STERLING HEIRS

The first battle line

Episode 3

Sterling Heights Academy was a maze of endless corridors, towering mahogany doors, and polished marble floors that all began to look the same after ten minutes. Adunni clutched her crumpled schedule, her chest tightening as the five-minute warning bell chimed through the PA system.

Room 104: Introduction to Global Markets. It was a foundational freshman class, but looking around, the students walking in still exuded immense wealth. Wanting nothing more than to enforce Rule #1 and melt into the background, Adunni quickly moved down the stepped aisles of the lecture hall.

She was wearing her newly issued uniform—the tailored charcoal blazer and gold-trimmed skirt—which finally made her feel like less of a glaring target. Desperate to blend in, she quickly took an open seat toward the back rows, sitting entirely by herself.

Before she could even open her notebook, a sharp click of designer heels echoed against the floorboards. The atmosphere in the immediate rows shifted, turning icy.

Christina Vance stepped into the row. She was a sophomore, but her eyes were venomous as they locked squarely onto the new freshman. Flanked by her two shadow-minions, Chloe and Chloe B, Christina stopped right in front of Adunni’s desk, crossing her arms. Upperclassmen rarely wandered into the freshman block unless they were looking for trouble.

"You’re in my seat, charity case," Christina announced, her voice carrying across the quiet room.

Adunni’s jaw tightened. She looked around the half-empty row. "There are no assigned seats on the syllabus."

"There are when I say so," Christina hissed, leaning down slightly. "My father is the head of the economics department here. Sophomores can sit wherever we want. People like you don't dictate terms to people like me. Pick up your garbage bag and move to the floor where you belong."

A few students nearby snickered. Adunni felt the heat of their judgmental eyes, but she didn't flinch. Back home in Lagos, she had dealt with far worse than a spoiled sophomore hiding behind her father's name. She slowly leaned back, her hazel eyes locking onto Christina with a calm, freezing intensity.

"If your father runs the department, I suggest you ask him for a lesson on market value," Adunni spoke up, her smooth Nigerian cadence cutting through the murmurs clearly. "Because right now, you are wasting valuable assets—my time and your breath—on a position you have no leverage to claim. I'm not moving."

Christina’s face turned a violent shade of red. "Why you little—"

"Take your seats, class," the professor called out, walking into the room and slamming his briefcase onto the podium.

Christina let out a sharp, furious breath, glaring at Adunni as if she wanted to bury her beneath the floorboards. "This isn't over, freshman," she whispered venomously before storming down to the front row with her minions.

Adunni let out a slow exhale, smoothing down her skirt. Rule #1 was officially under siege, but she had drawn her first boundary. She wasn't going to be anyone's prey.