Chapter One
Aurora
All I wanted was to pass my class.That’s it. But apparently, one of the hidden requirements included crawling through mud like a half-drowned earthworm while the entire campus looked on. Perfect.Just brilliant.What a great welcome back after the autumn break, Silverwood.
He really did it in front of everyone.
Joshua Maxine Lockhart, campus richspoiltheir, decided his morning entertainment would be pickpocketing, and guess who he chose as his target?
Me.
And what did he decide to throw into the muddy field at eight in the morning?My keytomylocker, where my final project for my course is. And because everyone saw it, I can't pretend I didn’t.
No, I came out here like some little volunteer, walking around the edge of the field like that would somehow save me.
Spoiler: It didn’t, because since my day is going so well, I ended up here. Hands and knees. In front of the entire campus. Crawling through the mud like a rejected extra in a war movie.
It seems ridiculous that a girl wearing a white shirt would willingly crawl through a muddy field, but it’s not. It’s really not. My scholarship would be on the line if I were late, even by a minute.
And with my last name, Campbell, I was always one of the first to hand things in. C. I’m a C. That’s a cursed third letter. So, while everyone else was safe in the back half of the alphabet, the scholarship girl had to crawl.
“You got a little something.”
I glanced up. His figure towered above me, blocking out the sun. My eyes dropped to my white shirt, mud-streaked and ruined.
Perfect.
I balled my fist into the muck, grit squeezing between my fingers, and ignored him.
My key is still out here somewhere, and I’m not giving him the satisfaction of watching me break.
“Looking for something? Need help?” His voice was sharp, cold, but also flat.
I didn’t look up. My hand stayed buried in the mud, searching, as if determination alone might make the key appear.
“Sure?” He was closer now. I could feel his shadow stretch across me.
Please just walk away and leave me alone.
“So, you don’t want this?”
Something glinted in my peripheral vision. I finally glanced up, and there it was. Dangling from his index finger, swinging ever so slightly in the sunlight, was my locker key.Mykey.
My eyes shifted to his face. His eyes were sharp, degrading, maybe empty, but I was sure deep down he was secretly enjoying my misery. It just didn’t reach his face,never does.
As my hands shook, I reached towards the key, fingers trembling, desperate to snatch it away from him, away from that stare that always made me feel small.
He didn’t budge, so I took the key from him. He didn’t even try to snatch it back, just turned around and walked off, back in the direction of the campus building.
What?
I looked down at the key, wondering if it was real or if it was another one of his games. Did he give me a fake key? Or—I shook my head. I didn’t have time to think. I needed to move, or I was screwed. My project, toast. My scholarship, toast.
I forced myself up to my feet, and I ended up making eye contact with at least half of the campus who were staring at me.
My fist tightened on the key as I started feeling nauseous. My knees were shaking, the oxygen ceased to exist, and I flung my palm to my chest, squeezing onto the fabric as tightly as I could, hoping for it to ground me, keep me standing on my two feet, because any second, I might just sink back down again.
“Shit, what the fuck?” A loud thud echoed across the field. I looked up to see three girls dropping their designer bags onto the concrete as if they couldn’t care less before stepping into the mud with me.
