CRESCENT BOUND

Small Beginnings

Elara's POV

I could feel Kaelen's eyes on me throughout every class. The tension grew worse at biology. Mrs. Hastings was about to assign partners for our semester project, and I still hadn't made a single friend. I didn't know who I would be paired with.

"I've already chosen the pairs," Mrs. Hastings announced. "When I call your names, please move to sit with your partner: Kaelen Blackwood and Elara Vance."

My heart skipped a beat.

Life really knows how to play tricks on us.

The original plan was to stay away from him and survive.

"What?" Kaelen exclaimed.

"Please calm down. This is my final decision. I carefully selected each pair for their academic performance, and you'll find Miss Vance fits perfectly," Mrs. Hastings explained.

"Okay, Mrs. Hastings," Kaelen said.

Gasps filled the class. Whispers erupted. This was the first time Kaelen had ever spoken or agreed to a teacher's decision. He was always doing everything on his own. Even Mrs. Hastings looked surprised.

He took the seat next to me.

I couldn't look at him, but I could hear his footsteps, feel the weight of him settling into the chair beside me. He didn't say anything at first. Neither did I.

"Alright, this is your project work for the semester," Mrs. Hastings said, handing out the pamphlets. "You should read the notes on cell division and genetics to help with the project. Class dismissed."

She left. I stood frozen in my seat, lost in my own head.

"Looks like we're partners," Kaelen said flatly.

I nodded, still not looking at him. "Looks like it."

Silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.

Then he spoke again, his voice low and haughty: "So where do you think it's best to have the project, since we need to avoid my dad?"

I blinked. That was the last thing I expected from him. He knows his father is watching. He's actually being practical.

"Mmmm... I don't know," I murmured, stalling.

"How about the town's library?" he suggested.

I stared at him, genuinely thrown. Why would the Blackwood heir suggest a public place off-campus? What is he playing at?

"Okay, I'll be there," I replied neutrally.

The bell rang for the end of school. I stood to leave—and his hand closed around my wrist.

I froze.

"Don't be late," he said, his voice still arrogant, still cold. "Five p.m."

Then he let go and walked away before I could even nod.

My pulse hammered against my temples.

Was I walking straight into a trap? Or had we just crossed a point of no return?

Later that day — 5:00 p.m. — The Town Library

I arrived five minutes early.

The library was small, old, and mostly empty. The smell of aged paper hung in the air, and the wooden shelves gleamed faintly under the warm yellow lights. Dust motes drifted in the afternoon sun that cut through the tall windows. It was quiet—the kind of quiet that felt like a held breath.

I found a seat near the back, where I could see the door.

Kaelen walked in at exactly five. He didn't look around. He didn't hesitate. His eyes locked on me immediately, like he'd known exactly where I'd be sitting.

He crossed the room in a few long strides and dropped his bag onto the table across from me.

"We need to ace this," he said, not even bothering with a greeting. "And we're going to need all the information we can get. Let's go to the biology section."

He didn't wait for a response.

I sat there for half a second, confused—then got up, and followed him.

He's… different here, I thought. He's still cold and arrogant. But he's not trying to humiliate me.

The biology section was a narrow aisle tucked behind the reference shelves. Kaelen started pulling books off the shelves without asking. Principles of Genetics. Molecular Cell Biology. Foundations of Heredity. He stacked them in his arms like he was preparing for war.

I moved to the shelf beside him and pulled my own. Genetics: A Modern Approach. Cellular Mechanisms.

Every minute was frustrating. The books were so heavy, and he didn't have a bit of compassion.

By the time we made it back to the table, both of us had a small mountain of books between us.

We sat down across from each other.

The silence returned. But it wasn't hostile anymore. It was… awkward. Tentative. Like two people who had accidentally walked into the same room and weren't sure if they were allowed to stay.

This is supposed to be a team project, I thought bitterly, opening the first book. And here we are, two enemies pretending to cooperate.

Part A of the project was simple enough on paper: summarize the basic principles of genetic inheritance, describe how traits are passed down through generations, and identify the roles of dominant and recessive alleles. A few pages. A couple of diagrams. Nothing I couldn't handle.

But doing it in silence, across from him? That was the hard part.

I wrote. He wrote. Pages filled up. The clock ticked.

I stared down at my notebook, frowning at a complex section on allele combinations, debating whether to ask him or figure it out myself. Deciding I couldn't afford to fall behind, I cleared my throat softly.

"Hey... how do we account for incomplete dominance in the phenotypic ratio for the second generation?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

Without looking up from his paper, Kaelen answered in a sharp, matter-of-fact tone, "You don't treat it like standard Mendelian inheritance. The heterozygous genotype results in a blended phenotype, so the ratio stays one-to-two-to-one instead of three-to-one. It's basic biology, Vance."

I blinked, staring at the side of his face. He's smarter than I thought, I muttered to myself internally. So far he's only been a jerk.

A small part of me desperately wanted to ask him about the other night—about how I ended up at home, but I knew he would just brush it off as usual, putting up his impenetrable wall. I kept my mouth shut and forced my eyes back to my textbook.

Now and then, I caught him glancing up at me—just for a second, just long enough to notice—before his eyes dropped back to his notes. I pretended not to see.

After what felt like an hour, he closed his notebook.

"I have to go," he said abruptly, standing. "It's late. You should also get going."

I looked up, startled.

"Same time tomorrow," he said, already slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Don't be late."

And then he was gone, leaving me alone with the books, the dust, and the strange feeling that something had shifted between us without either of us saying a word.

I stared at the empty chair across from me for a long moment.

What was that?