FIRST DAY
1423 Words
CHAPTER TWO
REYNA'S POV
The photo was barely back in my bag before the door opened.
I straightened fast, smoothing my expression into something neutral as a girl stepped in. Pretty. Short, with round eyes that took up most of her face and a smile that followed half a second behind them, like her face needed a moment to catch up with how genuinely happy she was.
"You must be the scholarship transfer student." She closed the door behind her, smile already at full brightness. "I'm Davina."
I glanced past her. There was a second bed on the other side of the room. I hadn't noticed it when I came in.
"I'm Reyna," I said, keeping it short.
That was apparently an invitation.
"Well, welcome to our dorm." She dropped her bag on the other bed and turned back around like we were already friends. "This block is where they put scholarship students. You must have heard how weird this school is, it runs differently from anywhere else. I'm final year, Computer Science." She tilted her head. "To survive here you basically have to stay hidden. Keep your head down, don't draw attention, don't get in anyone's way." She paused. "What's your major?"
"Social Arts," I said.
Her eyes went wide. "Social Arts?" She actually gasped. "You're in the same faculty as the school's dominants." She said it like a title. "Aden..the team captain and Marcus. Both Social Arts."
I kept my face neutral and let a small hum leave my throat.
That's exactly why I chose it, I thought.
Davina kept talking. I moved to unpack, folding things slowly and placing them in the narrow wardrobe while her voice filled the room, orientation schedules, dining hall hours, which corridors to avoid after dark and why, the unspoken social hierarchy that apparently ran Blackwell more efficiently than the academic one. She offered to help unpack twice. I turned her down both times.
But I was listening. Every word of it filed away.
Davina, I decided, was going to be useful. Not just as cover, she genuinely knew this school. And underneath the non-stop commentary she was, against all odds, a lovely girl.
I just couldn't afford to let her know that yet.
************
By evening Davina had decided I needed a tour.
I agreed. Of course I did. I needed the layout more than she knew. She led me through the main building, the east corridor, past the library and the faculty halls, talking the entire time with the energy of someone who had been waiting for a new audience. The campus was bigger up close than it looked from the gate. Quieter in certain wings.
We were crossing the open walkway near the east courtyard when Davina stopped abruptly.
"I need to use the restroom, two seconds." She pointed at a bench. "Wait here?"
I nodded.
She disappeared around the corner. I pulled out my phone and started typing a quick update to Clarissa..Arrived, cover intact, need building schematics if possible, already walking as I typed, not watching where I was going.
The collision was solid. Like walking into a wall that hadn't been there a second ago.
"s**t—"
My phone hit the ground. I heard the crack before I felt the impact fully, one hand going out to steady myself as I looked up slowly.
And stopped.
He was closer than any photograph prepared you for. Same jaw, same cold geometry, but up close there was a sharpness to it that paper couldn't hold. His eyes were already on me. Dark, flat, giving nothing away. He didn't step back. Didn't reach down for the phone. Just looked at me like I was an inconvenience he haven't decided what to do with yet.
Aden Voss.
My target. Standing close enough that I could see the slight tension at the edge of his jaw.
My fist tightened at my side.
Don't…The word fired through my head clean and fast. Not here. Not yet.
I dropped my eyes. Let my shoulders pull inward. Shrink. Be Reyna Brook.
"Watch where you're going," he said.
His voice was low. Not loud, not sharp, just final, the way a door sounds when it closes on a quiet room. He didn't wait for a response. He turned and walked off, hands in his pockets, unhurried, like the interaction had already left his memory.
I bent down and picked up my phone. Screen cracked at the corner.
When I straightened I caught it.. eyes. Half a dozen at least, students who had slowed down without fully stopping, watching from the edges of the walkway. Whispers threading between them like current.
I looked around at them.
What is wrong with these people?
************
Davina came back at a near-jog, phone already in her hand, eyes wide.
"Wait.. the school group is blowing up." She thrust the screen toward me, scrolling fast.
I read it.
Aden spoke to the new student.
Wait … does he know her?
He hasn't spoken to anyone unless she's his next..
Cassidy is NOT going to let this slide.
I stared at the screen for a moment.
Then I looked up at Davina. "This is what they're doing right now? I bumped into him. That's just it."
"Just." Davina repeated the word back at me like I'd said something offensive. "Just isn't a word that exists at Blackwell. You bumped into Aden. Aden Voss. And he spoke to you." She grabbed my arm slightly. "You're already a target. And speaking of…" She went still. "Devil."
I raised my head.
She came from the direction of the main building, a girl in a skirt that stopped well above the knee, red-dyed hair, nose pierced, heels clicking a deliberate rhythm on the stone path. Another girl flanked her, matching the energy. Both of them dressed like a warning.
I dropped my chin. Let the glasses slide slightly down my nose. Folded into myself.
"Hi." The red-haired girl's smile didn't reach anything above her mouth.
I said nothing.
"You're new." She stopped in front of me, looking me over slowly, eyes piercin, she was inspecting, assessing. "So you won't know the rules. Let me help." She held up one finger. "Stay out of my way." A second finger. "Don't go near Aden." A third. "Stay invisible, especially as a scholarship student. You're easy to remove."
The courtyard had gone quiet.
"And if I don't?" The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
Damn it. Definately not easy to hide my real self.
A few sharp inhales around us. I heard Davina make a small sound beside me. Phones were already rising.
Cassidy's smile shifted into something slower. She tilted her head almost gently.
Then her palm cracked across my face hard enough to snap my glasses sideways. One lens popped free and hit the ground.
Nobody flinched. Nobody moved.
Good hit, I thought distantly, standing completely still. Practiced. She's done that before.
I let my lip tremble. Let my eyes fill. Looked at the ground and wrapped my arms around myself like I was trying to hold the pieces together. The tears came easily enough. I had spent two years learning to use them as tools.
"Know your place," Cassidy said quietly. Then she turned, her companion falling into step beside her, and walked away without looking back.
"Are you okay?" Davina's hand was on my shoulder immediately, voice low and urgent.
"I'm going back to the dorm," I said, keeping my voice small and uneven. "I just…I need a minute."
"I'll come with you…"
"No." I shook my head. "Please. Just give me a few minutes alone."
She hesitated. Then nodded.
I turned and started walking, head down, arms still wrapped around myself.
Ten steps clear of the courtyard, around the bend of the east corridor where the last of the witnesses dropped away, I let it go.
The corner of my mouth lifted.
That was almost fun.
One day in and I already had Cassidy Vane's behavioral pattern, her tolerance threshold, and the exact kind of reaction she needed from a target to feel satisfied. That slap was useful. People who led with their hands that fast didn't think carefully. And people who didn't think carefully made mistakes.
I turned to keep walking.
And walked directly into someone.
Again.
"Not again," I muttered under my breath.
"Is it that you're doing this on purpose," the voice came from above me, unhurried and faintly amused, "or are you just used to bumping into people?"
- Writer
