Chapter 3: New Student*.
1210 Words
*Chapter 3: New Student*.
Alex sat down like he owned the room.
Tall, blonde, posture too straight for a 17-year-old who supposedly just moved from London. His accent was clean, polished, BBC-level perfect. Too perfect. Sabrina had spent three months learning to sound American. This guy sounded like he’d stepped out of a prep school commercial.
“Hi,” he said again, turning fully in his seat to face her. “I’m Alex. Just moved here from London. You’re new too, right?”
Sabrina’s mouth went dry.
London. Valerion’s capital. The city where her uncle had been exiled after the failed coup five years ago. The city where most of the agents hunting her would be coming from.
“Yeah,” she said carefully. “New.”
“Cool.” Alex’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I didn’t catch your name.”
Sabrina.
She couldn’t say it. Not her real one.
“Sabrina,” she said. It wasn’t a lie, but it felt like one. “Sabrina Walter.”
“Walter,” Alex repeated, like he was tasting it. “Nice. American name.”
She forced a smile back. “Yours too.”
Alex chuckled. “Fair.” He glanced down at her notebook, at the $2.99 Target spiral. His eyes flicked back up to her face, sharp and assessing. “You don’t look like you’re from Columbus.”
There it was.
Ethan had noticed it too, but he’d joked about it. Alex said it like he was filing it away as evidence.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sabrina asked, keeping her voice light.
“Nothing,” Alex said quickly, too quickly. “Just… you carry yourself differently. Like you’re used to people listening when you talk.”
Sabrina’s heart hammered.
Before she could answer, Ms. Carter started class. Alex turned forward, but not before giving her one last look. The kind of look that said _I’m not done with you_.
Sabrina didn’t breathe easy until the bell rang.
---
Ethan caught her at her locker after class.
“New guy?” he asked, nodding toward Alex’s retreating back. “He’s been staring at you all period.”
Sabrina slammed her locker shut harder than she meant to. “Yeah. From London.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “London, huh? Weird. He’s got that… I don’t know. Military kid vibe.”
Sabrina froze.
Military kid.
Valerion’s elite guard trained their children young. They called it ‘preparation.’ Sabrina called it cruel.
“You okay?” Ethan asked, frowning. “You went pale again.”
“I’m fine,” Sabrina said automatically. She was getting tired of saying it.
Ethan didn’t buy it. He never did. “Look, if that guy’s bothering you, say the word. I know people.”
Sabrina almost laughed. Ethan, with his chipped nail polish and AV club, thought he could handle Valerion agents.
But the offer made something warm settle in her chest anyway.
“Thanks,” she said quietly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
---
Lunch was worse.
Alex sat at their table without asking.
“Mind if I join?” he said, setting his tray down across from Sabrina.
Maya and Kade exchanged a look. Ethan’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t say no.
“Not at all,” Maya said, too cheerful to be natural.
Alex focused on Sabrina. “So, Sabrina Walter from Columbus. What do you miss most about Ohio?”
Sabrina blinked. “I… I don’t know. The snow, I guess.”
“Right.” Alex nodded. “Columbus gets a lot of snow.”
He said it like he was reading from a file.
Ethan set his fork down. “You sound like you’ve checked the weather history.”
Alex shrugged. “I like to be prepared. New city, new people. You never know what’s useful.”
Sabrina’s stomach twisted.
He was fishing. And he was good at it.
She needed to shut it down.
“I miss my dog,” she said suddenly. It came out of nowhere, but it worked.
Alex paused. “You have a dog?”
“Had,” Sabrina corrected. “Back in Columbus. A golden retriever named Max. He hated the mailman.”
It was a lie. She’d never had a dog. But it was a believable lie. Safe. Human.
Alex studied her for a second, then smiled. “Max sounds like a good dog.”
“Yeah,” Sabrina said. “He was.”
The conversation shifted after that. Safer topics. School, teachers, the terrible cafeteria pizza. Alex played along, but Sabrina could feel his eyes on her the whole time.
He wasn’t convinced.
And that meant she couldn’t let her guard down. Not for a second.
---
After school, Mr. Davis was waiting earlier than usual.
His face was grim.
“What happened?” Sabrina asked as soon as she got in the car.
“We have a problem,” Mr. Davis said, pulling out of the parking lot. “Agent Reyes came by the safehouse. She asked about you by name.”
Sabrina’s blood ran cold. “She knows?”
“She knows something,” Mr. Davis said. “She didn’t say Sabrina Walter. She said ‘the student from Columbus.’ But she asked for your records. Grades, attendance, emergency contacts.”
Sabrina gripped the door handle. “What did you tell her?”
“The truth,” Mr. Davis said. “That you’re a good student, quiet, no issues. Nothing to flag.”
That wasn’t enough. Not if Valerion was already here.
“What about Alex?” Sabrina asked.
Mr. Davis glanced at her. “Who?”
“The new kid. From London. He’s asking too many questions.”
Mr. Davis’s expression darkened. “We’ll look into him. Don’t engage. Don’t give him anything.”
Sabrina nodded.
But it was already too late.
She’d given him her name.
She’d given him a dog that didn’t exist.
And she’d given him her attention.
That was three things more than she should have.
---
That night, Sabrina couldn’t sleep.
She lay in bed staring at the ceiling of her tiny safehouse bedroom, listening to the faint sound of Mr. Davis pacing outside her door.
Her phone buzzed.
It was a text from an unknown number:
_You can’t hide forever, Princess._
Sabrina sat up straight, heart pounding.
She deleted the message.
She didn’t reply.
But she didn’t sleep either.
---
The next morning, Alex was waiting by her locker again.
He held out a coffee. “Thought you might need this. You looked tired yesterday.”
Sabrina didn’t take it.
“How did you get my number?” she asked quietly.
Alex smiled. “High school’s small, Sabrina. People talk.”
Sabrina stepped back. “Don’t call me that.”
Alex’s smile faded a fraction. “Call you what?”
“Sabrina.”
He tilted his head. “What should I call you then? Your Highness?”
The hallway seemed to go silent.
Sabrina’s hands clenched into fists.
“Stay away from me, Alex,” she said.
She walked away before he could answer.
But she could feel his eyes on her back the whole way down the hall.
And she knew this was only the beginning.
---
- Writer
