Blackthorn
1383 Words
Blackthorn University looked beautiful in the same way expensive things often did.
Cold. Untouchable. Difficult to survive.
The campus stretched across the north side of the city like its own private empire—stone buildings wrapped in ivy, dark iron gates, glass dormitories overlooking the lake.
Old money lived here.
So did secrets.
And by 8:00 AM on Monday morning, nearly everyone on campus already knew about the girl from the party.
Even though nobody knew her name yet.
Anastasia
“Blackthorn students are either rich, insane, or emotionally unavailable,” the taxi driver said while pulling up to the dormitory entrance.
Anastasia looked out the window at the massive campus.
“Only one of those concerns me.”
The driver laughed. “Which one?”
“The boring one.”
The man laughed harder this time, shaking his head as he stepped out to help with her suitcase.
Anastasia adjusted the sleeve of her black hoodie before stepping onto campus grounds for the first time officially.
Cold wind brushed past her legs.
Students moved around her in groups, already dressed like they belonged in magazine shoots instead of classrooms.
Nobody noticed her immediately.
That wouldn’t last.
Her phone buzzed.
Sofia:
Tell me you survived your first Blackthorn party.
Anastasia typed while walking.
Anastasia:
Barely. One guy lost feeling in his wrist though.
Three dots appeared instantly.
Sofia:
YOU FOUGHT SOMEONE ON YOUR FIRST NIGHT??
Anastasia:
He touched me first.
Sofia:
You’re actually insane.
A small smile tugged at Anastasia’s mouth.
Sofia had been her best friend since childhood. Loud, dramatic, incapable of minding her business.
Currently studying in Spain.
Currently blowing up Anastasia’s phone.
“Move.”
The voice snapped sharply from her left.
Anastasia looked up just in time to sidestep a guy speeding past on a skateboard.
No apology.
Just arrogance and expensive cologne.
She sighed quietly.
“Charming school.”
On the opposite side of campus, Zane hadn’t slept.
Not properly.
He sat in the back row of Professor Laurent’s criminal psychology lecture, black hood pulled low while students whispered around him.
Mostly girls.
Always girls.
“He’s here today.”
“I heard he disappeared with some model last week.”
“No, my roommate said he got arrested over break.”
“Again?”
Mason dropped into the seat beside him with iced coffee in hand.
“You look homicidal,” Mason said cheerfully.
“I’m tired.”
“That’s your personality every morning.”
Zane ignored him.
A few rows ahead, Isla Hart glanced back briefly.
Beautiful. Elegant. Dangerous in the polished way.
She and Zane had history.
Nobody knew exactly what kind.
Only that it ended badly enough for both of them to pretend it never existed.
Isla’s eyes lingered on him for half a second longer before facing forward again.
Mason noticed immediately.
“Ouch,” he whispered dramatically. “She still hates you.”
Zane stretched his legs lazily.
“She should.”
“That sounds suspiciously emotional.”
“It isn’t.”
Mason smirked.
“You know, one day you’re going to accidentally feel something and die from shock.”
Zane’s phone buzzed once.
Unknown number.
Find out who the girl from Saturday was yet?
Mason leaned over immediately.
“Oh my God. You’re obsessed.”
Zane locked the screen calmly.
“I’m curious.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Mason grinned. “You left your own party for her.”
“That’s because everyone there was annoying.”
“And she isn’t?”
Zane thought briefly of dark eyes and a calm threat spoken over loud music.
Then he leaned back in his chair.
“No,” he said quietly.
“She’s worse.”
Girls’ Dormitory — Room 314
Anastasia pushed open the dorm room door and immediately froze.
Clothes everywhere.
Music blasting.
And a blonde girl dancing terribly in front of a mirror while holding a hairbrush like a microphone.
The girl turned dramatically.
Gasped.
Paused the music.
“You’re my roommate?”
Anastasia blinked once.
“…Unfortunately?”
The blonde burst out laughing.
“Oh my God, I love you already.”
She rushed over, nearly slipping on a shoe.
“I’m Bianca Torres. Communications major. Addicted to coffee and bad decisions.”
“Anastasia.”
Bianca narrowed her eyes.
“You look like you bite people when irritated.”
“Only emotionally.”
“That’s even hotter.”
Within ten minutes, Bianca had already:
stolen Anastasia’s hoodie once,
insulted three people over FaceTime,
and provided detailed campus gossip nobody asked for.
“And stay away from the Moretti group,” Bianca warned while sitting cross-legged on her bed.
Anastasia opened a box slowly.
“Why?”
Bianca stared like she’d asked why fire burned.
“Because they’re chaos.”
That got Anastasia’s attention.
Bianca continued dramatically.
“Zane Moretti especially. Rich family. Criminal-law legacy. Campus menace. Girls literally lose IQ points around him.”
“Sounds exhausting.”
“He is.”
Anastasia didn’t respond immediately.
Because she remembered him.
The tattoos. The stillness. The eyes that watched too carefully.
Something about him had felt wrong.
Not dangerous exactly.
More like…
someone used to getting away with dangerous things.
Bianca kept talking.
“And his friends are insane too. Mason flirts with everything breathing, Jude gambles on literally anything, and Eli—”
“The quiet one?” Anastasia interrupted before thinking.
Bianca paused slowly.
“…How do you know Eli Navarro?”
Anastasia realized too late.
Interesting.
So the quiet one had been memorable too.
“I saw them at a party,” she said casually.
Bianca sat upright immediately.
“WHAT party?”
“Penthouse. Too loud. Bad music.”
Bianca looked horrified.
“You went to a Moretti party your first weekend here?!”
Anastasia tossed a jacket onto the chair.
“I didn’t realize it came with a survival warning.”
Bianca stared at her for a long moment.
Then grinned slowly.
“Oh, you’re definitely going to ruin this school.”
Elsewhere
At that exact moment, Zane walked out of class beside Eli and Mason.
Jude joined them halfway down the hallway.
“There’s a rumor going around,” Jude announced.
Mason perked up. “Scandal?”
“New girl apparently humiliated Trent Holloway outside a club Friday night.”
Eli frowned slightly. “How?”
“She broke his nose.”
Mason blinked.
Then smiled widely.
“Oh, I need to meet her immediately.”
Zane stayed quiet.
But something sharp flickered behind his eyes.
Because Friday night was before the party.
Meaning the mysterious girl had already been leaving damage behind before he met her.
Interesting.
Then Mason’s expression changed suddenly.
“Oh, speaking of disasters…”
Zane followed his gaze.
And there she was.
Walking across the courtyard with Bianca beside her.
Black hoodie. Dark hair moving in the wind. Calm expression like she wasn’t unknowingly becoming the center of attention.
Several students slowed down to stare.
Anastasia ignored all of them.
Until her eyes lifted.
And landed directly on Zane.
Again.
This time, there was no party noise between them.
No alcohol.
No shadows.
Just daylight and a campus full of people suddenly pretending not to watch.
Bianca was still talking beside her.
Mason was muttering something amused.
Nobody else mattered.
Zane watched her steadily.
Anastasia held the gaze for exactly three seconds.
Then—
she looked away first.
Not shy.
Dismissive.
And somehow that irritated him more than fear would’ve.
Mason laughed under his breath.
“Oh, this semester is about to be catastrophic.”
Anastasia kept walking.
But as she passed them, she heard it.
Zane’s voice.
Low.
Calm.
“Room 314?”
She stopped.
Very slightly.
Turned her head just enough to glance at him.
“How do you know where I live?”
One corner of his mouth lifted faintly.
“I know everything that enters my campus.”
Silence.
Then Anastasia smiled.
Small.
Dangerous.
“Then you should learn boundaries.”
And walked away.
For the first time all morning—
Zane looked genuinely interested.
Eli noticed immediately.
“That girl’s going to be trouble.”
Zane slid a hand into his pocket lazily.
“No,” he said quietly, still watching Anastasia disappear into the crowd.
“She already is.”
- Writer
