Chapter 1
"They say she's crazy."
"I heard she got expelled from her old school."
"No way. I heard she beat up three seniors in one afternoon."
The rumors moved through Class 3-A of Starlight Academy like smoke before a fire, fast, low, and impossible to ignore.
Desks hummed with whispers. Phones buzzed under lacquered tabletops. Every few seconds, another head turned toward the closed classroom door.
Starlight was not the kind of place that got transfer students. It was the kind of place people transferred out of to go to boarding schools in Switzerland. Politicians' sons, idols' daughters, old-money heirs who had buildings named after their grandfathers. Everything here was quiet, polished, expensive.
A mid-semester transfer was already a scandal. A violent one was entertainment.
The door slid open at exactly 8:30.
The room went silent.
The girl in the doorway did not look like she belonged in a Starlight Academy brochure.
She looked, at first glance, like a boy. Short black hair cut choppy around her jaw. An oversized black hoodie swallowed her frame, sleeves pushed up to her elbows. Loose cargo pants, beat-up white sneakers, hands shoved deep in her pockets. No blazer. No skirt. No jewelry catching the light.
Her expression was pure, unfiltered annoyance.
She did not smile.
Ms. Ito, their homeroom teacher, cleared her throat and tried for a welcoming tone that cracked halfway through.
"Everyone, this is Raven Hayes. She'll be joining us for the rest of the year."
A beat of confused silence.
"Wait, that's a girl?"
"She's kind of handsome though."
"Is she really a transfer?"
Raven ignored all of it. Her dark eyes did a slow sweep of the room. Sunlight pouring through tall windows. Mahogany desks. Uniforms that had clearly been tailored. Watches that cost more than rent. The air smelled faintly of expensive perfume.
Rich kids.
Exactly her least favorite type of people.
Ms. Ito forced another smile. "Raven, would you like to introduce yourself?"
"No."
Ms. Ito blinked. "I'm sorry?"
Raven sighed, like the entire interaction was already exhausting her. "Fine."
She looked out at the class, bored.
"My name is Raven Hayes. I hate noisy people. I hate arrogant people. And if anyone touches my stuff, I'll break your hand."
Silence dropped like a stone.
A boy in the front row actually gulped.
Ms. Ito let out a nervous laugh. "Ha ha, she's joking, everyone."
Raven stared at her. Flat. Unblinking.
Ms. Ito's laugh died a slow, painful death.
Oh. She wasn't joking.
"Right. Well. Your seat is by the window, in the back. Please."
Raven walked down the aisle without another word, sneakers squeaking softly on the polished floor, and slid into the empty desk. She rested her chin on her hand and turned her face toward the glass.
Finally. Quiet.
It lasted about forty seconds.
"She's scary."
"Why is she dressed like that?"
"Do you think she has a boyfriend?"
"She totally looks like she fights people for fun."
Raven rolled her eyes at the window. Idiots.
Then the classroom door slammed open with a bang that rattled the frame.
The reaction was instant.
"KIERAN!"
"He's actually here today!"
"Oh my god, look!"
Girls were out of their seats before the echo faded, rushing the doorway with a shriek that made Raven wince.
She frowned. What now?
Three boys walked in, completely unbothered by the stampede.
The one on the left had messy silver hair and a grin that said he knew exactly what kind of chaos he caused. The one on the right had ash-brown hair, calm blue eyes, and the look of someone permanently assigned to damage control.
And the one in the middle.
Annoyingly handsome. That was the only accurate way to describe him. Black hair, sharp jaw, tall enough that the uniform blazer hung perfectly off his shoulders. His tie was loose, his shirt half untucked, like he couldn't be bothered to follow rules he was too pretty to need.
Girls crowded around him holding bento boxes and iced coffees.
"Kieran, I made you breakfast!"
"Kieran, please answer my texts!"
"Kieran, just one date, please!"
He barely looked at them. "Not interested. Move."
They squealed anyway, like rejection was a love language.
Raven felt her breakfast threaten to come back up. Disgusting.
The silver-haired boy laughed. "Cold as ever. You're going to make them cry again, Vale."
"Shut up, Zayn."
The calm one sighed. "You could at least pretend to be nice."
Kieran shrugged, hands in his pockets. "I never asked them to like me."
Then his eyes drifted past the crowd, toward the back window.
A new face. And the only one in the room not looking at him like he was some kind of prize.
Instead, she looked annoyed that he was blocking her sunlight.
Kieran raised an eyebrow.
Interesting.
He walked straight toward her, the crowd parting without him asking. The classroom went dead quiet again. Pens stopped clicking. Everyone watched.
The new girl versus Kieran Vale. This was going to be good.
He stopped beside her desk. Raven didn't look up.
"You the transfer student?" he asked.
"No," she said to the window.
Kieran blinked. "No?"
"I'm the janitor. Obviously."
A snort burst out from somewhere in the middle row. Then the whole class cracked up.
Kieran stared. Was she mocking him?
Raven finally lifted her eyes. Dark, unimpressed, completely indifferent. Like he was just another fly buzzing too close.
Nobody looked at Kieran Vale like that.
A slow smile spread across his face. "I like your attitude."
"I don't like yours."
A collective gasp rippled through the room.
Zayn choked on his own laugh. Lucien, the calm one, looked away quickly, his shoulders shaking.
Kieran crossed his arms, leaning against her desk. "You know who I am, right?"
"Should I?"
"I'm Kieran Vale."
Raven stared at him blankly. "Congratulations."
Silence.
The girls in the front row looked like they were about to have a collective stroke. Was she suicidal?
Kieran leaned in a little closer. "You've got guts."
"You've got an ego problem," Raven said, leaning back.
Zayn howled. "Holy crap!"
Lucien covered his mouth with his hand, but his eyes were crinkled.
Kieran shot them both a glare. Traitors.
He turned back to Raven. "Most girls would kill to sit next to me."
"Most girls need better taste."
His eye twitched. "You look like the type who judges people without knowing them."
"You look like the type who spends two hours on his hair every morning."
"I don't."
"You definitely do."
"I don't."
"You absolutely do."
The class exploded. Someone actually fell out of their chair laughing.
Kieran was losing. Publicly. To a girl in a hoodie who hadn't even taken her hands out of her pockets.
He narrowed his eyes. "You're annoying."
"And you're spoiled."
"You don't know me."
Raven ticked off on her fingers, bored. "Rich. Arrogant. Playboy. Probably failing math."
The class gasped again.
"I'm not failing math," Kieran said, offended.
"Still annoying."
He stared at her for a long second. Then his expression shifted. Not angry. Calculating.
Lucien noticed it immediately. A tightness settled in his chest.
He'd known Kieran since they were seven. He knew every version of that smile. This one meant Kieran had found a new game, and he intended to win it.
Lucien didn't like that. Not one bit. Especially not when it was aimed at her.
Raven caught him staring. She frowned. "What are you looking at?"
Lucien blinked, then offered a small, gentle smile. "Nothing. Sorry."
Weird guy, Raven thought, and looked away.
Kieran suddenly dragged the empty chair from the next desk over, flipped it around, and sat straddling it, arms draped over the back. Way too close.
Raven groaned. "What now?"
"I'm bored," he said.
"That's your problem."
"I've decided something."
"I don't care."
He grinned, sharp and confident. "I'm going to make you fall for me. And then I'll walk away."
The classroom detonated.
Girls screamed. Phones came out. "WHAT?!" "No way!" "Kieran, you can't!"
Raven stared at him like he'd just announced he could talk to pigeons.
Then she laughed. A short, dry laugh.
"You?"
She pointed at him.
"I'd rather date a cockroach."
Zayn dropped his phone. Lucien coughed so hard he had to brace himself on a desk.
Kieran froze. "A cockroach?"
"Yes," Raven said. "They have more personality. And they're harder to kill, which is a plus, considering your ego."
The classroom erupted. Students were crying with laughter, banging their desks. Even Lucien gave up pretending and laughed out loud.
Kieran Vale, the uncrowned king of Starlight Academy, the boy every girl in a three-mile radius worshipped, had just been compared to an insect.
His face darkened. Then, infuriatingly, he smiled again.
Raven was already done. She turned back to the window, conversation over.
Kieran stared at her stubborn profile, at the way the morning light caught the edge of her messy hair. His pride was stinging. He hated losing. He hated being ignored even more.
Fine, Raven Hayes.
Let's see who breaks first.
Raven kept her eyes on the courtyard trees outside, pretending she couldn't feel three sets of eyes burning into the back of her head. Her first day, and she already hated this place.
It was going to be a very long semester.
