chapter 1

Finn’s Pov

“Get your hands off him!”

The hallway went silent.

Apex-crest academy never goes silent. There is always noise, laughter, and the obnoxious hum of arrogance. But now? There was nothing.

No one says it. Not in the halls with marble floors that only echo your mistakes. Or in the classroom, the tuition costs more than my family makes in a year. Not a whisper. Not a thought.

But the rules were there. The golden rule that governed the school. Everyone lived by it.

Don’t get noticed by Knox Cole.

And I broke it.

Me! The outsider, the one abnormality that had stepped into their lives, into their world.

A charity case, a quota. Names that they had called me, names that had slowly become my identity.

I broke that rule.

Knox Cole turned, a slow yet impactful moment, his stormy black eyes meeting my blue fearful ones. His hands? Still wrapped around Zale, my best friend. A smile crept on his lips, a cruel toe-curling sneer, the kind that says you have made a dire mistake.

“What did you just say?” his voice a low drawl, powerful enough to falter a soul.

My lips felt dry, and I could feel trickles of sweat rolling down my spine. I didn’t feel brave anymore, not when I could feel the heated gaze at the back of my head. My eyes found  Zale, his lips slowly turning pale, I could tell Knox was squeezing too hard.

“Let him go,” I said, my voice softer. Stupider.

He didn’t move, “and if I don’t?” he was taunting.

I mean he should, what was I going to do against him? He was the captain of the hockey team, his name a legacy in these walls.

Untouchable.

My eyes slowly moved from Zale’s face, meeting Knox’s intense gaze. No one tells you what it is like to have his attention on you.

No one says how hard it is to exist under those black eyes that felt like they were drowning you in.

There wasn’t anger in his eyes, maybe that would have been easier to decipher. He was cold, yet a chilling amusement swirled in those orbs that lacked depth.

I straightened my spine, “If you don’t, I will have the school authority informed,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t give away my fear.

Gasps rippled through the now crowded hallway.

I had threatened the king.

Me? The low life.

Knox’s gaze dragged over me… my uniform, the bright blue jacket, the insignia of just how different I was from the rest of them. A contrast to the red jackets they all wore. A scholarship stain I couldn’t scrub off, no matter how hard I tried to.

He smiled.

Cold, blood-chilling.

He slowly released his grip, and Zale coughed, his legs giving out as he dropped to the ground with a red face. I barely registered my friend, not when my attention was on Knox, watching as he moved slowly with an air of arrogance around him.

He stepped closer, his scent filling my lungs, musk spices, laced with danger.

“How long have you been here?” he asked.

He knew.

They all knew.

But they always wanted to hear me say it. They wanted to see the pain in my eyes when I admitted that I wasn’t anything like them. That I couldn’t measure up to them.

Anger surged through me, the kind that makes you want to damn every logic in your head. “long enough to know that you are a bully who has nothing better to do, than bully others just to make you feel special,” I hissed.

His eyes darkened, something shifted, and he was going to hit me. I braced myself, waiting to feel the pain that would come.

He laughed. Head thrown back as if he was sitting in the front row seat of a comedy show. The sound was low, a rumble that oozed with danger, just enough to tell me that I should have stayed quiet.

He leaned closer, his breath fanning my face. He smelt divine, the thought sliced through me, a crude thought, brash fast, shouldn’t even be there.

I took a step back, it was one thing for him to know that I had broken the sacred rule, it was another for him to perceive that I was a twinkly gay boy staring at him with something he would despise.

“I am going to enjoy breaking you.”

My stomach churned.

That wasn’t a threat.

It was a promise.

He raised his hand; his fingers brushed my jacket as if he was trying to wipe off an invisible lint from it. Then he stopped, “See you around, Grant,”

He stepped back, straightening his jacket, and without looking back, he walked away as if he hadn’t just set my world on fire.

The noise returned. Knox was gone, and so was the drama.

Some moved, and others? They stared, eyes filled with pity and hate.

I rushed over to Zale, my hand reaching out to grab him, “Are you alright?” I asked, finally finding my voice to speak.

He shook his head, his eyes on me, looking at me as though I had made the worst mistake. “Why did you do that?” he hissed, his hand rubbing his neck as he tried to relieve the tension.

“Do what? Save you?”

“By putting yourself in harm’s way?”

I shook my head, “No one said a thing, they can’t… he doesn’t have the right to do these things,” I hissed.

Maybe I haven’t really learnt.

Maybe I should stay quiet, given the fact that the whole school had seen the drama unfold. By lunch, the video will be the trending topic on the school website.

“You should have gone the other way, Finn,” he muttered.

Why did he sound disappointed?

“I saved you, you would have passed out…”

“And maybe that would have been a good thing, I mean this wouldn’t be the fir….” His eyes widened; his lips instantly folded between his teeth as he bit back the words.

“Zale, you don’t have to let them do this, you shouldn’t…”

He shook his head, “You really don’t get it, do you?” he huffed.

He was making a mountain out of an ant hill. “Look, can we stop talking about this? That is done, I doubt he would try it again, no one wants to be taken to the school authority, I am sure, perfect Knox Cole wouldn't want that,” I said with a scoff.

His eyes held pity, “You don’t see it do you?” he muttered.

His tone sent cold shivers down my spine, “Get what?” I asked, my tone laced with frustration.

“You didn’t save me; you just signed your death warrant.”