CHAPTER 5 — The Path He Never Chose
1168 Words
The world didn’t end when Kian Hale left Colewood Academy.
It just… changed.
The city felt larger than before, louder and more chaotic. Students in crisp uniforms walked past him on the sidewalk every morning, their laughter spilling across the street like a reminder of the place he’d been pushed out of.
Kian adjusted the straps of his backpack—lighter now, mostly filled with borrowed textbooks from the public library—and headed toward his new routine.
He wasn’t a student anymore.
He was a survivor.
---
The Days After
The bakery where Kian worked welcomed him with the same warmth it always had.
“Morning, Kian,” the owner, Mrs. Yewande, greeted, her hands dusted with flour. “I heard what those people did to you. Just know—this place believes in you.”
Her kindness almost broke him.
Almost.
“Thank you,” Kian said softly, tying his apron.
Every day, he served pastries, cleaned tables, swept floors, and saved every single naira he earned. In the evenings, he studied alone in his tiny room in his family’s old apartment, refusing to let the stain on his reputation shape the rest of his life.
His mother, Monica Hale, watched him with worried eyes.
“You don’t have to work yourself to the bone,” she said gently during dinner one night.
But Kian didn’t stop.
Couldn’t stop.
“If I don’t push myself,” he said, “then Vanessa wins.”
The bitterness tasted unfamiliar, but it was real.
---
Meanwhile at Colewood Academy
Ariella Cole was no longer the calm student who walked through the hallways with warmth and sunshine. She was sharper now—more observant, more careful, and more determined.
The day after Kian’s dismissal, the school felt hostile. Students whispered. Teachers avoided commenting openly. And Vanessa Reid? She walked around with a softness in her expression, as if she were the one who had suffered a tragedy.
Her friends believed her act, of course.
“Vanessa, are you okay? You’ve been so quiet since the… situation.”
“I just… I feel bad,” she answered, lowering her eyes.
Ariella watched from a distance, anger simmering under her skin.
Vanessa’s performance was immaculate.
But Ariella’s instincts had sharpened. Every move Vanessa made felt rehearsed, polished, and too perfect.
She kept journaling, collecting details quietly the way her father had taught her: “Listen more than you speak. People reveal everything when they feel unseen.”
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The Evidence Ariella Didn’t Expect
A week later, she found something.
It happened during volunteer hours, when students were tasked with organizing old school documents in the administrative storage room. Ariella had gone in to sort through outdated files when she noticed a shelf slightly out of alignment.
Behind it—almost invisible—something glinted.
A small silver charm.
Her breath caught.
The charm belonged to the stolen bracelet. The same bracelet Vanessa had “discovered” in the supply room days earlier.
Ariella lifted it with trembling hands.
This wasn’t proof yet—not enough to accuse Vanessa—but it was something. A piece of a puzzle that was slowly forming an image she didn’t want to believe.
She slipped the charm into her pocket.
And for the first time, her fear changed into certainty.
Vanessa did this.
---
Kian’s Turning Point
While Ariella hunted for the truth, Kian’s world shifted again.
One evening, after closing the bakery, Mrs. Yewande placed a stack of envelopes in front of him.
“These are for you,” she said. “I took the liberty of submitting your name to a few youth scholarship boards. You’re one of the most hardworking boys I’ve ever met.”
Kian’s heart thudded painfully.
“Ma’am, I… I didn’t ask you to—”
“You didn’t need to,” she said firmly. “You deserve opportunities. Open them.”
He opened the envelopes one by one.
Most were polite rejections, the kind written with care but little heart.
But the last one—the one with a dark-blue seal—changed everything.
The Crownworth Youth Innovation Program
Offering:
– Full scholarship
– Engineering mentorship
– Travel for workshops
– A placement test to qualify for international study
Kian reread the letter three times, each word sinking deeper.
He had been chosen for the qualifying round.
He hadn’t been thrown away by life.
He had been redirected.
His mother cried quietly when he showed her. “My son,” she whispered, hugging him tightly. “They can’t dim your light.”
The only person he wished he could tell immediately… was Ariella.
---
Ariella’s Breaking Point
Days later, Ariella stood outside the girls’ restroom, her journal in hand, listening to Vanessa’s voice float out through the doorway.
“I’m glad he’s gone,” Vanessa was saying. “Honestly, that boy embarrassed our school. Ariella should be thanking me.”
Ariella froze.
One of Vanessa’s friends giggled. “But what if she finds out?”
“Find out what?” Vanessa snapped, too sharply.
Then, softer: “Nothing happened. Nothing can be traced to me.”
Ariella’s heart cracked.
All this time… all this suffering Kian went through… and Vanessa had the nerve to speak like this?
Suddenly, Ariella realized she wasn’t afraid anymore.
She was furious.
But she needed proof.
Real proof.
More than a charm and suspicious behavior.
And she would get it.
---
Kian and Ariella Cross Paths Again
Fate worked strangely.
Ariella saw Kian again two days later at the bus stop near the bakery. He was holding the scholarship letter in his hands, studying it the way someone studies hope—carefully, afraid it might disappear.
“Kian!” she called, running to him.
He turned, surprised. “Ari?”
For a moment, everything softened. The noise of the city, the pain of the past few weeks—everything blurred except the two of them standing face-to-face.
“I found something,” Ariella said, breathless. “Something important.”
Kian frowned. “Ari, you don’t have to—”
“I’m not stopping until the truth comes out.”
He looked away. “It won’t change anything. The school already—”
“I don’t care about the school,” she said, voice firm. “I care about you.”
The words stunned them both.
Ariella cleared her throat quickly. “Sorry—I didn’t mean it like that. I mean I care about what’s right. You didn’t deserve what happened, and I won’t stop until I fix it.”
Something inside Kian steadied. Her belief anchored him in ways he hadn't expected.
“I… got accepted into a program,” he said softly. “A scholarship test. Something big.”
Ariella’s eyes widened. “Kian, that’s amazing!”
He shrugged, embarrassed. “I don’t know yet. It might be a long shot.”
“It’s not a long shot,” Ariella said with fire. “It’s the beginning.”
And she meant it.
- Writer
