A Story That Doesn’t Belong To You

Ryan Carter hated the smell of new dorms.It wasn’t that they were dirty on the contrary, everything here was too clean. Bleached, polished, and quietly humming with fluorescent lights. He could practically hear the walls judging him for dragging in dust from the outside world. This wasn’t home yet. It wasn’t anything yet.But it would be.He slung his duffel bag on the bottom bunk with a heavy thud and exhaled like it hurt. Room 306, North Hall, University of Arkwood. It sounded official. Safe, even. Far enough from his old school and from Jake.Especially Jake.Ryan didn’t check his phone. He’d left it on Do Not Disturb ever since he boarded the bus that morning. If he looked, there might be messages. If he looked, he might answer. And if he answered…He shook it off.No. That version of him the version that apologized when he hadn’t done anything wrong, that shrank to fit into someone else’s insecurity that Ryan was buried back in Briar Ridge, three hours south and two emotional cen

Ryan didn’t expect to see Daniel again so soon after the mixer.He definitely didn’t expect him to show up outside his dorm at 9:32 the next morning, leaning against the brick wall like he was part of the architecture.“Morning,” Daniel said, without looking up from his phone.Ryan stopped on the steps, clutching a half-eaten apple and his backpack. “Are you stalking me now?”Daniel tucked his phone away. “You missed your first mentorship follow-up.”Ryan frowned. “It’s Saturday.”“Exactly. You had nothing better to do.”Ryan considered turning around and going right back inside. But instead, he descended the rest of the steps and walked past Daniel.“I was going to get coffee,” he said. “Alone.”Daniel fell in step beside him. “Good. I like coffee.”“I didn’t say you were invited.”“You didn’t say I wasn’t.”Ryan glanced sideways. “This how you make friends? You just attach yourself to people until they give up resisting?”“No,” Daniel said casually. “This is how I keep people from f

The café Daniel had picked wasn’t fancy.It didn’t try to be. Just dark wood tables, big windows, and the kind of music you didn’t notice until it stopped. A quiet place the kind Ryan liked but never admitted to liking.They sat near the back, where no one could overhear them. Daniel didn’t even look at a menu. Just ordered a black coffee like it was part of his identity.Ryan ordered the same, even though he hated black coffee.It was stupid. But also… not.They hadn’t spoken much on the walk over. Just side-glances. A small joke about Daniel’s umbrella being broken. And something in the air that felt like it was shifting between them not fast, but definitely changing.“So,” Daniel said, stirring his coffee even though it didn’t have anything in it. “What’s your endgame?”Ryan blinked. “What?”“College. Arkwood. Life. What are you hoping to get out of all this?”Ryan hesitated. “Survival.”Daniel tilted his head. “That’s not nothing.”“It’s not much either,” Ryan said. “What about yo

It started with whispers.The kind that travel faster than fact a smirk here, a glance there, people turning their heads just a little too late when Ryan walked by.He noticed it in the lecture hall first.Two girls near the back, looking at him and giggling. A guy leaning in to his friend and muttering something behind a cupped hand.He told himself it was nothing.That people always stared.That it didn’t mean anything.But deep down, Ryan already knew.Because fear had a sound.And it sounded exactly like silence after laughter.He found out the truth two hours later.Chris was waiting for him in their dorm room, holding his phone out like it was covered in blood.“Ryan,” Chris said. “You need to see this.”Ryan took the phone.It was a message board.Anonymous. Cruel. Exactly the kind of digital trash pile people used to chew up someone’s name without consequence.There were three posts about him.All posted within the last twelve hours.All with photos.One was of him walking on

Chapter 8: The Fight He Didn’t WantJake didn’t wait long.The voicemail wasn’t just a scare tactic it was a warning. A signal.That he was coming back into Ryan’s world. Not because he missed him. Not because he wanted to fix anything. But because Jake couldn’t stand losing control.And now, for the first time, he had.It started with a meeting request.Ryan got the email two days later. A cold, formal message from the Office of Student Conduct:“You have been named in a disciplinary matter and are requested to appear for a preliminary interview. You may bring an advocate or witness.”No details. No sender name.Just a time.A room number.And a stomach-drop kind of silence.“Jake filed something,” Ryan said, sitting on the edge of Daniel’s desk that night, his fingers curled tightly around the letter.Daniel looked up from his laptop, reading his face instantly. “He’s flipping it.”Ryan nodded. “Classic Jake. Hurt me, then accuse me.”Daniel’s jaw clenched. “We’re not letting this h