CHAPTER TEN: DENIED QUEEN
2282 Words
⸻
The gates of Elite’s Academy swung open like they always did—slow, dramatic, intentional.
Morning light spilled across polished floors, luxury cars lining the curb like a fashion parade.
Students poured in.
Laughter. Gossip. Phones already raised.
Three girls stepped through the gates together—heels clicking softly, confidence loud.
Aria De La Vega in the middle.
Designer bag resting on her shoulder. Sunglasses still on, even indoors.
Sienna to her left. Lila to her right.
Heads turned immediately.
Whispers followed.
“That’s her.”
“The Queen of Elites.”
“She came late yesterday again.”
Aria didn’t care.
She never did.
She lifted her sunglasses just enough to scan the school—and then her eyes paused.
Across the courtyard.
Kayden.
Back against the wall near the science block. staring at her. Expression so readable.
Like the world existed… around her.
Aria’s lips curved into a slow smile.
⸻
News travels fast at Elite’s
Too fast.
Damian walked past a group of students and caught his name floating through the air.
“…heard Aria went to Thiago’s place.”
“Like, his house-house.”
“No way. He doesn’t even talk to girls.”
Damian froze.
His chest tightened.
He spotted Thiago down the hall—and for a second, their eyes met.
Nothing changed on Thiago’s face.
But that silence?
It was louder than words.
Damian swallowed and kept walking.
From the balcony above, Kayden Blackwood leaned against the rail, jaw clenched.
First period felt heavier than usual.
The teacher spoke. No one listened.
Aria sat two rows behind Thiago, chin resting on her hand, eyes fixed on him like a challenge.
Thiago didn’t turn.
Didn’t react.
Didn’t acknowledge her presence at all.
That annoyed her more than rejection ever could.
She leaned forward, voice low.
“You didn’t even text.”
Thiago finally glanced back—slow, calm, cold.
“I said it was for the project.”
Aria smiled, unfazed.
“And I said I don’t do ‘temporary.’”
He turned away again.
That was it.
That was all.
But the tension crackled through the room like electricity.
Sienna watched, uneasy.
“This is getting serious.”
Lila whispered,
“Or dangerous.”
From the doorway, Kayden saw everything.
The look.
The closeness.
The silence between them that felt too personal.
Kayden stepped back, rage simmering.
“I’m gonna get my girl”
Luca quickly snapped back.”dude you can’t get her by all this bluffing you’re making”.
“Yeah dude take action “Sam added.
“ don’t you trust me anymore wait and see”Kayden said.
Sam exhaled slowly.
The science lab at Elite Academy buzzed with quiet superiority.
White coats. Stainless tables. Soft murmurs of students who had grown up knowing the world would always make space for them.
Aria walked in first — flawless, composed, untouchable — with Sienna and Lila flanking her like instinct. Heads turned without permission. They always did.
Then she saw him.
Thiago.
Not walking with anyone. Not looking for anyone. Hands in his pockets, expression blank, steps unhurried — as if the world adjusted itself around him and not the other way around.
Aria’s lips curved slightly.
She changed direction.
“Thiago,” she said smoothly, catching up to him. “The lab is this way. Sit with us.”
She didn’t expect to be turned down by him. She didn’t plead.
She expected.
He didn’t stop walking.
Sienna stepped forward, irritation sharpening her voice.
“He’s new. He probably doesn’t know anywhere—”
Thiago stopped.
Slowly, he turned his head just enough to look at them — not annoyed, not angry — just empty.
“Let me be clear,” he said, voice low and flat.
“We’re not friends. And we won’t be.”
A pause.
Eyes followed him as he walked past them to an empty table at the far end of the lab and sat down alone.
The silence hit harder than noise.
Whispers sparked instantly.
Aria stood still.
For the first time, something unfamiliar flickered across her face — not embarrassment, not sadness — confusion.
She turned back toward Sienna and Lila, spine straight, expression unreadable.
That was when she heard it.
Vivian’s voice. Too loud. Too smug.
“So she really thought she could have everyone,” Vivian laughed to her friends.
“I heard he doesn’t even talk to girls.”
“Yeah, and he has a hot name his name is Thiago,” another girl added. “That name is so hot and dangerous.”
Aria stopped walking.
Slowly, she turned.
Vivian barely had time to react.
Aria crossed the distance in seconds, grabbed Vivian by the hair, and slammed her head down against the lab table — not violently, but deliberately.
Gasps exploded across the room.
“Repeat what you said,” Aria said softly.
Vivian whimpered. “Miss Aria, I—I didn’t say anything—”
Aria tightened her grip.
“I don’t like being lied to.”
Vivian groaned, hands shaking against the table.
Before it could go further—
“Miss Aria Alejandro.”
The lab coordinator’s voice cut through the chaos.
“Detention. Now.”
Aria straightened slowly, releasing Vivian like she was nothing.
“For what?” she asked coolly.
“You violated school rules again!!.”
Aria smiled — sharp, dangerous.
“Do you know who my father is?”
“I don’t care,” the coordinator replied evenly.
“In this lab, you’re a student.”
Whispers rippled again. Shock. Awe. Fear.
“Detention?” she scoffs. “For a minor incident?”
“A minor fight?” the coordinator repeats sharply. “You broke multiple school rules—”
Before he can finish—
“Actually,” a calm voice cuts in, “she’s right.”
Everyone turns.
Kayden Blackwood.
Perfect uniform. Relaxed posture. Authority without effort.
He steps forward, placing himself subtly beside Aria—not touching her, but clearly aligned.
“With all due respect,” Kayden continues, “Elite Academy policies don’t authorize detention over a brief confrontation unless there’s physical harm.”
The coordinator’s jaw tightens.
“You call that brief?”
Kayden doesn’t flinch.
“I call it manageable.”
Aria smirks and pulls out her phone.
“Should I call my father?” she asks sweetly. “Since he funds nearly half the school’s research programs?”
The lab goes silent.
The coordinator exhales slowly.”fine whatever, everyone get back to work”.
⸻
The lab settles, but the air doesn’t.
Glass beakers clink softly. Burners hiss to life. The sharp scent of ethanol and reagents replaces the tension, but it doesn’t erase it. If anything, it sharpens it.
Students return to their stations in pairs, murmuring under their breaths.
Aria stands rigid beside her table, jaw tight, eyes burning — not with guilt, but humiliation.
Sienna leans closer.
“Aria… just breathe.”
Lila adds softly, “Ignore them. You won.”
Aria doesn’t answer. Her fingers curl slowly around a glass rod.
Across the room, Thiago sits alone.
Unbothered.
Lab coat on. Sleeves rolled. Gloves snapped into place with precise calm. A notebook lies open, neat handwriting already mapping out the experiment. No rush. No emotion.
As if nothing happened.
The lab coordinator claps once.
“Begin the titration. Follow the instructions on the board. One mistake and you start again.”
Bunsen flames flicker blue.
Liquids pour.
Drop.
Drop.
Drop.
Aria glances up.
Thiago doesn’t look at her.
Not once.
He measures hydrochloric acid with exact control, eyes half-lidded, face unreadable. His world has narrowed to volumes and reactions — not chaos, not drama.
A girl whispers nearby,
“He didn’t even react…”
Another murmurs,
“That boy is ice.”
Thiago stood alone at the far end of the lab, sleeves rolled just enough to reveal toned forearms, eyes fixed on the apparatus in front of him. No rush. No distraction. Just focus.
A girl slid into the empty stool beside him.
She was soft-spoken. Pretty in a quiet way.
Her name tag read Maya.
“Um… do you mind if I sit here?” she asked gently, already arranging her notebook.
Thiago didn’t look at her.
Didn’t nod.
Didn’t refuse.
He simply continued measuring the solution, voice low and flat.
“Don’t touch anything unless I tell you.”
Maya smiled anyway.
“Okay.”
Across the room—
Aria froze.
Her eyes narrowed as she saw it.
A girl.
Next to Thiago.
Too close.
Maya leaned slightly toward him, peering into the beaker.
“I think the solution needs to be heated slowly… if you increase it too fast, it destabilizes.”
Thiago adjusted the burner by a fraction.
“You’re right.”
That was it.
Two words.
But to Aria, it felt like a slap.
Her jaw tightened.
Sienna noticed immediately.
“…Aria.”
Lila followed her gaze and went silent.
Maya handed Thiago a stirrer, fingers brushing his briefly—accidentally.
“Oh—sorry.”
Thiago pulled his hand back without reaction, eyes still on the experiment.
“Focus.”
Maya nodded, unfazed, clearly trying again—leaning closer, asking questions, pretending not to notice his distance.
Aria’s fingers curled into fists.
She believed she owned the space around him.
His attention.
His silence.
And now someone else was standing there like she belonged.
The burner flared softly.
The liquid changed color—perfect.
Thiago noted it, calm, controlled.
“Record that.”
Maya hurried to write, smiling to herself.
Aria’s chest burned.
Not jealousy—
possession.
She took one sharp step forward—
The lab coordinator’s voice cut through the room.
“Everyone focus on your work.”
She forces herself to focus, lifting a pipette — her hand shakes just slightly.
Sienna notices.
“Aria—”
Too late.
A drop spills.
The solution turns the wrong shade.
The coordinator’s voice cuts through the room.
“Careful, Miss Alejandro. Chemistry isn’t about force.”
A few students snicker.
Aria clenches her teeth.
Across the lab, Thiago’s solution shifts perfectly — pale pink to clear.
Successful.
He turns the flame off, calm, detached.
Only then does his gaze lift — briefly — not toward Aria’s face, but to the mess on her table.
No judgment.
No interest.
Just a glance.
Then nothing.
He writes RESULT: STABLE and closes his notebook.
Aria notices.
And somehow, that hurts more than the detention threat.
Because he didn’t care.
Not about her status.
Not about the fight.
Not about the room watching.
Nothing.
The bell rings sharply.
Chairs scrape back.
Students poured out, voices loud and excited. Aria dismissed Sienna and Lila with a sharp wave.
“I’ll catch up.”
Lila hesitated. “Aria—”
“I said go.”
They exchanged a look but walked off.
Aria didn’t take her eyes off Thiago’s back as he moved down the hallway, hands in pockets, headphones loose around his neck, completely unaware—or uninterested.
She followed.
Her heels clicked faster.
“Thiago.”
He didn’t stop.
She stepped in front of him.
“Thiago.”
He finally halted, eyes lifting slowly, expression unreadable.
“What.”
Her voice lowers, controlled.
“You really think you can treat people like they don’t exist?”
He didn’t respond,
Aria didn’t take her eyes off Thiago’s back as he moved down the hallway, hands in pockets, headphones loose around his neck, completely unaware—or uninterested.
She followed.
Her heels clicked faster.
“Thiago.”
He didn’t stop.
She stepped in front of him.
“Thiago.”
He finally halted, eyes lifting slowly, expression unreadable.
“What.”
The single word hit like ice.
Her chest rose. “Who was that girl in the lab.”
Her voice sharpened. “You shouldn’t let girls like that get close to you.”
A pause.
Then a faint scoff escaped him—not loud, not dramatic. Just enough.
“And who,” he asked calmly, “are you to tell me what I should do?”
Aria stepped closer. Too close.
“Because I have eyes for you,” she said, low and intense. “And what’s mine is mine.”
Silence.
Thiago stared at her for a moment—really stared this time—like he was assessing something broken.
Then he laughed. Once.
Cold.
“You’re confused.”
He moved to walk past her.
She grabbed his arm.
Firm. Possessive.
His muscles beneath her fingers were solid.
“Are you trying to dismiss me?” she snapped. “How dare you—”
In one smooth motion, Thiago removed her hand.
Not roughly.
Not gently.
Final.
“You do not own me,” he said coldly. “Psycho.”
He stepped around her and walked away.
Didn’t look back.
⸻
Aria stood frozen.
Her breathing came fast and uneven.
“Arrgh!”
She slammed her palm against the lab desk, the sound sharp enough to turn heads.
A few students whispered as they passed.
Sienna and Lila rushed back in.
“Aria!” Sienna grabbed her shoulders. “What happened?”
“He just keeps embarrassing me !!” Aria hissed. “He thinks he can treat me like I’m nothing.”
Lila swallowed. “You can’t control him he’s too tuff.”
Aria’s eyes burned, glossy with fury.
“I don’t lose,” she said quietly. “And I don’t get rejected.”
Her gaze drifted toward the hallway where Thiago disappeared.
“This isn’t over, I’m too elegant to be rejected.”
Sienna and Lila exchanged another look.
This wasn’t a crush anymore.
It was obsession.
- Writer
