The Boy Behind the Boulder 

She immediately jumped to her feet and spun around.

Her gaze swept across the clearing… Left! Right!

Nothing! Just trees, rocks and more trees.

Her brows furrowed.

Had she imagined that?

The voice had sounded real… Far too real.

Then…

A figure shifted on the opposite side of the massive boulder beside her.

Anastasia stiffened.

A boy… Older than her, much older.

He was stretched comfortably across the other side of the rock as though he'd been there the entire time.

One arm rested beneath his head, serving as a makeshift pillow. The other lay across part of his face, shielding his eyes from the sunlight filtering through the leaves above.

He looked completely at ease. Completely relaxed like someone enjoying a quiet afternoon nap… Or trying to.

His eyes remained closed.

His expression carried a remarkable amount of indifference for someone who had apparently been listening to her rant at the sky, the trees, and the academy for who knew how long.

He looked thoroughly bored or maybe unimpressed.

Possibly both.

Anastasia's eyes widened.

Her jaw nearly dropped.

"You were there the whole time?!"

The disbelief in her voice echoed faintly through the clearing.

The boy didn’t move. Not even a shift of posture or even a blink… Just stillness.

Then…

"Unfortunately."

Anastasia blinked… Once, twice. It was as if her brain needed a moment to accept that she had actually been answered like that.

"What do you mean unfortunately?!"

A slow breath left him… so long and measured.

The kind of breath someone made when life kept presenting them with minor inconveniences.

"You talk a lot."

Anastasia’s expression snapped instantly into offense.

"You were listening?"

One of his eyes cracked open… Just barely. But enough to look at her without fully committing to it.

"You were practically yelling."

Her mouth fell open.

"I was not yelling."

"You absolutely were."

"I was ranting."

"Same thing."

Anastasia stared at him… Completely stunned.

The audacity!

The absolute, unbelievable audacity!!

Her hands clenched at her sides.

"How much did you hear?”

The boy slowly removed the hand resting over part of his face.

Dark eyes settled on her for a brief moment. Not lingering… Just acknowledging she existed.

Then his gaze drifted away again, as though even sustained eye contact required more effort than he was willing to spend.

"Enough."

Anastasia groaned.

"Oh, great."

He exhaled softly and closed his eyes once more, returning to his earlier position like nothing had happened.

"You sound exhausting."

That did it! Her eyebrows shot upward.

"Excuse me?"

Still lying there, he didn’t even open his eyes when he replied.

"You asked."

Her mouth opened immediately.

"I didn't ask if I sounded exhausting."

A pause… Silence stretched.

Then, lazily…

"You asked how much I heard."

Another pause… As if he was checking whether that needed further explanation. It didn’t at least for him.

"Turns out the answer was enough."

Anastasia opened her mouth… Closed it… Opened it again. Nothing came out.

Mostly because she couldn’t decide which insult deserved to be used first.

The boy, meanwhile, looked entirely unaffected by her outrage. In fact, he looked like he was one breath away from falling asleep again.

"You could’ve told me you were here."

One eye opened halfway.

"And ruin the performance?"

Anastasia bristled instantly.

"It wasn’t a performance!"

The reply came without hesitation. It was almost automatic. Like he’d been waiting for her to say that.

"It had dramatic hand movements."

Anastasia looked personally attacked.

"It was a rant."

"Still dramatic."

She folded her arms tightly.

"You are unbelievably rude."

For the first time, the boy actually paused. Not because he was offended but because he seemed to be considering whether that was new information.

Then he shrugged.

"I’ve heard worse.”

The clearing fell quiet. Just for a brief moment.

Then one of his eyes opened again slowly.

"You're the new kid."

Anastasia frowned immediately.

"How do you know that?"

A short laugh slipped out of him. It wasn't loud. Just… tired amusement.

"Because half the academy has been talking about you all day."

Her expression tightened at once.

Of course they had…

Of course they were…

The boy noticed the shift instantly.

"See?"

Anastasia blinked.

"See what?"

"That face."

He finally pushed himself up slightly, propping himself on one elbow now.

"The one people make when they realize they hate being famous."

Anastasia’s frown deepened.

"I'm not famous."

The boy looked at her for a second longer than before.

Then his gaze drifted away again.

"Sure."

"I'm not."

"Whatever helps you sleep."

Anastasia resisted the urge to throw a rock at him… Barely.

Her fingers twitched at her sides instead.

Then…

"I'm Anastasia."

The words slipped out before she could stop them.

The boy blinked once. As though introductions hadn't been part of his plans. Or perhaps he wasn't entirely sure why she was telling him.

A brief silence followed.

Then he looked away again.

"Kaden."

That was it. No greeting, no politeness, no “nice to meet you.”

Just a name delivered with the same level of enthusiasm someone might use to comment on the anything out of interest.

Anastasia waited.

One second…

Two seconds…

Three… Nothing followed.

Her eyebrow twitched.

"Kaden... what?"

For the first time since she'd arrived, the boy's expression actually changed.

Not much… Just enough to suggest mild disappointment in the question.

"No."

Anastasia blinked.

"No?"

"No last names."

The answer came immediately. Like he'd had that response prepared for years.

She stared at him.

"What kind of answer is that?"

Kaden shifted slightly against the rock.

Not because he was uncomfortable. More because staying in the same position seemed to require less effort than explaining himself.

"The kind that ends the conversation."

Anastasia looked genuinely offended.

"That's not how conversations work."

Kaden didn’t even hesitate.

"It is if you’re good at them."

The reply came so quickly she almost missed it…

Almost!

Anastasia pointed at him immediately, as though catching him in the middle of a crime.

"That doesn’t even make sense."

Kaden’s expression didn’t change.

"It doesn’t need to."

"Yes, it does."

"No."

A beat…

Anastasia leaned forward slightly now, fully invested in proving her point.

"Why?"

Kaden exhaled through his nose… slow, faintly impatient, like the question itself was unnecessary effort.

"Because I’m not explaining it."

The answer was so simple, so final. So effortlessly dismissive.

It left her standing there with nothing to grab onto, it was like the conversation had just… ended itself.

For a second, Anastasia genuinely had no response.

Kaden, meanwhile, looked completely satisfied. As if the exchange had gone exactly the way he intended from the beginning.

His eyes drifted away again, back towards the trees, already withdrawing from the moment as it had never required his full attention in the first place.

Conversation over… At least in his mind.

Unfortunately for him...

Anastasia wasn't finished.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, suspicion sharpening into something more pointed.

"That's suspicious."

Kaden didn’t even bother sitting up.

"Hm?"

"The no-last-name thing."

A long and exhausted sigh slipped out of him. The kind of sound someone released when life continued insisting on happening around them.

Kaden stared at her.

Anastasia stared back.

The silence stretched.

Then…

"I'm pretty sure nobody likes hanging around you."

The words slipped out before Anastasia could stop them.

For half a second, the clearing went still. Even the wind seemed to hesitate.

Her eyes widened slightly.

“…I didn’t mean…”

Kaden didn’t react immediately. There was no shift in his expression, no visible change at all.

Just a quiet, steady stare held on her for a brief moment longer than necessary.

Then he exhaled softly, as though releasing her words from any importance they might have tried to carry, and let the silence reclaim him.

His posture relaxed again.

For a moment, it seemed like that was the end of it.

Then slowly… one eye opened… Just one.

A dark, unreadable gaze settled on her.

“Coming from somebody who barely has any friends…” he said quietly.

A pause…

Then, without even raising his voice…

“Yeah.”

Anastasia blinked.

That was… not the reaction she expected at all.

She stood there for a second, trying to figure out where the insult was supposed to land.

Was she supposed to be offended?

Annoyed?

Embarrassed?

Nothing quite settled properly.

Instead, she just looked confused. Possibly even more irritated because of that.

Kaden, meanwhile, shifted slightly against the rock again… Unbothered, unmoved and completely unbothered.

One arm slid back beneath his head, returning him to his earlier position like the entire conversation had been a brief interruption in his schedule.

His posture relaxed into that same effortless sprawl.

His eyes closed once more.

And just like that, he retreated again into himself. He found himself mildly annoyed that he wasn’t alone anymore.

And oddly enough…

He stayed.