THE BOY I WAS SENT TO DESTROY

2.

Chapter 2: Mistake

Zane POV

She embarrassed me. In front of everyone. That was the only thought running through my head as I walked away from the corridor that morning. No one talked back to me like that. Not at Blackwell. Not anywhere. Yet Zara Collins had done it with a smile that looked too calm for someone who just painted a target on her own back.

I spent the rest of the morning letting the anger build. In history class I barely heard the teacher. My phone buzzed nonstop with clips from the hallway. People tagging me. Laughing at the way she shut me down. I forwarded a couple to Celeste with one line: Handle it.

By lunch the machine was running. Celeste knew how to spread things without getting her hands dirty. Rumors about why Zara transferred. Maybe she got kicked out of her old school. Maybe her family was broke and she was here on pity money. Someone mentioned her size in the group chat and the jokes took off from there.

I sat at our usual table with Marcus and a few others. Marcus raised an eyebrow when he saw me scrolling. "New girl already under your skin?"

"She's nothing," I said. But the words tasted off. I kept seeing the way she looked at me when she called me out. No fear. Just straight fire.

After lunch I made sure to pass her locker. She stood there reading something inside. I leaned against the opposite wall and waited until she noticed me.

"Find my welcome present?" I asked when she turned.

She ripped the note down without a flinch. "Real original. Your handwriting?"

I stepped closer. "Does it matter? Message is the same."

Her eyes met mine dead on. "You really spent your lunch break doing this? Must be nice to have that much free time."

The way she said it, like I was the one wasting energy, pissed me off more. "You embarrassed me in front of the whole school this morning. No one does that."

"I did not embarrass you. You did that yourself when you acted like an entitled prick."

I laughed once. It came out harsher than I meant. "You have no idea who I am, do you?"

"I know enough." She slung her bag over her shoulder. "Rich. Mean. Used to getting whatever you want. Did I miss anything?"

I moved before I thought about it. One step and we were close enough that I could see the faint flush on her cheeks. "You just made the biggest mistake of your life, new girl. Welcome to hell."

She did not back down. That was the part that stuck with me the rest of the day.

The afternoon turned into open season. Celeste worked fast. By last period someone had left food smeared on Zara's seat in English. She wiped it off with a napkin from her bag and sat down like nothing happened. The teacher did not even notice. Or pretended not to.

I watched from the back row. She took notes the whole class. Head down. Pen moving steady. When the bell rang she packed up without looking at anyone.

I caught up to her in the side hall near the exit. The place was mostly empty now. Just a few stragglers and the echo of lockers slamming far away.

She sensed me behind her and turned. "What now?"

I stopped a few feet away. "You think you're tough because you got a few laughs this morning?"

"I think I'm late for the bus," she said. "Move."

I did not. "People who cross me learn quick. You should start learning."

She adjusted her bag strap. "Is this the part where you threaten me again? Because I've heard it already."

Celeste rounded the corner then with two of her friends. She saw us and slowed, a smile curling her lips. "Zane. Still dealing with the scholarship project?"

Zara glanced at her but did not speak.

Celeste stepped closer. "Word is your mom works double shifts just to keep the lights on. Cute. Must be hard coming from nothing."

Zara's jaw tightened but she kept her voice even. "At least my mom works. Some people just live off what their dads steal."

The air went still. Celeste's smile dropped. One of her friends gasped.

I felt a twist in my gut that I did not like. Not because of what Zara said. Because for a second I almost wanted to laugh at how clean the hit was.

Celeste recovered fast. "Careful. You do not want to make enemies on day one."

"Too late for that," Zara said. She looked at me. "Right?"

I held her stare. Something about her refusal to shrink made the anger hotter and weirder at the same time. Most girls at Blackwell played games. They flirted or cried or tried to get close. Zara just stood there like she had already decided none of us mattered.

"Walk away, Collins," I said. "While you still can."

She gave a small shrug. "I have a bus to catch."

She started past me. I grabbed her arm. Not hard. Just enough to stop her. Her skin felt warm under my fingers.

"You do not get to talk to me like that and then leave," I said low.

Her eyes flicked to my hand then back to my face. "Let go."

Celeste watched with sharp interest. I let go but did not step back. "This is not over."

Zara rubbed her arm once where I had held it. "It never started. You just decided it did."

She walked off down the hall. Her steps stayed steady even though I knew people were still whispering behind her back.

Marcus appeared beside me a minute later. He had clearly been watching. "She's got balls. I'll give her that."

"Stay out of it," I told him.

He smirked. "Jealous already?"

I shoved his shoulder harder than necessary. "f**k off."

The rest of the day I made sure the pressure kept coming. A guy in my crew spilled soda near her locker so it pooled by her feet when she came back. Another left a printed picture from the morning video taped to her bag with the word "cow" sharpied across it. Small stuff. Enough to wear her down.

But when I saw her at the end of the day she still walked out the front doors with her head high. No tears. No running to the office. Just that same straight back.

It should have satisfied me. It did not.

That night at home Priya tried to talk to me over dinner. She was fourteen and too smart for her own good. She asked about school and I gave her short answers. Dad was not there. Some meeting that ran late. Again.

I went to my room and pulled up the clips from the corridor. Watched Zara's face when she hit me with that line about breathing through my mouth. The way the crowd laughed at me instead of with me.

I closed the video and tossed my phone on the bed.

She needed to learn her place. Fast.

The next morning I got to school early. I waited near the main entrance with a couple of guys. When Zara walked in I stepped into her path again. Same spot as yesterday. Like a reminder.

She stopped. Her uniform looked the same. Hair pulled back neat. Bag on one shoulder.

"Miss me?" I asked.

She sighed. "Not even a little."

The guys behind me chuckled. I kept my eyes on her. "Heard you had some trouble with your seat yesterday. Shame."

"Accidents happen," she said. "Especially when people are too busy being petty."

One of the guys laughed louder. I shot him a look and he shut up.

I moved closer. "You keep pushing and the accidents get worse."

She looked up at me. No flinch. "You keep talking and I start thinking you're all bark."

My blood heated. I opened my mouth to answer when the bell rang. Students poured in around us.

Zara stepped around me without another word. I watched her go. The sway of her hips in that skirt. The way she did not hurry.

Marcus clapped me on the back as he passed. "Careful, Hartwell. She might actually bite back."

I shrugged him off. "She will break."

But by the end of that second day the rumors had not stuck the way I wanted. Some people still whispered. Others started watching her with something closer to curiosity. She answered questions in class like she knew the material cold. When someone tried to trip her in the hall she caught herself and kept walking.

It frustrated the hell out of me.

After last period I found her at her locker again. The corridor had cleared faster today. She pulled out a notebook and did not look at me right away.

I leaned against the locker next to hers. "Still here?"

"Still breathing," she said. She closed the locker and faced me. "What do you want, Zane?"

Hearing my name from her mouth did something strange to my chest. I ignored it.

"I want you to understand how things work here," I said. "You do not talk back. You do not make scenes. And you sure as hell do not make me look stupid."

She tilted her head. "Then stop acting stupid."

The words hit clean. I stepped in until we were close again. Close enough to see the small flecks of gold in her eyes. Close enough to smell the plain soap she used.

"You think this is a game?" I asked.

She did not move away. "I think you're mad because someone finally said no to you."

My hand came up without thinking. I braced it on the locker beside her head. Not trapping her. Just close. "Keep saying no and see what happens."

Her breath brushed my wrist. She looked at me for a long second. Then her voice came out steady.

"You really spent your whole day planning how to mess with me? That is kind of sad."

Anger and something hotter mixed in my gut. I leaned in closer. "Sad is thinking you can walk into my school and change the rules."

She smiled then. Small. Sharp. "Watch me."

I opened my mouth to fire back when footsteps sounded at the end of the hall. A teacher probably. I pulled back.

Zara adjusted her bag and started to walk past me.

I caught her wrist. Lighter this time. "This is not over."

She looked down at my fingers then up at my face. "It never started. You just decided it did."

I let her go. She walked away without looking back.

I stood there alone in the emptying corridor. My pulse still raced. The frustration sat heavy in my chest.

She had no idea what she had walked into. No idea who my father was or what kind of power sat behind the Hartwell name.

I pulled out my phone and texted Celeste one word: More.

Then I stared at the spot where Zara had been.

She thought she could push me. She thought she could win.

I would show her exactly how wrong she was.

But as I headed out to my car the last thing I heard in my head was her voice saying my name.

And the way it sounded like a challenge I suddenly wanted to answer.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life, new girl," I muttered under my breath as I pushed through the doors. "And I'm going to enjoy every second of reminding you."