Chapter 5

DRASA’S POV

This was horrible.

I didn’t know what was worse. Walking into that bathroom at the party and embarrassing myself or dealing with the aftermath of Elara’s lie.

Fuck her.

She was a total bitch and I hated myself for even listening to her and thinking we could get along. She was probably somewhere right now laughing with her bitchy friends while I had to deal with the aftermath of what she had done. I had no idea how she had found out that I worked at a club but what baffled me the most was how she had managed to twist the entire story to fit her own devious schemes.

Whispers followed me the second I stepped into the school hallway. Low murmurs, stifled laughter, and not-so-quiet insults trailed behind me and I struggled to keep my gaze to the floor and not react to the stinging jabs.

“She’s the stripper girl.”

“Guess she thought flashing an elite would get her somewhere. Must be where she came to this college, probably looking for an elite, they're not even interested in her”

“Look at her. She doesn’t even deny it.”

I didn’t react. I kept my head down and walked, my fingers tightening around the straps of my backpack. It didn’t matter what I said. They’d believe what they wanted. That’s how it always was.

I stopped at the bulletin board, scanning the announcements even though I wasn’t really paying attention. The whispers didn’t stop, but I ignored them until a voice cut through the noise.

“Well, well. Look who’s pretending she belongs here.”

I stiffened instantly because in my few days of being here, I knew that voice.

I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.

Tasha.

One of the girls who loved making people's lives miserable and up until now, I had managed to steer clear of her.

I exhaled quietly and lowered my gaze, pretending I hadn’t heard her, but she wasn’t the type to be ignored.

“You know,” she mused, stepping closer, “it’s one thing to be trash, but it’s another to be shameless about it.”

A few of her friends giggled and I clenched my teeth.

“Wearing that ridiculous hoodie like it’ll make you invisible.” She reached out and tugged my hood back, letting my silver hair spill over my shoulders. “This right here? This is why no one likes you. You look like a freak and act like one.”

I jerked away from her hand, swallowing hard.

“Aw, don’t be shy,” she smirked. “Why don’t you tell us how much you charge? Also, a crush on the golden boy of this school? He wouldn't even look at you”

Laughter exploded around me, my chest tightening with embarrassment and anger. My fingers curled into my sleeves, my nails digging into my skin.

Not here. Not now. I couldn't afford another slipup like I had done last night.

I turned to leave, but a hand shot out, grabbing my wrist. “I’m talking to you,” Tasha sneered, yanking me back. “At least have the decency to—”

“Let go.”

The voice wasn’t mine.

It was deep, sharp, and carried a certain sense of authority that made the entire hallway go silent.

I froze. So did Tasha.

Slowly, she turned her head, and I followed her gaze, my stomach twisting when I saw who stood there.

The guy from the party. The one I had walked in on. The blue eyed stranger who was somehow rocking my world when he didn't know me.

Shit.

He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching us with an unreadable expression. He looked…bored. Like none of this really mattered to him, but at the same time, the edge in his voice made it clear that he wasn’t joking.

Tasha swallowed. “C-Cassian—”

Cassian?

The name was enough to make me get a headache instantly and I realized how much I had really fucked up when I now heard his name.

Cassian Devereux.

I wasn’t an idiot. Even if I didn’t pay attention to the elites, I knew what that name meant. Everyone did. This was my first time of finally seeing the owner of the name and I did not expect that he was the same person I had walked in on last night or the person I had bumped into.

He was the kind of person you didn’t cross. He was THE elite. And yet, right now, he was looking at me.

Tasha’s grip on my wrist loosened, and I wasted no time pulling away, massaging my sore wrists.

Cassian pushed off the wall and took a single step forward. “Did I stutter?”

Tasha quickly shook her head. “N-no, I—”

“Then leave.” He ordered.

She hesitated for only a second before she and her friends turned and hurried away, disappearing into the crowd.

The hallway stayed quiet, everyone still watching us with hushed whispers.

Cassian glanced at me. “Come with me.”

It wasn’t a question. I hesitated, but he was already walking, and for some reason—some really stupid, reckless reason—I followed.

He led me down an empty corridor and stopped near the staircase, away from prying eyes.

I crossed my arms, trying not to show my nervousness. “What do you want?”

He didn’t answer right away. Just stared at me, his expression unreadable but there was something like fascination in his eyes.

I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

“I…I’m sorry for what happened last night and the other day,” I muttered, hoping that was why he was even talking to me. “I didn’t mean to—”

“That’s not why I’m here.” He cut me off.

I frowned. “Then why aㅡ”

“Do you want them to stop?”

I blinked, confused. “What?”

“The bullying.” He tilted his head slightly. “Do you want it to stop?”

I stiffened. Of course, I did. But it didn’t work like that.

Hesitating, I bit my lip. “Why do you care?”

His expression didn’t change. “Because I’m offering you a way out, new girl.”

What? I stared at him, my heart pounding against my ribs.

I didn’t trust him.

I didn’t trust anyone. The last person I trusted was the reason I was in this mess.

But there was something about the way he said it. Not like he was trying to be kind. Not like he was trying to pity me.

It was something else.

He needed something from me. What could he possibly want?

I narrowed my eyes. “And what exactly do you want in return?”

His lips twitched. Not a smile. More like amusement, then, he folded his arms and said, “Date me.”

I choked on nothing. “What?”

His eyes never left mine. “Be my girlfriend.”

I was so caught off guard I almost laughed. Almost. Because there was no humor in his face.

He was serious.

I gawked at him, completely at a loss for words.

“Wait, what?!”