CHAPTER EIGHT Welcome to Ridge way high

Maya hadn’t laughed that hard in months.

Not the fake kind she gave when someone cracked a joke in class. Not the polite one she used when Kennedy teased her. This laugh was real—loud and unfiltered—as she collapsed on the grass beside Zane behind the bleachers.

“You—you actually told Coach Hamilton his mustache looked like a dead squirrel?” she gasped between giggles.

Zane grinned, his head tilted back against the bleacher frame, eyes squinting against the sunlight. “I didn’t mean to! It just came out mid-sneeze.”

Maya shook her head, wiping tears from her eyes. “You’re insane.”

“You’re smiling,” he said softly.

She looked at him, heart pausing. “So?”

“I like it,” he said, voice quiet now. “You look… lighter.”

The way he looked at her—like she wasn’t broken, like she wasn’t just a new girl with baggage—made her chest warm in a way she didn’t know what to do with.

Then her phone buzzed.

Once.

Twice.

Then five more times.

Maya pulled it out of her bag, brows furrowing. The notifications hit like punches.

Group Chat: Cheer Squad 🧚‍♀️

📸 “New Girl’s Got a Past 👀”

🎥 “This aged BADLY lol”

Her stomach dropped. She tapped the video.

The screen lit up with a grainy clip. Her old school. A fight. Her—in ripped jeans, screaming at another girl in a hallway, eyes wild. It cut right as a punch flew.

Maya’s blood turned to ice.

“No…” she whispered, the grass beneath her suddenly spinning.

Zane leaned over. “What is it?”

She shoved the phone away, but he grabbed it gently. Watched. Didn’t say a word.

When the video ended, silence bloomed between them.

Maya stood abruptly. “I have to go.”

“Maya—”

“I said I have to go!” she snapped, louder than she meant.

She could feel her throat closing up as she stuffed her phone into her hoodie pocket and backed away. The laughter from just minutes ago felt like a dream.

Zane stood too, but didn’t chase. “That wasn’t who you are now.”

Maya froze. “But it was me.”

He took a step closer. “So what? You think I’ve never screwed up? You think I don’t know what it feels like to be ashamed of the past?”

She stared at him, her eyes full.

“I came here to start over, Zane. That video ruins everything. The cheer team’s going to drop me. The school will whisper. I’ll be the angry Black girl who can’t control herself—again.”

His jaw clenched. “You’re not a headline, Maya.”

She broke then. “Why are you being nice to me? Why are you… fighting for me?”

He looked at her like she had just asked the dumbest question on Earth.

“Because I see you. And I know what it’s like to feel like your worst moment is the only one people remember.”

Tears slipped down her cheek. Zane didn’t touch her, just stood there like a pillar, waiting. Strong and steady.

She hated how much she wanted to lean on him.

“I don’t know how to fix this,” she whispered.

“Then let me help you.”

She shook her head. “They’ll crucify me.”

“Then we burn the cross before they can.”

A broken laugh escaped her lips. “Dramatic much?”

He smirked. “A little.”

Just then, Kennedy came rushing around the corner, panting, holding her phone.

“Maya! Oh my God—are you okay? I just saw it.”

Maya’s face dropped. “So now you know.”

Kennedy didn’t flinch. “I don’t care what happened at your old school. You’re my friend. That doesn’t change.”

Maya blinked. “You… believe me?”

“Babe,” Kennedy said, linking arms with her, “I once flipped a chair at a boy in Year Eight because he stole my glitter pen. You think I’m judging?”

Zane chuckled behind them. Maya wanted to sob.

Then Kennedy turned to him. “And you—make yourself useful. We’re fixing this.”

Zane mock-saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

Maya stood between them, stunned. For the first time since she arrived at Ridgeway, she didn’t feel alone.

Bruised? Yes.

Exposed? Absolutely.

But not alone.

As they walked back toward the building, Maya’s phone buzzed again. A new message.

Unknown Number:

You think this is over? That video’s just the beginning. Welcome to Ridgeway, sweetheart.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

The sweetness of the afternoon shattered like glass.

And the real drama?

It was only just beginning.