All Chapters of Royalty College : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Aalia sat on the edge of her bed, sketchbook open across her lap, pencil hovering uselessly above the page. The half-drawn dress in front of her blurred as her mind replayed last night—Collins on the rooftop, bloodied but unbroken. The way he stood even when four were against him. The look in his eyes.She pressed the pencil harder, breaking the tip.“Damn it,” she whispered.Her phone buzzed. Jeffrey. Again.She ignored it at first, but it buzzed a second, then a third time. With a frustrated sigh, she answered..“You’ve been avoiding me,” Jeffrey said smoothly, though there was a sharp edge under his tone.“I’ve been busy,” Aalia replied.“Busy watching him?”Her heart skipped, but she kept her voice steady. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Jeffrey chuckled, low and bitter. “Don’t play me, Aalia. You think I didn’t hear? Collins Neville, the freshman who thinks he’s a hero. Everyone’s talking about him. And you… you’ve been looking at him the way you used to look at me.”“T

The lecture hall buzzed louder than usual. Students leaned over desks, whispering, phones glowing with gossip. I slid into my seat, ignoring the eyes that followed me.Professor Norman entered, but even his sharp glare couldn’t silence the chatter completely.“Settle down,” he barked. “Your education will serve you longer than your rumors.”That only quieted the noise a little.Musa leaned closer. “Guess what the talk is today.”“Me?” I muttered.“Half right. You and Jeffrey.”I frowned. “What about him?”Musa smirked. “Apparently his father’s one of the biggest sponsors of the State Championship. Which means…”“Which means Jeffrey owns the judges before the fights even start,” I finished.“Bingo.” Musa leaned back, satisfied with himself. “It’s like you’re fighting him in the ring and outside it. No pressure.”I stared at my notes without reading a word. If that was true, then this wasn’t just a fight for respect—it was politics. And politics had a way of breaking even the strongest

The auditorium was jam-packed. I swear, it felt like the whole school had squeezed in just to see this showcase. People were standing in the aisles, climbing onto window ledges—like this was a Drake concert, not a student event.Musa whistled under his breath. “Bro, you see this? If boxing pulled this kind of crowd, we’d be celebrities already.”I shook my head, scanning the room. Everyone looked hyped, restless, waiting for the one act they came for. Because let’s be honest—it wasn’t about the music showcase. It was about Jeffrey.When the lights dimmed, the whole room went silent, like somebody hit pause. Then the spotlight hit the stage, and there he was—Jeffrey, strolling out with a guitar slung across his shoulder, wearing that smug smile like it was stitched onto his face.The screams hit immediately. Girls in the front row literally jumped to their feet, waving their phones like he was Harry Styles.He adjusted the mic, cool as ice, then strummed one chord. Just one. The crowd

The lecture hall buzzed with noise—students chatting in small clusters, laptops opening, pens clicking, chairs scraping against the floor. The kind of chaos only a first day could bring.Aaliah sat between me and Jeffrey, and though there were at least fifty other people in the hall, she might as well have been the only one. Her perfume was faint but constant, a blend of roses with a touch of vanilla that teased me every time she shifted in her seat.I tried—truly tried—to focus on the lecturer when he arrived. A tall man with glasses perched low on his nose, sleeves rolled neatly to his elbows. He introduced himself, explained how the grading system would work, and threw in a few jokes to ease the tension. Everyone laughed politely.But me? I barely caught half of it. My pen scratched random words onto my notebook, though none of them made sense. My thoughts kept circling back to the girl sitting just inches away.At one point, Aaliah leaned toward Jeffrey to whisper something. Her v

The rest of the walk to the admin block felt strangely quiet. Even Jeffrey, who always seemed to have something witty to say, kept glancing over his shoulder like he expected the seniors to return.Aaliah, on the other hand, walked as though nothing had happened—steady, calm, almost untouchable. That only made me more curious about her. Who was she, really?After sorting out our schedules at the faculty office, Jeffrey insisted we at least peek into the library before the day ended.“I mean, if I’m going to be a college student, I at least need to pretend I study,” he joked.The library was huge. Bigger than anything I’d seen before. Two floors of towering shelves, glass walls that let in the fading evening light, and the faint smell of old paper mixed with fresh ink.We found a quiet corner, away from the main crowd. Jeffrey dropped into a chair dramatically. “This,” he said, “is where I’ll sleep when lectures get too boring.”I laughed, shaking my head, but my eyes wandered to Aalia