Chapter 1: The Golden Boy

Hazel's POV

I should’ve known today would be hell, the moment I heard my name echo across the cafeteria in gasps.

The room was buzzing with the usual chatter and clatter, but as I stepped in, everything changed.

Phones buzzed, one after the other.

Ping. Ping. Ping.

The sound became deafening.

Heads turned and most eyes were locked on me.

Then came the first laugh, followed by another. Then the whispers followed, not even hushed.

"He’s off-limits, but my heart never listens"

I paused for a bit there, my tray trembling in my hands with the thousand eyes that stabbed into me. My breath came in short, sharp gasps, and my vision blurred not from tears, but from shame.

"She wrote that about her step-brother?"

"Freak."

"Yo, she's wild."

I heard the sound of the familiar words. The words I had written myself in the middle of the night about the one boy I should never have fallen for.

Trey Rivers; the Ice Hounds' Golden Boy, my stepbrother and secret crush for years. I should have known better when I stayed up writing this smut about him in secret, spinning scenes that would never happen. But crushes don’t care about logic especially this hopeless kind.

Tears burned behind my eyes but I forced myself forward, taking a seat at the far end of the room, where maybe I could pretend I didn’t notice.

I fumbled for my own phone immediately from my pocket. My fingers trembled as I unlocked the screen. Please let it be nothing but a meme, prank, or campus alert. Anything.

But I was right as the screenshot of my love letter from my notebook stared back at me mockingly. My grip on my phone tightened, sweat trickling down my spine and heat spreading up to my neck like wildfire.

I turned round and I saw him sitting at the center table with his hockey buddies. He wasn’t looking at me at first, he just sat there, with his jaw clenched, staring at his phone, and when he did finally glance my way, it was with a look I’d never seen before— Disgust.

Something inside me cracked.

Who would have leaked a copy of my love letter? Just then, my attention was jolted when I heard Tiffany Ross' voice. She climbed onto the low platform near the salad bar confidently, like she was about to give a press conference. Her high ponytail swished together as she raised her phone in the air.

"Hello, hello, Sterling student body! Just in case you haven’t read the trending story of the week, let me do you the honors," she said, eyes locked on mine.

My heart stopped.

"Our very own Hazel Pierce wrote this steamy little fantasy starring none other than her step-brother.”

Laughter filled the entire room.

I stood up, trembling. "Tiffany, stop it," I yelled stepping into the center of the hall

She grinned. "Oh, don’t be shy, you wrote this, didn't you? I mean it's okay for people to write what they fantasize, right? But don't tell me you have a crush on your own step-brother. That’s gross.”

More laughter.

“Does your dad know what kind of creep you turned out to be?”

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out

Trey pushed through the crowd, his expression unreadable. “Hazel…” His voice cracked slightly. “Tell me it’s not true, please.”

I turned to him, shaking my head. “It’s not, Trey, I …”

But Tiffany cut in, waving her phone. “It’s all here. Every fantasy, every sick line about him.” How did she get around to take a picture of my notebook?

I knew I shouldn't have taken her threat yesterday lightly but why was she snooping around my stuff?

Tiffany and I go way back in high school when she had made my life hell in sophomore year. She and her pack of evil cheerleaders used to corner me in the bathrooms, cafeteria, trash my locker, and post fake secrets about me on the school board.

The worst part? No one believed me when I complained. Not even the teachers.

So when I saw her kissing Trey yesterday close to the locker room, after his practice, it was like my lungs forgot how to work. I’d only gone back to drop off the game sheets as the team’s assistant—a position I'd solely taken just to get closer to Trey.

I forced a smile when Trey introduced me to her as a transfer student and the new cheer captain. “Transfer, huh? Small world.”

Tiffany’s eyes twinkled, in deep malice “Yeah, lucky me. Imagine coming all this way and finding familiar faces.”

“You two know each other?” Trey asked

“Yes, we went to the same high school and we pretty much got along,” Tiffany said with a flicker of amusement in her eyes.

When Trey excused himself to grab something from the locker room, I turned to her.

“I don’t know what game you’re playing, but stay away from him,” I hissed.

Tiffany’s smile never faltered. “Acting tough now, Hazel? That’s cute.”

“I am not the same scared girl you knew from high school. You hurt him, and I swear, you won't have it light with me”

“Oh, sweetie.” She leaned in, her tone suddenly razor-sharp. “Trey’s a big boy. He can decide who he wants.”

As she turned to leave, swinging her waist like some hot model on the runway, she paused without facing me, her voice sweet as poison, “One more thing, Hazel…”

I tensed.

She glanced back over her shoulder, eyes glittering. “You might’ve cheered the loudest today, but Trey is about to forget you exist. Stay in your lane unless you want me to make your life miserable.”

So here I was reeling from the aftermath of her threat. Trey’s brows pulled together, his eyes seeking answers in mine before his expression shut down.

I wanted to disappear. How could I ever think he’d want someone like me? Well, he would never want me now if I told the truth and everything I’d ever hidden would be ripped open.

He’d never look at me the same way again. Not as his stepsister or as the girl who cheered the loudest at every game. Only as the creep who wanted what she could never have.

Then, just as the floor threatened to give way beneath me, a deep voice cut through the chaos.

“Actually,” I heard a voice coming from the crowd. “That story wasn’t about Trey.”

My head jerked toward the voice, and for a moment, my mind went completely blank.

No. It couldn’t be.

Jaxon Carter.

The Ice Hounds’ captain and the team's notorious Playboy. It's safe to say he was my least favourite person because he was Trey's biggest rival. I dreaded coming in contact with him because his ego was way bigger than the whole hockey team.

My stomach twisted painfully. Why was he getting involved? What game was he playing now?

Jaxon walked forward, slow and deliberate, his eyes locked on Tiffany. “It was about me.”

The world tilted and my breath hitched.

Of course, he’d make it worse.

Tiffany sputtered, disbelief written all over her face. “Excuse me? Why would she write a love story about you?”

Before I could even process what was happening, Jaxon was already moving towards me.

My pulse thundered. I wanted to back away, but my feet wouldn’t move.

He stopped beside me, and without hesitation, his arm slid around my shoulder like it belonged there. The air left my lungs.

“You haven’t heard?” His voice was smooth, effortless. “Hazel is my girlfriend.”