in wearing a crisp white shirt and a navy sweater that somehow didn’t look like a uniform.
“Class,” Mrs. Dune said from the front of History, “this is Alex Carter. He’s just transferred here from Brookhaven. I expect you all to be welcoming.”
The polite ripple of hellos barely covered the whispering that followed. Alisha didn’t look up from her notebook. She was halfway through underlining a phrase in neat, steady strokes when a shadow fell over her desk.
“Only seat left,” Alex said, his voice light but carrying enough confidence to make it sound like an invitation.
She finally looked at him — tall, lean build, sandy-brown hair, eyes a clear green that seemed annoyingly earnest. The kind of guy who’d be student council president in another school.
She gestured at the empty chair without a word.
He slid in, placing a leather notebook on the desk like it was something valuable. After a beat, he leaned toward her slightly. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she replied, already turning her attention back to her notes.
Most guys would have taken the hint. He didn’t. “So… do you always look this bored, or is it just my timing?”
That earned him the smallest curve of her lips — not quite a smile. “You talk a lot.”
“Only when I want to know something.”
“You won’t.”
It wasn’t cruel. Just matter-of-fact. He leaned back, intrigued.
---
By mid-morning, the rumors had already started.
Bettina found her by the lockers between second and third period, eyes wide. “Okay, tell me everything.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Alisha said, swapping out textbooks.
Bettina glanced over her shoulder and lowered her voice. “He sat next to you in History. You talked. And I saw him looking at you in the hall.”
“That’s not exactly breaking news.”
“It is when you’re you,” Bettina said. “Guys don’t just… approach the Ice Queen. They circle. They plan. They spend months working up the nerve. He just walked right in like—”
Alisha shut her locker. “Maybe he’s stupid.”
“Or maybe he’s interesting.”
---
The cafeteria was its usual chaos at lunch. Alisha and Bettina claimed their spot in the far corner, where she could read without being jostled by loud conversations or flying food. She’d just flipped a page when a shadow fell across the table.
Alex. Tray in one hand, easy smile in place.
“Mind if I sit?” he asked, but the way Bettina nodded before Alisha could answer made it less of a question.
He set his tray down — just water and an apple — and leaned his elbows on the table. “So, Alisha…”
“So, Alex…”
Bettina nearly choked on her juice.
“You don’t do small talk,” he said.
“Nope.”
“That’s fine. I prefer skipping to the interesting part anyway.”
“Which is?”
“You.”
She didn’t blush, didn’t even flinch — but the corner of her mouth tugged like she might have laughed if she were someone else.
---
The air shifted.
It wasn’t a sound, exactly — more like an instinct. Conversations quieted in patches, glances shifted toward the main doors. Alisha didn’t have to look to know why.
Lucas King had arrived.
He moved like the room belonged to him, every step unhurried. Two of his crew flanked him — Marco, tall and sharp-eyed, and Darius, bulkier with a smile that never reached his eyes. They scanned the cafeteria, but Lucas’s gaze landed straight on her table.
And on Alex.
“Carter,” Lucas said when he reached them, voice carrying just enough weight to make nearby tables go silent. “Settling in?”
Alex leaned back in his chair, unruffled. “Yeah. Nice place.”
Lucas’s gaze cut to Alisha briefly, then back to Alex. “Careful where you sit. Crestwood’s… territorial.”
“Territorial,” Alex repeated, almost tasting the word. “Guess I’ll keep that in mind.”
Alisha shut her book. “If you’re done marking your territory, I have class.”
She stood, walking away without another glance, but both men’s eyes followed her.
---
After school, the sun was low enough to cast long shadows across the street as Alisha locked her bike outside a small café. She heard footsteps before she saw him.
“Alisha!”
Alex jogged up, breath fogging faintly in the cool air. “Hey. I was hoping I’d run into you.”
“Crestwood’s not exactly big,” she said.
He grinned. “True. But I wanted to say… Lucas King doesn’t scare me.”
Her brow lifted. “He should.”
“Why?” he asked, stepping closer.
“Because he’s dangerous, and because you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Or maybe,” Alex said softly, “I just know exactly what I want.”
Her pulse ticked up, but she didn’t let it show. “Then you’re already making mistakes.”
She stepped past him, the scent of coffee and autumn air between them.
---
From across the street, in the dark reflection of a shop window, Lucas King watched — cigarette burning low in his fingers.
The Ice Queen had two contenders now.
And Lucas had never been good at sharing.
- Writer
