His unpredicted obsession with me

I have only one rule and I wrote it with a black marker on the back of my room door so I would see it every morning. NO BOYS. NO LOVE. NO DISTRACTION. NOT UNTIL AFTER GRADUATION. Bella said I was being dramatic. Bella says everything is dramatic. But Bella doesn't have a mother who calls every Sunday to ask if her scholarship is still safe. Bella doesn't have to count her cafe tips to buy textbooks. I don't have time to know boys. I have time to pass, to work, to survive Crestville. Crestville University looks like those schools in movies. Old stone walls covered in green ivy, floors so clean you can see your shoes in them, girls who smell like expensive perfume even at 8am. I always feel small here. My blazer is second-hand. My bag is faded. But my grades are not small, so I keep my head down. On Tuesday, I was doing my presentation. My hands were sweaty. Professor Davies likes me, but she stares a lot when you talk, like she can see inside your brain. I was halfway through my point about love in literature being selfish when the big door at the back opened. Cold air came in. Everyone turned. Not just turned — shifted. Girls sat up straight. Someone whispered "he's here" and suddenly the whole class smelled like excitement. I didn't look. I had three minutes left and my paper was shaking in my hand. "You're on my seat." The voice was right behind me. Low. Not loud, but everyone heard it because the room was too quiet. I turned. He was close. Too close. Tall enough that I had to tilt my head up. Dark hair, a little messy like he ran his hands through it. White shirt, top button open, blazer hanging off his shoulder like he didn't care. And his eyes — God, his eyes were not friendly. They were grey and bored and looking at me like I was something stuck to his shoe. I blinked. "Sorry?" "My seat. You're standing on it. Move." I looked down. I was literally standing beside the chair, not on it. "There are like ten empty seats," I said, frowning. "I'm presenting." A sound came from the back. Someone gasped. A girl actually whispered "oh my God." The guy in front of me didn't move. He just stared at me, and the bored look slowly turned into something else. Something sharp. "You don't know who I am, do you?" he asked. "Should I?" I said. I was getting annoyed now. My three minutes were going. He laughed once. No smile in it. "Cute. Okay. Do your presentation, then." He walked away and sat somewhere else. The whole class watched him like he was a king who had just been insulted. I finished fast and rushed out. My face was hot. Bella grabbed my arm in the hallway and pulled me into the bathroom. "Amilia! Are you mad? That was Jayden Cole!" "Who?" "Jayden! Cole! Junior, billionaire family, owns half the school, every girl wants him and he hates everyone! You just told him there are ten empty seats!" I washed my hands. "He was rude. I don't care who he is." "You don't care? Amilia, no girl has ever—" She stopped and stared at me. "Wait. You really don't know him?" "I work at the cafe after school, Bella. I don't follow campus kings." Bella looked at me like I had just grown wings. The next day I was in the library. The quiet one at the top floor where nobody goes because the AC is too cold. I like it there. I had my books spread, my cheap headphones on, my hair tied up messily. A shadow blocked my light. I didn't look up. People always need a charger in the library. The shadow didn't move. I pulled one headphone off. "Yes?" It was him. Seat guy. He was standing too close again, hands in his pockets, looking down at my table like he owned it. "You can stop now," he said. I really didn't understand. "Stop what?" "The act." I stared. "What act?" He leaned forward, both hands on my table now. His blazer brushed my book. He smelled like rain and expensive soap and something that made my heart beat too fast for no reason. "Ignoring me yesterday. Pretending you don't know me today. Sitting alone here so I'll come find you. It's smart. It's different. I'll give you that." My mouth opened. Then closed. He thought... he thought I was doing all this for him? "Are you serious?" I whispered. "How long do you want to play this?" "I was not playing! I don't know you! I told you yesterday there were empty seats because there WERE empty seats! I sit here because it's quiet, not because—" I stopped myself. My chest was rising fast. I was angry, but my voice was shaking, and I hated that. He was watching my face very closely. Too closely. Like he was trying to catch a lie. Then his eyes moved to my blazer. The frayed sleeve. My faded bag. My chapped lips because I forgot lip balm again. Something in his face changed. Just a little. The cold smirk faded. "You really don't know me," he said. Not a question this time. "No." Silence. The library clock ticked loudly. He straightened up slowly, but he didn't leave. He kept looking at me, and for the first time his eyes weren't bored. They were curious. And curiosity on a face like his looked dangerous. "Amilia, right?" he said, and my name in his mouth sounded wrong and right at the same time. "How do you know my name?" He didn't answer. He just smiled. A small, cold, possessive smile that made my stomach twist. "See you around, No-Love-Rule girl." He walked away. I sat there, heart pounding, headphones forgotten. He knew about my rule. How did he know about my rule? And why did it feel like I had just made the biggest mistake of my life by not knowing who he was? Because a boy who has every girl in school just found the one girl who didn't want him. And he was not going to let that go .........