No Second Chances

MOON

I've always known I have the worst luck, since I was eleven and was made to attend a school competition on Aphrodite's behalf, since I watched the trophy being given to my cousin and the awards I'd earned being hung on her walls.

Watching the friends I'd made turn their backs on me because on the days where my cousin and I would switch identities, she would manage to ruin every single friendship or relationship I had in less than a day.

When I was told about college, I knew it was one of those rare instances where my luck might finally work out for me. I took the opportunity and now...

It was the first day of school, and I'd also officially been locked up in the room of my new home for over twenty hours, alternating between sobbing, unpacking and pressing my ear against the door whenever I heard footsteps. His footsteps.

The next morning came with a slightly brighter sun. I felt lighter, although I suspected it might've been because I hadn't eaten properly in over two days. There was a slight pep in my step as I pulled on my loose black jeans, baby blue basic top and white sneakers.

My hair was pulled back into a low afro puff and I glossed my lips, trying to look more like myself than Aphrodite.

For the first time, I wasn't under their scrutiny. They couldn't dictate what I wore, what I ate, how I spoke, while playing my cousin's roles.

I finally left the room after staring at my reflection for an unhealthy number of minutes, trying to convince myself that I was making the right decision.

Walking out of the bedroom, I noted that I was the only person in the house. I had heard his footsteps at 7 AM and they never returned.

I looked down at my phone screen.

9 AM.

I was going to be late for my first class. I got the schedule in my email, well, Aphrodite's email, which I had access to. I had every intention of booking an Uber but then I saw the man waiting right outside the front door. His distracted brown eyes snapped up from his phone when he saw me and he offered me a polite smile.

"Mrs. O'Brien, good morning." His teeth twinkled slightly under the sun and I found myself fighting back a shudder as the title settled in my gut like lead.

"G...good morning." The corners of my lips twitched rather than forming the smile I willed them to.

He gestured at the black car I was pretty sure I'd arrived in yesterday.

"Mr. O'Brien has assigned me as your personal driver and bodyguard for the entirety of your...matrimony."

I cocked up a confused brow and really looked at the man. He had a lean build, not much taller than I was. Shaggy brown hair that rested against his neck and deeply tanned skin. He looked like a typical guy, most definitely not bodyguard material.

"I don't need a bodyguard."

"Believe me, Mrs. O'Brien, you do need one. It comes with the title, unfortunately." The widening of his smile was meant to be reassuring, I'm sure, but it only unsettled me further.

I gritted my teeth and bit down the argument that threatened to surface. I didn't have a say in this, that much was clear.

"So...what do I call you?"

"Shaun."

I nodded. "Okay Shaun, let's head to my school."

"Of course, Mrs. O'Bri—"

"—And please, Aphrodite is fine."

The drive to the university was relatively quiet. Shaun was fully focused on the road but our eyes met a few times in the rearview mirror, our gazes filled with equal curiosity.

Shaun seemed like a nice enough guy, but I had a rule. No making friends as Aphrodite, no making friends as Moon.

No friends period.

Somehow, some way, I would find a way to ruin it.

And being alone isn't so bad.

I wanted to ask about my husband, I wanted to ask how well he knew the man, but I opted for looking out the window and chewing on my bottom lip like I held a grudge against it.

No. The silence is better.

Thirty minutes later, the magnificent sight of Elysium Elite University came into view. It was one of the most elusive and prestigious universities in New York, a school founded by the most powerful men in the country at the time. Over one hundred years of history and it still ranked first every year as the hardest school to get into.

The Alexanders donated hundreds of millions every year. It had been that way for over five decades and that apparently gave anyone with my last name an automatic seat in the year's list of accepted applicants.

My uncle never let me apply.

He said it was a waste of resources and that he needed me on standby in case Aphrodite needed something.

I had given up all hope but now I was here, standing right in front of the towering building that was mostly made up of ancient stone walls rising around manicured lawns. Like a castle that had been modernized to best suit the image Elysium Elite prided itself in, glass and steel additions caught the light between the towers. Its shine was nothing short of ethereal.

It was...everything.

"Uh...this is your school? You're sure?" I heard Shaun's somewhat uncertain question from behind me.

I blinked, then realized tears had gathered in my eyes.

"Yes," I turned to Shaun. "This is it."

It felt like a dream, saying it out loud.

He didn't say anything else after my confirmation, just exchanged contacts with me and told me to call him when I was ready to leave and if anything came up.

"I'll be just around the corner, so rest assured, you'll be safe the entire time."

I nodded slowly, my mind not fully in the conversation. I walked into the school building, my eyes on the map sent to my email despite already knowing the layout of the school by heart.

It wasn't long before I found where my first class was being held, and the most important one of all.

The room was already bustling with students by the time I walked in, and my eyes drank in the beauty of the class greedily, from the floor to ceiling windows that made every inch of the room kissed by the sun, to the uniquely spaced seats that sat only three people in one section.

Endless rows of canvases were stacked atop one another in the corner and so were the stands and other materials I knew we probably wouldn't use today. My heart pounded against my ribs from equal parts excitement and mortification as I settled into the first seat I found.

My eyes landed on the podium in front of the class and my foot tapped relentlessly beneath me.

Then I registered a presence beside me. Someone had taken the empty spot next to me. A young lady who looked to be the same age as I was.

Her lips parted like she was about to say something, but then the door closest to the podium opened and I noticed how the chatter in the room immediately died.

My eyes turned immediately toward the sound. Our professor had walked in.

"Good morning, everyone." The deep voice carried a slight Irish accent that shouldn't have been familiar to me in that moment, but it was. The excitement in my chest was overpowered by mortification and it spread throughout every inch of me, leaving me breathless.

Green eyes raised from the setup he'd arranged on the podium, his gaze meeting no one in particular.

I heard the girl beside me whistle as the perfection of his face came into view.

"My name is Cillian O'Brien and I will be filling in for your art professor, Mrs. June, due to some personal issues on her end."

No. No. No, this can't be happening.

"To make things clear," he began, even as his fingers moved over his laptop keyboard relentlessly, "this is a technical class, not a fun class, and you are all expected to put in the work as my students. There will be no exceptions or favoritism."

He raised his eyes to look at the class again, but instead they landed on me.

A low gasp left me as those green orbs clashed with mine and I watched in horror as they widened a fraction in surprise before every hint of emotion was wiped away in a matter of seconds.

"I expect you all to take this class as seriously as you would take any other course." The chill in his voice made me shudder. His eyes didn't leave mine.

"There will be no second chances."