CHAPTER ONE 1

MARCH I5TH, 2026.

The first day of the school week and Laura Crystal sat not quite far away from where her classmates where talking and yapping, clutching tightly onto her necklace clearly nervous. The beautiful glow of sunlight spread through her almond skinned face clearly making it impossible for her friends and classmates to ignore her beauty. She looked so innocent and pretty, her crystal eyes blankly looking in space.  Her black dark hair styled to bun and her soft moisturized lips moved not an inch. She simply was an angel, who is gentle and effortlessly loved by everyone except for the girls that envied her a lot.

         ‘Laura…hey, are you listening?’

Michelle Banks, a close friend of hers, interrupted her thoughts. Laura jerked, coming back to reality. She looked surprised upon seeing Michelle.

        ‘Hey, good morning girl. You look stunning’ she complimented Michelle who rolled her eyes at her, annoyed.

         ‘Were you really that lost? It’s time for assembly and you’ve been sitting here? Alone? Common… lets go down’ Michelle persuaded, taking Laura by the hand to leave though she could see Jace Salvatore sitted at the extreme of the classroom.

      ‘Wait…isn’t that Jace? What is he still doing in class?’  She asked quietly.

        ‘He will come down eventually. It’s a ball assembly, and he has to be present.’ Michelle replied. The disgust in her voice was easily noticed by Laura. She knew Michelle never liked Jace, not a bit and she too disliked him a lot.

Everyone in Royal High School knew of Jace Salvatore. His father is the richest man in the world and thus he had a particular sense of aura and respect, designated to him, especially by the girls. His respect not only came with the fact that he is rich but also his high level of intelligence. In addition to that, he was extremely handsome and irresistible. His skin tone glows so fresh, it made school mates want to touch him. His body? … Perfect like how a 19 year Old’s body build of a guy should be. He had long neck-length silky black hair which he always styled differently and is 6’7 feet tall.                                                               Although he has such good qualities, he was too proud and was much nicer to his fellow guys than girls. He only played nice to the spoilt - expensive yet, cheap girls that were always around him after school hours or holidays. For this reason, he was always mean to Laura and her friends; Michelle and Monica especially Laura.

Laura on the other hand is known to be one of the prettiest girls in school and her dad was a competitor to Jace’s father in business. Unlike Jace, she was much nicer but has an arrogant attitude in conversing with Jace and his friends. Michelle is caramel toned and is as tall as Laura who is 5 ‘7 feet tall. She has glowing caramel skin tone, light brown hair and has the best definition of hour glass shape. Though she doesn’t have hip dips like Laura and Monica, she still has a lit body shape. Monica is 5’4 and she is exceptionally cute even without giving a try. She is fair in complexion, has grey eyes, curly blond hair and a great sense of fashion. Though she yaps a little bit too much. That is what makes her attractive.

          ‘I almost forgot about the ball week. I haven’t gotten my dress yet’ Laura gasped heavily but Michelle only smiled and replied quietly.

          ‘Well, we can get that today. We are closing early today.’

          ‘That’s good, at least I wouldn’t be all alone at my mansion this noon.’ Laura smiled as they approached the assembly hall. The ball ceremony is a pre-celebration usually held by the school for the final grade students who will be graduating in two months’ time after their final examinations. Laura, her friends and others being in the final year class had to partake in this ball activity. Each lady in the class will be given a dance partner for the ball and practice would be on for two weeks. All parents and rich guests would be invited to the ball ceremony to partake in the fun.

   Entering inside the hall, Michelle and Laura approached Monica whose eyes were glued to a novel. She was so focused that noticing her friend’s presence was impossible until she heard their voices.

      ‘Ahhhh…’ she sighed looking at their faces ‘look at my pretty angels who I have been waiting for.’

        ‘Sorry love, Laura was in class…looking very lost. I had to bring her out of her trance’ Michelle teased as she took a seat beside Laura who scoffed and smiled.

          As the other students in the school settled down, the principal and school owners walked in immediately. Their presence brought a pin-drop silence just as Jace Salvatore and three of his friends (Diamant Asher, Alex Brown and Cody Charles) walked into the hall at that moment. They were the last students to be present here and from the look in the principal’s eyes, she was pissed and angry at them for coming here right after the school owners had come in. Every student knew Miss Ivy (the principal) wanted to reprimand the three guys but the school owners were present at that moment.

Laura took a deep breath and sighed the moment her eyes locked with Jace’s. He smirked and took the empty seat by her side while his friends sat behind him, though Alex sat beside Monica. 

After a brief address by the principal, junior students were asked to start placing their votes in the ballot. This would help determine who will be dance partners during practice and at the ball ceremony. It wasn’t up to thirty minutes before Jace spoke to Laura, rudely.

       ‘Stop chewing your bubble gum around me.’  He said in a nonchalant manner. She scoffed and continued chewing like no one just spoke to her. Why would she stop anyways?      

          ‘Laura…’ he called her name in a deeper voice this time around. ‘Stop’

But she ignored and minded her business like no one was talking around her. Besides, the hall was noisy because of the ongoing elections.

  He decided to ignore but the sounds she was making with her mouth made him much more irritated.

       ‘Laura…’ he didn’t finish speaking before she interrupted and turned to face him, annoyed.

         ‘If you have a problem with me then move to the back. It ain’t that hard man!’    Realizing she raised her voice at him a little, He fell silent and stared into her eyes closely. Deep inside his mind, he recognized and saw how prettier she looked but she was just a rude girl he always disliked right from junior school. In fact, he disliked Monica more. She was the real definition of rude. Gently, he nodded and walked to the extreme end of the hall without even making an attempt to retaliate. That was absolutely weird but Laura ignored and kept silent yet anxious. In an hour, the votes were done and each student in the final grade class were given partners. Monica ended up with Jace, Laura ended up with Diamant and Michelle got paired with Raymond Dove (a classmate). This match was the worst for Michelle because she never expected other students to pair her with Jace. A lot of people expected the lead to be Jace and Laura but it turned otherwise.

That being the only activity at school, they all headed back to their classrooms. Those who were going home immediately went to the garage but Monica and her friends had gone to get their books from class.

      ‘Jace???? Of all the boys in this class?’ Monica freaked out the moment she realized they were the only ones in class obviously not excited. Michelle chuckled and replied.

      ‘Well at least he is hot. You two are the lead.’

       ‘Am so short in front of him. They have to get someone else’ Monica explained just as three tall figures entered the class.

     ‘Talk of the devil and he appears’ Laura murmured picking her stuffs to head out fully aware that Jace and his friends were here for her.

       ‘What are you guys here for?’ Monica snarled but got completely ignored by them. Jace stepped forward, directly moving towards Laura till she got trapped by the wall. He looked so clam but in his eyes he badly wanted to just hurt her.

           ‘You piece of shit!’ he flared, angrily hitting his fists on the wall. She jerked, closing her eyes a bit scared. In as much as she wanted to fight back, she had no strength, all she knew is that in all he did, he would never lay hands on her or else he will be suspended and would have to graduate next year as punishment.

          ‘We’ll see and that’s a threat’ He breathed and turned away making sure to have an eye contact with Monica. She was too rude for him but all he did was ignore her look. After all, they will be practicing tomorrow the next day.

           ‘You won’t be able to do anything, scumbag!’  Laura yelled after him. He paused, holding the doorknob and smiled.

      ‘Try me’ whispering those words, he walked away leaving Laura traumatized. This wasn’t the first time he did this, and she has always experienced this behavior from him since first grade. Somehow, he always managed to break her inner strength even till now. Though he also attacks her friends, she was always the one he is after.

           ‘Laura… Laura…be strong’ Michelle consoled the latter who tried hard to fight back her tears that threatened to pour out any moment.

           ‘I am tired…I really am…’ she quietly whispered as Michelle held her tightly. Monica sighed and picked up their notes so they could leave the school premises as soon as possible. Their ride was already downstairs waiting at the garage and they needed to get to the mall on time, pick dresses and head home. Rounding up their stuffs, they got to the garage and got their red outfits at the mall. They couldn’t find Monica’s outfit size so they had to check out two malls before getting hers. They all parted ways immediately, dropping Laura at her villa before heading for theirs. The atmosphere at her villa was so boring and a dead drop silence filled every corner of the house. Laura hated this life of staying alone in a villa. It was too big for just her but her father cared no less about this. After all, her dad (Mr. Crystal Jones) is the second richest man in the world, a competitor to Jace’s father (Edward Salvatore) and also his business partner. At 10, she was moved out of the family mansion located in Canada to Washington so she could attend a new school. Her elder siblings: victor and Cynthia based in different countries depending on the nature of work. She is the only one who currently resides in Washington. Though her parents also stay there, even if there moved from one country to another depending on their work situation. Everyone in her family were too busy to check up on her. Zoe (Laura’s mum) wasn’t even allowed or spared by Jones to perform her duties as a mother. All he cared about was his business and money. In order for him to progress at a faster rate, he needed Zoe by his side all the time. On many occasions, he always hit Zoe over slight mistakes or protest. Laura knew about the abuse her mum always endured in her father’s hands but she dared not protest or try to stop him. To the entire world, Jones was recognized as a calm, respectful, creative and humble billionaire but to his family, including his parents, they knew him as a monster, irresponsible father, and a woman-beater. He was always full of pride and had too much ego. The conflicting nature of the Crystal family affected Laura both mentally and psychologically. Her hate for men was unquenchable and the concept of marriage in her view was a waste of time. Her father was just an exact example of how men are scumbags who deserve nothing in life. This mentality also applied to Jace who she considered as a young version of her dad. He always bullies and threatens her, thus the fear she has for her dad also took control over her whenever she was around him.

       These situations always put Laura in trance or deep thoughts. Michelle and Monica always tried their best to help her and make her livelier and it helps some times. Other times she engaged in painting (drawing), or creating content for her 6.9million followers on tiktok. Knowing she has a lot of admires on social media was her biggest flex and she loved the comments a lot. Her only insecurity was her family. Apart from all these, Laura’s artistic works was also something else. She could literally draw anything and this talent of hers was quickly recognizable.

              Deeply sighing, she walked into her lavish room. Her room was one of a kind. Massive, neutral and every item there was white in color. Not a stain could be spotted in her room. Flinging the dress on the white seater, she fell on the comfy king sized bed. Only the bed cover, curtains, her clothes, shoes bags and other little necessities differed in color. So sooner than she expected, Laura had fallen asleep and awoke by 8:45pm.she was so shocked and also hungry. She had slept so fast, she didn’t realize her shoes were still on.

          She felt sick and weak but mustered the strength to quickly freshen up and do her night skin care routine. Since she was too hungry, she devoured the dinner her chef made and was really appreciative of this kind gesture and as if she has not slept for days, she went back to bed immediately, ignoring her friend’s calls and even the texts from her classmates. The dizziness in her body was something else.

        When the chef later came back to check up on Laura because she has not returned the dinner plates to the kitchen, she found the latter asleep, looking exhausted. Smiling cutely, she covered Laura with the blanket and while trying to adjust her sleeping position, she discovered how high her temperature was. She gasped slightly, understanding why Laura was sleeping so fast. The innocent girl was sick.

        ‘Oh…my…God’