Chapter 4

 Kayla pov 

The bell rang, sharp and sudden, cutting through the low hum of the classroom. Chairs scraped back all at once, bags zipping, voices rising in that particular chaos of a period ending and everyone remembering they had somewhere else to be.

Priya was at my side before I'd even finished packing my bag, practically vibrating with news.

"Okay, so," she said, looping her arm through mine as we stepped into the hallway, "there's a game coming up. Like, a big one. Season opener, the whole school's going, apparently it's basically a social event disguised as a hockey match."

"A game," I repeated, still half distracted, still replaying the way Rhys had smiled at me across the classroom like nothing in the world was wrong.

"A game," Priya confirmed. "Cole plays. Obviously. He's the captain, so."

She didn't get to finish.

The hallway shifted before I even understood why, conversations dipping, heads turning, that same ripple of attention I'd felt that morning by the gate. I followed everyone's gaze without meaning to.

A girl walked toward us like the hallway had been built specifically for her to walk through it. Short, tailored skirt, a jersey top knotted at the back like she'd turned a uniform into a statement, dark hair cropped short and glossy, bouncing slightly with every step. She wasn't just noticed. She expected to be.

"Who," I started.

"Vanessa Whitmore," Priya said under her breath, already steering me subtly to the side, out of the girl's direct path. "Cole's ex. And I do mean the ex, like, families have dinner together ex."

"Oh."

"Oh, that's right. She's gorgeous, she's terrifying, and she will absolutely destroy you socially without raising her voice once. I've seen her do it. It was beautiful and horrifying."

Vanessa's eyes swept the hallway the way Cole's had that morning, quick, assessing, entirely unbothered by the attention she drew. For half a second, her gaze caught on me. Lingered.

I felt it like a physical thing, that look, cataloguing me, filing me away under some category I didn't get to choose.

Then she smiled, polite, sharp at the edges, and kept walking, trailing the scent of expensive perfume and the distinct impression that she already knew exactly who I was and precisely why I mattered.

"She knows," I said quietly, once she'd passed.

"Know what?"

"About the cake. About Cole. About." I gestured vaguely, uselessly, at the space where Vanessa had just been. "All of it."

Priya's expression shifted, something careful replacing the humor. "Kayla. This school runs on gossip like it's oxygen. Everyone knows about the cake."

I swallowed hard, the hallway suddenly feeling smaller, the upcoming game suddenly feeling like something with far higher stakes than I'd realized a minute ago.

Vanessa didn't just pass this time. She stopped. She turned on her heel, that same sharp smile still in place, and closed the distance between us like she had all the time in the world and nowhere better to be. Priya went stiff beside me. I forced myself to stand still, even as every instinct told me to look for the nearest exit.

"You're the new girl," Vanessa said, not really a question. Her eyes moved over me, slow and deliberate, the same cataloguing look from before, except now I was close enough to feel the full weight of it.

"Kayla," I said, because saying nothing felt worse.

"Kayla." She said my name like she was testing whether it was worth remembering. "I heard you gave Cole Sterling a cake this morning. In front of half the school."

My stomach dropped straight through the floor. Of course she knew. Priya was right, this school ran on gossip like oxygen, and apparently I was today's headline.

"I didn't realize it would be such a big deal," I said, keeping my voice level even though my hands had curled into fists at my sides.

"Everything Cole does is a big deal," Vanessa said, tilting her head slightly. "Which makes everything done to him a big deal too. You should probably know that before you go around handing out baked goods like party favors."

"Vanessa." Rhys's voice cut through before I could answer, warm and easy in a way that somehow still carried an edge underneath. He appeared at my side like he'd been standing closer than I realized, his hand settling lightly on my shoulder, casual, grounding, deliberate.

Vanessa's gaze flicked to him, and something in her expression shifted, softened at the corners in a way that told me there was history there too, layered under whatever history she had with Cole.

"Rhys," she said, and reached out to touch his arm, light and familiar. "New catch?"

"She's a friend," Rhys said, and something in his tone made it clear the conversation was already over as far as he was concerned. "Not that it's any of your business either way."

"Just curious." Vanessa's smile didn't waver, but her eyes moved back to me, sharper now. "I just think it's funny. A girl shows up out of nowhere, embarrasses herself in front of the whole school trying to get Cole's attention, and somehow walks away with his stepbrother's hand on her shoulder by lunchtime. That's impressive multitasking."

"That's not what happened," I said, my voice tighter than I wanted it to be.

"Isn't it?"

"Vanessa." Rhys's voice dropped, losing all its easy warmth. "That's enough."

"I'm just talking." She held up both hands, all mock innocence.

"You're not just talking. You're trying to make her feel small because she doesn't know the rules here yet, and that's not fair, and it's not you." Rhys's hand tightened slightly on my shoulder, not painful, just present, like an anchor. "Kayla didn't do anything wrong. She made a cake for someone she used to know. That's it. That's the whole story. If Cole's got a problem with it, he can say so himself instead of letting you do his dirty work in a hallway."

Something flickered across Vanessa's face, surprise, maybe, that he'd defended me so plainly, so completely, without hedging. For a second, the polished mask slipped, and underneath it I caught a glimpse of something almost hurt.

"Wow," she said finally, voice cooler now. "Didn't realize you two were already that close."

"We're not anything," I said quickly, too quickly, and immediately regretted how it sounded. "I mean, we're friends. Rhys has just been kind to me. That's all this is."

"Sure," Vanessa said, clearly not believing a word of it, but she stepped back anyway, smoothing an invisible wrinkle from her skirt like she was resetting herself. "Well. Enjoy the game this weekend, Kayla. I'm sure it'll be very educational for you."

She turned and walked away before I could respond, hips swaying with the same unbothered confidence she'd walked in with, like the whole exchange had cost her nothing at all.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

"Are you okay?" Rhys asked, finally turning to look at me directly, his hand slipping from my shoulder.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Is she always like that?"

"Only when she feels threatened." He said it simply, like it wasn't a big revelation, but it landed like one anyway. "Don't let her get in your head. She's harmless, mostly. Just loud about it."

Priya, who had been unusually quiet through the entire exchange, finally exhaled. "That was genuinely terrifying to watch. Ten out of ten. Would watch again."

I managed a weak laugh, grateful for the release of tension, when movement down the hall caught my eye.

Cole.

He walked past us without slowing down, without looking at any of us directly, his jaw set in that same unreadable line I was starting to recognize as his default expression. But for just a second, barely long enough to be sure I hadn't imagined it, his eyes flicked toward Rhys's hand, still hovering near my shoulder where it had just been.

Then he was gone, disappearing around the corner without a single word.

I didn't know what to make of the look on his face. I wasn't even sure I'd actually seen it, or if I was just desperate enough to invent meaning where there wasn't any.

Beside me, Rhys watched him go too, something unreadable passing behind his own eyes before he turned back to me, an easy smile sliding back into place like it had never left.

"About that game this weekend," Rhys said again, glancing down the hallway like he was choosing his next words carefully. "There's actually something else. My family's hosting an event this weekend, this whole formal thing my dad insists on every year. Everyone's expected to bring dates. Couples only, no exceptions, which is exactly as miserable as it sounds."

"Okay," I said slowly, not sure where this was going.

"I know this is crazy. We met today. But the event's this weekend, and my dad made it clear everyone is expected to bring a date. I was going to go alone until he threatened to spend the entire night introducing me to the daughters of his business partners.”

My first instinct was to laugh it off, make a joke, buy myself time to think. My second instinct, the one that actually made it out of my mouth, was panic.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said quickly. "I just got here. I don't know your family, I don't know the rules of whatever this event is, and I definitely don't need to add fake dating the captain's stepbrother to my list of first week accomplishments."

"I don't think that's true," Priya cut in. "I think you'd love it, actually. You just need one push."

"Priya."

"You're being shy," she continued, entirely unbothered by the betrayal written all over my face. "It's a whole thing with her. Give her five minutes and she'll come around. She's actually much more interesting once she stops overthinking."

"Priya, I haven't even said anything yet."

"You will. I already know."

Rhys's mouth curved into that easy, amused smile of his, watching the exchange like it was the most entertaining thing he'd seen all day. "So is that a yes?"

"That's a." I started, fully intending to say no, to shut this down before it went any further, before I ended up tangled in something I couldn't undo.

I opened my mouth again, ready to actually get the word out this time.

"Actually, I don't think—"

"She'll do it," Priya said over me, cheerful and entirely unrepentant.

I shot her a look sharp enough to cut glass. She just smiled back, unbothered, the way she always was.

I thought about it. Really thought about it. A weekend where I didn't have to think about Cole, didn't have to replay his cold, empty stare on a loop in my head. A weekend where someone actually wanted me there, chose me, without hesitation or humiliation.

"Fine," I heard myself say. "One weekend. As friends."

"As friends," Rhys agreed, though something in his eyes suggested he didn't fully believe that's all it would stay.

Priya looked entirely too pleased with herself.

That night, lying in bed, I was still turning the whole thing over in my head, wondering what I'd just agreed to, when my phone buzzed on the nightstand. An unknown number.

I almost ignored it. Almost.

<Hey. It's Cole. I got your number from the school directory. About this weekend, I need a date too. Would you come with me?>

I stared at the screen until the words blurred together, my heart slamming against my ribs so hard I was sure the whole house could hear it.