Chapter 6 — New School, New Enemies

The whispers didn’t stop.

By second period, Ruby felt like she was walking with a spotlight glued to her forehead. Everywhere she went, conversations paused. Heads turned. People leaned together like she was a rumor that had suddenly grown legs and started walking around.

“She lives next to Kai.”

“She yelled at him.”

“She thinks she’s special.”

Ruby wanted to scream, I’m not special! I just want to survive the day!

But screaming would only give them more content to gossip about.

By third period, she was exhausted—mentally, socially, physically, spiritually. She just wanted to shove her books into her locker and breathe for five seconds without someone whispering her name like it tasted sour.

She didn’t even get one second.

As she opened her locker, a shadow moved into her peripheral vision. Ruby glanced up—and her breath stuttered.

Brielle.

Tall.

Perfect hair.

Perfect makeup.

Perfect everything.

She looked like the kind of girl who woke up with naturally curled lashes and a fan club. Her lip gloss sparkled under the hallway lights, and her eyes scanned Ruby with the precise calculation of someone trained in social warfare.

“So,” Brielle said sweetly, stepping closer, “you’re the new girl?”

Her voice was honey-soaked poison.

Ruby forced a smile. “Yep. That’s me.”

Brielle tilted her head, feigning innocence. “You might want to watch yourself.”

Ruby paused mid-reach for a notebook. “…Sorry?”

“Kai doesn’t like girls who act…” Brielle’s smile sharpened. “…desperate.”

Ruby blinked. “I literally haven’t spoken to him.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

Ruby’s stomach tightened, irritation beginning to rise. “What exactly did you hear?”

Brielle leaned in, close enough that Ruby could smell mint gum and expensive perfume.

“Your name is all over the gossip app,” she whispered like it was delicious news.

Ruby froze.

“What?” she breathed.

Brielle stepped back with a satisfied smile and crossed her arms. “You should be more careful about who you pick fights with. This school… remembers.”

“What does that even—?”

Ruby didn’t get to finish.

Her phone vibrated violently in her pocket.

She pulled it out.

New Post: Driveway Drama — New Girl Already Fighting With Kai Kingston!?

The caption read:

She moved in last night and already caused a scene. Yikes.

Attached was a blurry photo.

Ruby.

Standing by her driveway.

Facing Kai’s car.

Her heart plummeted.

She hadn’t even known someone was watching.

Someone had been close enough to take a picture.

Brielle’s voice floated over her shoulder, sickly sweet. “People say you screamed at him.”

“I didn’t scream—” Ruby began.

“No need to explain,” Brielle said, smiling too brightly. “Everyone already believes what they want.”

Ruby swallowed hard.

People nearby pretended not to listen, but their body language was a lie—still, hunched shoulders, sideways glances, waiting for the next dramatic detail.

Ruby shut her locker slowly.

But as it clicked closed, something fluttered out—like a tiny, fragile leaf.

A folded note.

Ruby stared at it for a moment before crouching down and picking it up.

The handwriting was rushed, jagged, angry.

Move back where you came from.

Her throat tightened.

Her fingers shook.

Her entire body felt hollow.

She wasn’t just the new girl.

She wasn’t just the outsider.

Someone already hated her.

And she didn’t even know why.

Brielle watched Ruby read the note.

Watched the color drain from her face.

Watched her shoulders stiffen with hurt—

And smiled like it was art.

“Welcome to St. Celeste,” Brielle said softly. “Hope you last longer than the last girl who annoyed Kai.”

Ruby blinked. “What happened to her?”

Brielle’s smile widened.

She didn’t answer.

She just tossed her hair, turned around, and walked away with the confident sway of someone who had an entire school backing her.

Ruby stood alone in the hallway, note clenched in her fist.

Students brushed past her, too busy pretending to be uninterested in her misery to actually look away.

Heat burned behind Ruby’s eyes.

No.

Not here.

Not in the middle of school.

She wouldn’t let them see her cry.

She shoved the note deep into her pocket and inhaled shakily.

This wasn’t fair.

She didn’t even know Kai.

Didn’t want to know him.

Didn’t want anything to do with Brielle, or the gossip app, or whatever twisted popularity politics this school thrived on.

She just wanted a normal first week.

A chance.

A reset.

Instead, she was the headline.

The joke.

The warning.

When the bell rang overhead, Ruby flinched.

She forced herself to move, to blend in with the crowd even as every step felt heavier.

People stared like she carried a neon sign saying “Drama Incoming.”

Someone whispered:

“She made Kai mad already?”

“Do you think he’ll get rid of her?”

“Brielle’s definitely going to destroy her.”

Ruby bit her lip so hard she tasted metal.

Why did it feel like Kai’s shadow stretched across the entire school?

Why did everyone act like knowing him—or angering him—was life or death?

His warning from the balcony echoed in her head again like an omen.

“If you think school will be better… you’re wrong.”

Ruby didn’t understand it last night.

Now she did.

School wasn’t better.

It was worse.

And the worst part?

Looks weren’t the only thing Kai Kingston attracted.

He attracted enemies.

Loyalists.

Drama.

And consequences Ruby hadn’t even begun to understand.

As she reached her next class, she gripped the strap of her backpack tightly, grounding herself.

She wasn’t going to break.

She wasn’t going to run home crying.

She might be alone here…

…but she wasn’t weak.

And if this school wanted to turn her into a villain, they were about to find out Ruby wasn’t going down without a fight.

Even if she had no idea what she was up against.