Chapter 1
The New Girl
I wasn’t expecting anything interesting to happen that Monday morning.
School was the same routine same faces, same noise, same teachers who acted like caffeine was their only personality. I walked through the gate with my bag hanging off one shoulder, earbuds in, hands in pockets.
Calm, unbothered. That was me.
Until I saw her.
She stood near the administration block, clutching a file to her chest, looking around like she was checking every shadow. Black hair tied in a loose ponytail, brown eyes sharp but… scared. She had this small scar near her jawline, barely visible unless you stared.
I stared.
She looked like she didn’t want to be seen.
But somehow, she pulled everyone’s eyes.
“New girl,” Kweku whispered beside me. “She pretty, huh?”
I shrugged. “She looks… stressed.”
“Bro, only you can look at a fine girl and see stress.”
Maybe he was right, but something in her eyes wasn’t normal. Students passed her, laughing, talking, bumping into each other, but she stood still alert. Like she was waiting for something to happen.
Or someone.
I walked into the classroom and took my usual seat at the back. The nonchalant corner. Ama slid into the seat next to mine, her braids bouncing lightly.
“You’re late,” she said.
“You care too much.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Did you see the new girl?”
“Yeah.”
“She looks mysterious,” Ama whispered dramatically.
“She looks like trouble.”
Ama paused, studying my face. “You sound… interested.”
I didn’t reply. We both knew I wasn’t the type to crush on girls I didn’t know. Or girls at all, according to Ama’s jokes.
Before she could push further, the door opened. The whole class turned.
It was her.
The girl with the scar.
She stepped in slowly, like she was entering enemy territory. The room got quiet too quiet. Even the class clown stopped mid-sentence.
“Class,” the teacher said, “this is Aria Thompson. She just transferred here. Make her feel welcome.”
Aria’s eyes scanned the room. Not with curiosity. More like checking exits.
When her gaze brushed over me, her body stiffened like she recognized me.
Impossible. I’d never seen her before today.
The teacher pointed at the empty seat two rows in front of me. “You can sit there.”
Aria walked down the aisle, gripping her bag like she was protecting something inside it. Every step seemed calculated. Careful.
She sat down and kept her eyes low, but her shoulders were tense.
Too tense for a normal first day.
Halfway through the lesson, she suddenly turned and looked back straight at me.
Not at Ama.
Not at the window.
At me.
Our eyes locked.
Her expression said one thing.
Help me.
Then she snapped her head forward as if someone had shouted her name.
I leaned back in my chair, heartbeat steady but mind racing.
Who was she?
Why did she look so scared?
And why did it feel like she brought something dangerous with her?
After class, while everyone rushed out, Aria stayed in her seat, pretending to pack slowly. But I noticed her glance at the window.
There was a car parked outside.
Windows tinted.
Engine running.
Facing our block.
Something wasn’t right.
Ama tugged my sleeve. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Wait.”
“Jayden… what are you looking at?”
I didn’t answer.
Aria stood up, slung her bag over her shoulder, and walked out of the classroom.
Not hurried.
Not relaxed.
Just… calculated. Like someone trying not to be noticed.
I followed her with my eyes until she disappeared down the hallway.
Ama sighed. “Don’t tell me you’re curious about her.”
“I’m not.”
But even I didn’t believe that.
Because the truth was simple.
The moment she walked into my life…
I felt it.
By break time, the whole school was buzzing with rumours.
“She’s too quiet.”
“She keeps checking behind her.”
“I heard she moved here because of family issues.”
“No, I heard she got expelled from her old school.”
Students made up stories faster than teachers gave homework.
But none of them saw what I saw.
She wasn’t shy.
She wasn’t lost.
She was watching everything.
And someone was watching her.
Ama and I sat under the big mango tree behind the science block our usual spot. She chewed her drink straw aggressively, probably annoyed I kept glancing around.
“You’re distracted,” she said.
“No, I’m not.”
She gave me that look the one that said Don’t lie to me, Jayden. She’d known me since JHS. She could read me easier than textbooks.
“You’ve been acting strange since the new girl came,” Ama added.
I bit into my meat pie. “Maybe I’m just hungry.”
“You’re impossible.”
Before I could reply, I spotted Aria coming around the corner, walking quickly toward the library. Even from here, I could see she wasn’t breathing normally. Her hand kept brushing her bag strap like she was checking something inside.
“That’s the third time she’s changed direction,” I muttered.
Ama frowned. “Are you… tracking her?”
“No.”
“…Jayden.”
I sighed. “Look at her.”
Ama turned and the moment she saw Aria, her expression softened from irritation to confusion.
“Why does she walk like that?” Ama whispered.
“She’s scared,” I said.
“Scared of what?”
Before I could answer, a black motorbike pulled into the school compound. Not normal. No parent used a motorbike that expensive to drop their child. The helmeted rider wasn’t a student either. He parked near the fence facing the hallway Aria just entered.
“Who’s that?” Ama asked.
“No idea.”
The rider didn’t move. Didn’t take off his helmet. Didn’t look around.
He sat still.
Watching.
Or waiting.
A cold feeling crept up my spine slow and heavy. The kind of instinct you can’t explain.
Ama touched my hand. “Jayden? You look worried.”
“I’m fine,” I said, but my eyes never left the rider.
Then Aria stepped out of the hallway, walking toward the library.
The rider straightened immediately.
Not casually.
Not like he recognized her.
But like he’d been searching for her all day.
I stood up.
“Where are you going?” Ama asked.
“Just… taking a walk.”
“Jayden, don’t do something stupid.”
I didn’t answer.
I casually made my way toward the library area, pretending to be on my phone. The rider didn’t notice me at first, his helmet was focused on Aria.
She hadn’t seen him yet.
When she reached the library steps, she stopped abruptly like she felt someone behind her. She turned slightly, eyes scanning the compound.
The rider leaned forward.
I moved faster.
Just as Aria turned fully and her eyes landed on the motorbike, the rider lifted something from his pocket I couldn’t see what it was, but her reaction told me everything.
She froze.
Her breath hitched.
Fear flooded her face.
I stepped between them instantly.
Not because I was brave.
Not because I knew what I was doing.
But because she looked like she needed someone anyone to stand in front of her for once.
The rider paused.
Aria’s eyes met mine. Wide. Panicked. Familiar in a way I didn’t understand.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
The rider revved his engine sharply loud enough to make a few students turn. Then he sped off, tearing through the gate and disappearing down the road.
Aria’s knees almost gave way.
I held her arm gently. “You’re shaking.”
She pulled back instantly, hugging her bag like a shield. “D–don’t,” she whispered. Her voice was soft, but strained.
“I was just trying to help.”
“I didn’t ask for help.”
I raised a brow. “You also didn’t ask for someone to stalk you in broad daylight.”
Her lips trembled barely noticeable, but I saw it.
She looked up at me, studying my face like she was trying to decide if I was safe or dangerous.
“Why did you follow me?” she asked.
“I didn’t. You just… looked like you needed someone to stand in the way.”
Her eyes flickered.
“Don’t do that again,” she said quietly.
“Do what?”
“Get involved.”
I folded my arms. “Too late.”
She shook her head, frustrated but beneath it all, terrified.
“You don’t understand,” she whispered. “Being near me is dangerous.”
“I’m beginning to see that.”
She looked away, swallowing hard.
“Jayden,” she said softly, surprising me. “Stay away from me.”
I blinked. “You know my name?”
She froze.
Her eyes widened slightly like she’d said something she wasn’t supposed to.
Before I could ask how she knew who I was, she quickly walked away, almost running as she disappeared around the library corner.
I stood there, staring at the empty space she left behind.
She knew me.
But I didn’t know her.
And for the first time that day, one thought refused to leave my mind:
What kind of trouble did this girl bring with her…
and why did it feel like it had something to do with me?
