CHAPTER 01
The first day of school had arrived, and it was the last place on earth Felix Winchester wanted to be.๏ปฟ
Senior year.
The year everyone talked about like it was some kind of victory lap. The year he was supposed to stand at the top of the social ladder at Winchester Royal Academy, the most prestigious private high school in the entire country. The school that carried his last name. The school owned by his family.
He should have felt powerful.
Untouchable.
Instead, he felt trapped. Tired. Completely over it.
Winchester Royal Academy had been his world for three long years already. Three years of polished hallways, stiff uniforms, forced smiles, and the constant weight of expectations pressing down on his shoulders. The stone buildings loomed around him like a prison dressed up as luxury. Ivy curled perfectly along the walls, the fountain in the courtyard sparkled in the morning sun, and students laughed like they actually wanted to be here.
But Felix didn't.
Every Winchester was forced to attend this God-forsaken school. It was a tradition. And in his family, tradition wasn't a suggestion. It was law.
He wished he could tell tradition to fuck right off. But here he was still stuck in high school.
It felt like he had been here forever. The same uniforms. The same elite snobs. The same teachers who looked at him like he was already some future CEO in the making.
How was he supposed to survive one more year?
His jaw tightened as he adjusted the strap of his bag over his shoulder. Students subtly parted as he walked past. They always did. The Winchester name did that. It created space. It demanded respect. It suffocated him.
His younger sister, Lydia, attended Winchester Royal Academy too. A sophomore. A walking headache.
Lydia Winchester was many things but obedient wasn't one of them. She had a habit of acting out, pushing boundaries, challenging rules just to see what would happen. Felix couldn't even blame her. If he was being honest, she was probably just as bored as he was.
But her sometimes erratic behavior meant one thing that she was unreliable and he couldn't count on her which also meant he couldn't count on anyone.
And as the responsible eldest son of Elijah and Lauren Winchester, the pressure landed squarely on his shoulders. His parents never let him forget it.
"You have an image to maintain, Felix."
That was his mother's favorite line.
His father preferred silence. The disappointed kind. The kind that said everything without needing words.
Goddamn if that wasn't stressful.
The Winchesters before him hadn't just attended this school. They had ruled it. His cousins had walked these halls like kings. They had reigned over their peers like dictators in tailored blazers, sometimes even bending faculty and administration to their will.
They didn't just survive Winchester Academy. They literally owned it.
And some of them fell in love in this very school.
Felix physically grimaced at the thought of love because it was the last thing he wanted and needed. He was too young to settle down. Too young to fall into something messy and emotional and permanent.
It sounded like a nightmare.
Felix had tried to graduate early. He had more than enough credits and could have easily tested out of Winchester Academy if they had let him. He wanted a gap year, a year to breathe, to get away, to travel across Europe with nothing but a backpack and no one watching his every move. But his parents shut the idea down immediately.
They didn't care that he was bored or that the classes no longer stimulated him. They could give fuck all about his genius IQ or the fact that he could probably pass every final exam today without studying. Instead, they claimed he was too irresponsible to travel all over Europe alone for a year. Too irresponsible. The word was a direct insult, proving his parents had zero faith in him.
And maybe he had handed them a reason.
Not even a week ago, he threw a massive party to celebrate his eighteenth birthday. While his parents were vacationing in the Bahamas, their Hamptons estate had turned into ground zero for chaos. All of his friends showed up. And plenty of people he didn't even know.
Cars lined the driveway, music blasted through the house, and bodies packed the backyard, spilling out of the mansion and into the lawn. The pool was full, the bar was raided, and every room seemed to pulse with noise and reckless energy. They had absolutely fucked that place up. And for most of the night, it had been great.
Until it wasn't.
Somewhere between too many drinks and too much pride, he had gotten into a raging argument with his girlfriend, Hailey. It started small and then it exploded.
Voices raised. Accusations thrown. Old insecurities dragged into the spotlight in front of half the school. Felix had never been good at backing down, and Hailey had never been good at staying quiet. They went at each other in the middle of the living room, surrounded by people pretending not to watch while very clearly watching.
Someone had caught the entire fight on video. And instead of keeping it to themselves, they posted it on social media.
By the next day, it had spread everywhere. His parents eventually saw the post. He was almost certain Lydia showed them, though she refused to confirm or deny it, offering only a shrug and an innocent, "Who knows?" But Felix knew his sister. And he knew she enjoyed a little chaos almost as much as he did.
But the video didn't just capture the argument. It showed everything. The hoard of teenagers crowded in their backyard. The house overflowed with people. Bottles of alcohol everywhere. Drugs scattered across glass tables. Red wine staining his mother's precious furniture and rugs. Mud on polished floors. Furniture shoved out of place. A mess in pretty much every single room.
There was no denying it. No twisting the story. No way out.
According to his parents, that was the main reason Felix wasn't allowed to leave Winchester early.
"You may be eighteen and too smart for your own good, but you're still an immature little shit who can't control yourself when left alone," His father yelled at him after that incident, his face red with rage.
"And someone damaged the Pollock, dear," Mother wailed, clutching the pearls around her neck like they were the only thing keeping her sane.
That day Felix had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from rolling his eyes so hard they'd practically pop out.There was a slight dent in the hideous art piece she was freaking out about, but who would even notice? And as for his father? The man had no idea what he was talking about. Felix could control himself just fine.
He just didn't feel like it most of the time.
Life was meant to be lived, and being told what to do was pure torture especially when Felix was locked for another year in this very hell called school.
"Bro." Felix looked up to see his friend Bryce Bradford, who was called BB, standing there, hand held out for a slap. Naturally, Felix gave it.
"What are you doing here?" BB asked curiously.
This was where things got weird. Felix had told only a select few that he wasn't coming back. He had plans to get the hell out of Winchester, once and for all. The rolling green hills, the ivy-covered buildings, the whole damn place? He wanted it to be nothing but a memory.
Unfortunately, life had other plans.
"Ready to start senior year," Felix shrugged and rolled up his sleeves. He wore just a few pieces of his uniform, leaving the heavy wool jacket back in his room. Tradition be damned. They were supposed to be perfectly dressed, like obedient little soldiers, but Felix didn't do obedient.
Fuck that.
He was going to do whatever he wanted. He was a Winchester. Who was going to stop him?
"I thought you were going to spend your senior year in Europe," BB said, still looking confused.
Felix scowled and started walking, and BB fell into step beside him.
"You know how it goes. Parents weren't down."
"When are they ever?" BB muttered. He knew what he was talking about. His parents gave him endless crap about everything he did. The guy got zero breaks. Compared to that, Felix's parents looked like saints.
"If they're going to force me to be here, then I'm going to make the best of it but in my way," Felix said, his voice flat but threatening and cold.
Ahead, Felix spotted his sister, standing tall among a bunch of girls.
"Your sister is getting hotter," BB said, nudging him with a grin.
Felix smacked his chest, making BB grunt. "Don't talk about her like that."
"Merely stating facts. You'll need to put an electric fence around her to keep the guys away."
"Don't give me any ideas," Felix muttered, and they continued toward the auditorium with the rest of the school. Felix glanced around and noted he was the only one without a jacket. He straightened his shoulders, standing taller, proud that he didn't give a damn about anyone's rules.
"Where's Hailey?" BB asked as they neared the open front doors of the auditorium.
