Beneath the Same Sky

Chapter 2

Ava didn’t bother looking back as she stormed out of the Blackwell mansion, but the heat in her cheeks refused to cool. Ethan Blackwell was officially the most insufferable person she’d ever met—and she’d worked the Saturday shift at her mom’s café during tourist season.

“What a waste of caffeine,” she muttered under her breath, shoving open the oversized double doors that led outside.

The security guard she’d passed earlier raised an eyebrow at her retreating figure, but she didn’t stop. She needed to get away from the suffocating air of wealth and arrogance that seemed to radiate off the Blackwell estate like a toxic fog.

By the time she reached her beat-up bike chained to a lamppost near the gated entrance, Ava’s temper had simmered down enough to let exhaustion settle in. Deliveries like this were the worst—long rides, ridiculous detours through private security, and all for a tip that barely covered her gas station coffee addiction.

But this job wasn’t about convenience. It was about survival. And while Ethan Blackwell could afford to treat people like props in his little kingdom, Ava didn’t have that luxury.

With a frustrated sigh, she yanked the bike free and swung a leg over.

“Don’t look back. Don’t look back,” she told herself as she pedaled past the imposing gates.

But she looked anyway.

Through the glint of the mansion’s spotless windows, she spotted him standing near the conference room table, running a hand through his tousled hair. For a split second, he seemed less like the arrogant heir to a tech empire and more like…a guy trying to keep it together.

Not that it mattered.

***

The next morning at school, Ava was already bracing herself for another long day of pretending she wasn’t worried about her mom’s café drowning under debt. She ducked her head as she made her way through the crowded hallways, ignoring the chatter and the occasional shout of someone’s name across the corridor.

“Ava!”

She froze, her best friend Jules bounding up beside her with her usual hurricane of energy. Jules was everything Ava wasn’t—loud, colorful, and completely immune to embarrassment. Today, she wore a shirt that looked like it had been made from repurposed tie-dye explosions, and her hair was piled into a messy bun that somehow worked.

“Okay, so I’ve been dying to tell you—” Jules started, then stopped short. Her eyes narrowed as she studied Ava’s face. “What happened? You look…murderous. Did someone spill coffee on you, or did you spill it on them?”

Ava’s stomach dropped. How did she know?

“Neither,” Ava lied quickly. “Why would you even ask that?”

Jules grinned. “You get that look when someone’s pissed you off. Like you’re about to plot their slow and painful demise.”

“Right. Well, no plotting today. Just school.” Ava tried to change the subject, but Jules wasn’t letting it go.

“Uh-huh. You sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Jules waggled her eyebrows.

Ava sighed. “Fine. I had a run-in with the world’s most obnoxious rich boy. It was…unpleasant.”

Jules gasped dramatically. “Rich boy drama? Did he proposition you? Oh my God, was it Ethan Blackwell? Please tell me it was Ethan Blackwell. I’ve been stalking his family’s scandals for years. That guy is a train wreck.”

Ava stopped in her tracks. “Wait, how do you know who Ethan Blackwell is?”

Jules blinked at her. “Are you serious? He’s been on the news, like, a million times. Parties. Fights. That scandal in New York last year where—oh, my God.” She grabbed Ava’s arm, her eyes widening. “It was him, wasn’t it?”

Ava groaned. “Don’t make it a thing, Jules. He’s just some spoiled guy with an ego bigger than this school. End of story.”

“Sure, sure. Totally the end of the story.” Jules’s grin said otherwise.

***

By lunchtime, Ava was finally starting to feel normal again—or at least as normal as she could while nibbling on a peanut butter sandwich and going over her latest sketches. She’d been working on a new concept for the mural she’d volunteered to paint in the community center, and it was the one thing keeping her grounded lately.

“Nice shading,” someone said from over her shoulder.

Ava jumped, her pencil streaking across the page. She turned, ready to snap, but the words caught in her throat when she saw who it was.

Ethan Blackwell stood in the middle of the cafeteria, looking completely out of place and yet somehow entirely at ease. His black leather jacket and smug expression drew more attention than the cafeteria food fight last month, and the room fell into an almost comical silence as everyone stared.

“What are you doing here?” Ava hissed, clutching her sketchbook like a shield.

“Didn’t you hear?” Ethan smirked, leaning just a little too close for comfort. “I’m the newest addition to your charming little school. Temporary, of course. My dad thought it’d be a good PR move after that…incident.”

Ava’s jaw dropped. “You’re joking.”

“Nope.” Ethan stepped back, hands in his pockets. “Looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other, Ava.”

And just like that, her world tilted.