Chapter 3

The hall was massive.

The kind of space that could hold the entire school and then some. Polished floors reflected the bright sunlight streaming through the tall tinted windows, and the walls were lined with banners announcing achievements, trophies glinting under the artificial lights. Yet, despite the beauty and grandeur, a chill ran through me the moment the voice came over the microphone.

"Settle down, everyone! Quiet the noise!"

The command was sharp, almost surgical. Chairs scraped as students hurried into neat rows. Whispers, shuffling, and muffled laughter died instantly.

The room went still. Every single person - students and teachers alike froze in place, as though caught by an invisible hand.

I stared, blinking, unable to comprehend what I was seeing. I had expected arrogance, noise, and chaos - rich kids rarely respected anyone.

But this?

This was obedience born of fear, not respect. Even the teachers flanking the podium had stiff postures, their tablets clutched in front of them as if holding onto them could somehow anchor their courage.

The voice spoke again, calm but undeniably commanding.

"Everyone in your seats. Now."

A shiver ran down my spine. Who was this person? And why did it feel like the entire room was holding its breath for him? Teachers normally exude authority, sure, but this? There was something in his presence, something that made the rich and entitled behave like children. My heart raced, curiosity and anxiety tangling into each other.

"That's Anderson Gregory. Everyone calls him Mr. Greg," Belle whispered beside me, leaning close as if reading my thoughts. Her voice was low but urgent. "He's our Maths and Statistics teacher... head of the Science department too."

I glanced at him, my eyes trying to absorb the man behind the legend. He was tall, poised, with a calm authority that radiated from every line of his posture. I could see why the hall seemed to shrink in his presence. He wasn't loud or dramatic - his power was quiet, precise, undeniable.

"He seems... feared," I whispered back. My voice barely carried over my own heartbeat.

That's not it. He's quite strict but girl, his first name" she looks at me like I'm supposed to understand what that means.

I shoot her a confused look. "Huh?"

"Girl, Anderson. His family runs this town" she rolled her eyes at me.

"For real?"

"Yeah. His the younger brother to the Mayor; Mayor Daniels who happens to be the father of the meanest boy in school....drumrolls....Julian Anderson" she spat.

Anyone could tell that there's a story there but now's not the time to be curious. I low-key want to know who this 'mean boy Julian' is and I genuinely hope he isn't as mean as Belle mentioned because one thing I could tell from this little encounter with her is that she's quite dramatic and exaggerating wouldn't be off the list of a dramatic person.

What if he's the same spoiled brat I encountered today at the math Lab?

God forbid I run into that kind of person again. Spoilt to the core, no regard for humanity, rude as fuck and dumb as hell. Because who wouldn't know how to solve a simple equation like that? And still insult someone who volunteered to teach him???

Nahhh his parents did a very rough job with him.

My thoughts spiraled, looping, pulling me deeper. My pulse slowed as I focused on the next thing I could control: math. Numbers. Variables. Equations. The chaotic hall faded into background noise, the flicker of Belle's eyes, the hum of fluorescent lights, the soft rustle of uniforms - all of it became irrelevant.

If I made y the subject of the formula first, keeping a and b constant... differentiate y with respect to x... then isolate the variable terms... multiply through by the coefficient... wait - would I divide first or subtract first?

My mind raced through each step, balancing equations as though the entire hall had ceased to exist.

If y = mx + b... no, that's linear. Here it's quadratic... okay, derivative of y with respect to x, partial derivatives... treat a and b as constants... integrate... substitute back...

Time blurred. I felt like I had been walking through equations for hours, yet in reality only seconds passed. The problem consumed me entirely. If I had done it this way... or that way... maybe the constants would cancel... maybe I could simplify...

Belle nudged me. Once.

Then again.

And again.

A voice sliced through my mental fog: "Elora!"

I blinked. Pindrop silence. The hall was still. Every eye was on me. The equations vanished, leaving only a cold wave of reality crashing over me.

I glanced up. Mr. Gregory's piercing gaze pinned me to the floor. And there, standing at his left was Joseph. Our eyes met briefly. He mouthed something like "come on".

I stared.

My heart raced.

I turned to Belle.

"Well?" she gave me a challenging look.

"What's going on?" I whispered. I could hear the fear in my voice. "Why is everyone staring at me?" I shivered.

"He asked that y'all Scholarship students come up and introduce yourselves to the school. For almost five minutes we've all been waiting for you. That new boy is up there already"

What?" all she said was yet to register

"Well, go on up and stop staring like a lost puppy"

Lost puppy? My cheeks burned. Every student in the hall had heard. I wanted to sink into the floor, wished for invisibility, prayed for the earth to swallow me whole.

As if on cue, Mr. Gregory calls out to me again. "Miss Brown?" with a raised brow.

"My apologies" I murmured shamefully, like the whole school could hear me. I stood, legs stiff, and walked toward the podium. Each step echoed unnaturally in my mind, the silence amplifying every sound, my hands gripping the microphone as if it could anchor me.

"Thank you," Mr. Greg said, giving me a measured sideways glance. Jeez, I thought. I had just arrived and already managed to annoy the most feared teacher in the entire school.

Joseph smiled at me from the side. I couldn't muster the energy to return it, my mind was a tangled knot of nerves, shame, and residual awe at the hall's tension.

The microphone was handed over. My voice felt foreign in my own ears. Joseph went first.

Hello everyone, my name is Joseph Jones and I am one of the new scholarship students here at St. Jude. I was previously at Coven High and it's located in the countryside... "

Some students began to murmur and one look from Mr. Greg shut everyone up immediately.

Joseph waited for the murmurs to die down before he went on.

"I'm here to learn, to work hard, and to graduate alongside all of you. Please... don't make it too hard for me," he concluded, his confidence quiet but unmistakable.

I studied him. He was calm, self-assured, and polite. Brave. I felt a strange mixture of relief and admiration. He wasn't afraid to stand up to the room, a room that made even teachers tremble.

And then... my eyes wandered. My attention shifted involuntarily, scanning his features. The curve of his lips when he smiled, the angle of his nose, the subtle thickness of his lashes, the faint asymmetry of his ears. I caught myself staring too long, lost again, my mind wandering into impossible minutiae.

Joseph was all smiles when he leaned down to my hearing and whispered "Stop staring at me like you're solving maths on my face and introduce yourself"

"Ugh, yeah..." I bent my head in shame.

Raising my head up, to look up at my audience, my eyes locked with a set of seductive blue ones; eyes sharp, intense, challenging. My stomach lurched. Anger, humiliation, and the memory of the math lab came rushing back.

I quickly averted my gaze and they landed on Belle's. She gave me a sign to go on and it occurred to me that I was in the middle of an introduction.

Clearing my throat, I said: "I... I'm Elora Brown. I'm a scholarship student. I... hope to learn alongside all of you."

The words felt hollow in my ears. I glanced at Belle; her disappointment was subtle but noticeable.

She had hoped for more - a confident introduction. But that sounds more like a 'Belle Problem'. I had been lost, distracted, and overwhelmed.

I stepped down, heart pounding. The hall remained a blur of eyes and faces, whispers and movements, and the sharp pulse of tension in the air. Every step back to my seat beside Belle felt stretched in time.

"Girl... what was that?" Belle asked, her voice exasperated.

"Belle... not now, please," I muttered, still disoriented.

I could barely make out what Mr. Greg was saying. I believe at some point the principal came up the podium to say something which I don't think I heard.

He probably wasn't audible enough.

Or maybe I was just lost in thought. Again.

My mind swirled: the hall, Mr. Greg, The rude blue eyed boy, Joseph's calm confidence, the weight of hundreds of students' eyes, the lingering shame of my words. I was still lost, drifting in thoughts and calculations. And I had a feeling this first day had only begun testing me - my patience, my courage, and maybe even my sanity.

I felt Belle tap me and I realized assembly is over and everyone was scurrying to their classes.

"Girl, what was that?" Belle attacked me the moment we stepped out of the hall.

Little did I know that she wasn't gonna let go.