"Each and every one of you will be paired in groups of three. One of the three will be from different departments," the science teacher, a grim-looking man in his fifties, boomed in the hall, glaring at each of us as murmurs of protest filled the room. "I demand that you all keep your reluctance to yourselves." But the grumbles grew louder. We were in the event hall, every eye on the smallish man in the lab coat. Although his booming voice made up for his size, every time he spoke, there was silence. I leaned my back against the wall, sighing and looking around. Annoyingly, my gaze caught him at the far end of the room, hands stuffed in his pockets, staring ahead with his chin tilted forward. How many days had it been since that night? Surprisingly, he had given in to my demands, ignoring my entire existence even when we ended up in the same room—which was more than a few times, if I were honest. Maybe it was because Tristan was so easy to spot. No one else walked into schoo
TRISTAN"How was it?" Al asked as I carefully yanked off the nose mask. The cap went next."I guess not good."I turned to him, a tight frown owning my lips. "Why?"He nodded to my chest. "Your jacket needs a new zipper."I looked at the metal in my hands, severed from the jacket, and grimaced. What the fuck. What the actual fuck was up with me?Running into him every day didn't make it easy when all I wanted was to grab at him and... And what? I wasn’t even sure anymore.And the mistake on the group pairing? He had waited behind, not moving an inch. In that moment, I could sense it—his readiness to damn all consequences just to avoid being on the same team as me.Also, what was that little stunt in the chemistry lab? It was so fucking obvious he’d always had a thing for Nat. Damn the "friend talk." There was nothing stopping them from getting down to it in the damn chemistry lab.I began to walk away. I needed the pills. The scars hidden beneath thick locks of dark hair had begun to
Victoria raised her hands dramatically, palms out like I was holding her at gunpoint. "Whoa, easy there, hothead. I come in peace!"I scrambled upright, my head pounding, my shirt sticking to me like I’d been wrestling in a swamp. Steam practically hissed from my ears. “Didn’t I just say to get the hell out?”For a moment, she just stared at me, then placed her hands on her hips, her jaw dropping like a bad actress. “Wow. Rude much?”I blinked hard. Was this real? A nightmare? Was she seriously this stupid? Instead of walking out like a sane person, she reached for the half-empty bottle of whiskey, inspecting it like it was a fine artifact. Grinning, she tilted it towards me. “Ah, that explains it. Someone’s running low on happy juice.”Somehow, the fight drained out of me. Maybe it was her complete lack of self-preservation instincts, or maybe it was the way she stared around my messy room like she’d stepped into some magical realm. Her wide eyes landed on the couch and cracked walls
MYLES“Cariño,” Mum called me from the kitchen entrance.From the sitting room, where I had my face buried in Leo’s borrowed system, I muttered, “Hmm.”“I was just thinking... what about your friend? Tristan, right? The gentleman who came by when you were recovering?”My fingers froze mid-click, and I slowly looked up. Mum was standing there, wiping her hands with a kitchen towel, her gaze fixed on me like she was trying to read my mind.Of all the topics she could bring up, it had to be him—and today, of all days. A weekend where I was finally, finally starting to forget he even existed.I forced my focus back onto the screen and replied as casually as I could manage, “Oh, I see him around at school. He says hi.”It wasn’t even remotely true. These days, Tristan was rarer than a dodo bird. Between our combined efforts to avoid each other, it was like he’d vanished entirely.I did my part—steering clear of the rink, the shared labs, and basically any space where we might cross paths.
TRISTANMy week was ruined the very hour Victoria announced she was moving in. Announced. Because that’s exactly what she did."What are you doing, Al? You don't even know who she is!" I growled, stomping over to where he was.Al nodded gently. "I don't, but you saved her life. Surely you care about her."I turned sharply, glaring at Victoria, and she gave me an awkward smile. "You're leaving. Right now!"To my surprise, she turned to Al, and I heard him sigh. "I think you're making a hasty decision, Master Tristan," he said. I still couldn’t believe my ears. "Have you heard what she has to say? She doesn’t have anywhere to go."And suddenly that was supposed to be my business? This was my space, my sanctuary. I’d created it to protect myself from people like her, and now I was just supposed to give her a room?I heard her heels clicking, and soon she stood before me. There was no mischief in her eyes as she searched mine. "My father found out about me and Mel. Mel’s in hiding because
TRISTAN Watching the coach lead Myles out of the rink, I sat there, hands buried in my pockets, finally understanding why he was the one kicked off the team. That had been the worst game I’d ever seen. It couldn’t just be nerves—what the hell was he doing out there? Maybe he’d made the right call, giving up the deal. Even if he made it to D-day, he wouldn’t have stood a chance. Jade had gone quiet, her face a mix of worry and confusion as she scanned the rink, muttering something to Leo and Natalie. Well, that was that. I sighed, standing up. My guilt faded, replaced with a hollow sense of vindication. So much for stealing his position—*his fucking position.* But just as I turned toward the exit, he slid back onto the rink, cutting through the ice like a wrecking ball. I froze mid-step, blinking. It was so smooth I had to double-check to see if it wasn’t someone else. But no, it was him—Myles—gliding around his team with a swagger that was impossible to ignore. I dropped ba
MYLES The next week came fast. The high of the match temporarily forgotten as everyone worked in a frenzy finalizing their project and thankfully I didn't have much to do for surprisingly Natalie and Leo had a actually worked together and cleared it up."Wow." I mumbled, looking up at them standing proudly before me, i felt a pang of shame, "So what am I going to do?"The seemed puzzled at my question, looking at each other before Nat shakes her head, "Nothing."I blinked unsure if I heard right. "Nothing?"She nods again. "Yes nothing. All you have to do is go home, get some beauty sleep, and come back tomorrow looking like a million box."Leo nodded in agreement. With the guilt that I let them do all the work, I don't argue. They didn't expect me to, turning away and talking amongst them like I wasn't there.The last thing I expected to see happen was watching Leo and Jade, two polar opposites work so peacefully together without their opinions competing to override the others.But
I saw Natalie’s jaw clench, her hardened gaze locked on the smug figure at the far end of the room. The murmurs continued, some fragments I could catch, most I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear.“Come on…” George said, the smile on his lips not quite reaching his eyes. “Don’t be shy.”From behind, Leo held Natalie’s arm. “Let’s leave. We’re done here.” But even as he said it, he seemed to know it was a lost cause, for that little grin was already playing on Natalie’s face.She raised her chin in that way that shifted the air in the room. I heard Leo murmur, “Shit.”“You just can’t wrap your head around it, right?” Natalie said, a tinge of laughter in her voice. The room went silent as she stepped forward. “It’s not really hard to understand, George—why I would rather not continue being with a fool.”There went the ooohs and the murmurs rising to the ceiling. George’s hands clenched into fists, and the science teacher pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.George let out a chuckle—t
JADE"Jade, it's me, Eros... Shh, don't make a noise."I stood there with my back pressed to his pounding chest while the crashing continued in the sitting room. My body relaxed, almost fainting, but then I saw the gleaming muzzle of a pistol in his hand. My body went rigid, and my heart sank."You really saw him get in here?" A voice bellowed from the sitting room. "If he's on the run, you think he'd just dive into some house?""I know I saw him scale the barbed fence," another frustrated voice responded, followed by something heavy being pushed. "O penso.""Oh now, you fucking think? This is what the boss means when he says you're getting in over your head, silver. Now you ruined the fucking place!"With his grip still tightened on me, Eros pulled back until we were hidden behind my thick dark curtains. Just two seconds later, my room door slammed open, accompanied by a snap."We wouldn’t be fucking here if you had just kept your mouth shut and aimed right."My body stiffened as sil
JADE'The number you're trying to call is switched off, please try again later...'I turned to my side on the bed, the covers up to my chin, staring at the blank screen of my phone.Another weekend, and once again, Myles wasn’t picking up. Which meant one thing—Tristan.I had given up trying to understand why Tristan got to him like that. Ever since the project day, when Tristan sent George to the hospital for making a move on Myles, things had been a mess.Did Myles hate him or not? Should I wish Tristan death or not? The thoughts clawed at my head so badly it was hard to concentrate. It didn’t help that Myles had been scarce ever since the coach made it his mission to ensure Myles was more than ready.Why did Tristan leave the team? Why let Myles stand in his place? So many questions swirled in my head, and not even that fucking Eros wanted to help.Urgh.I’d cornered him once, pushing a black parcel into his locker. He turned, his eyes falling on me with my arms akimbo. He shut the
I stared, frozen at the door, at his forehead pressed against the wood, dark hair hiding half his face. It was him. It was him, alright. But Tristan… Tristan would never apologize to me. So what was this?“I know,” he said, his voice low. “It doesn’t matter if it was a mistake or if it wasn’t your mother’s calls. I shouldn’t have been doing that in the first place.”My grip on the door slackened, my thoughts going quiet. What was he doing?As if sensing the shift, he pushed himself off the wall, standing before me. He shoved his hands into his pockets, looking up at me while I still hadn’t found my words.“I’m not usually like this,” he continued, his eyes searching mine. “But since you ask why, I guess I have to say something.” He dropped his gaze to the floor. “Watching you that day, I realized I did steal your position. So… I gave it back. It was never mine in the first place.”I pushed the door wide open and stepped aside.He glanced at the open doorway, then back at me. I turned
After that confession, we remained in my room. I was now shirtless, still on the bed, while Victoria lounged on my couch and Mel sat beside her, holding her arm down. Why? "You did what?!" She screeched, and when I said nothing, she lunged for me, fingers stretched out, scrambling to reach me as Mel held her back. "Let me fucking be!" I made no move, not even to throw her out of the room, because at that moment, I couldn't find the will to stare her down. Now she glared at me, opened her mouth to say something, then shut it, narrowing her gaze at the wall. So much for telling her, huh? Nothing had changed except maybe her rage and the silence that filled the room. "You're despicable." Mel broke the silence with a groan, leaving a still simmering Victoria. She sat beside me, space hoarding as her knees were wide open. "But unlike my mistress, I'm here to help." A mock smirk appeared at the corner of my lips. I'd never get used to her calling the pest that. She caught the grin, th
TRISTANIt all happens in a whirlwind: the quiet probing of hundreds of eyes, the burning rage as my fists got wet, the stilling aftermath—and finally...here he was. Reachable, warm, and goddamn relieving. I knew I couldn't be gentle, no matter how hard I tried, but this roughness... it was different. It reeked of fear.The fear that if I just took my hands off him, he'd leave. I pulled tighter. It would be the last time I'd ever see him.But he let me... following the sway of my tongue, holding onto it like a lifeline. Why did he let me? What was this feeling? If my chest got any heavier, I was going to die. Where was the ache in my skull?"Oomph... Tris..." His fingers softly pressed against my chest as if to push me away, but it didn't. The pressure dissipated and lay docile instead.Myles...Pathetic! the voices in my head growled. WHAT HAVE YOU BECOME?!But it wasn't loud. Every little sound emitting from his lips made their roars sound like breezes instead. Ha... Myles.Then, he
I saw Natalie’s jaw clench, her hardened gaze locked on the smug figure at the far end of the room. The murmurs continued, some fragments I could catch, most I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear.“Come on…” George said, the smile on his lips not quite reaching his eyes. “Don’t be shy.”From behind, Leo held Natalie’s arm. “Let’s leave. We’re done here.” But even as he said it, he seemed to know it was a lost cause, for that little grin was already playing on Natalie’s face.She raised her chin in that way that shifted the air in the room. I heard Leo murmur, “Shit.”“You just can’t wrap your head around it, right?” Natalie said, a tinge of laughter in her voice. The room went silent as she stepped forward. “It’s not really hard to understand, George—why I would rather not continue being with a fool.”There went the ooohs and the murmurs rising to the ceiling. George’s hands clenched into fists, and the science teacher pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.George let out a chuckle—t
MYLES The next week came fast. The high of the match temporarily forgotten as everyone worked in a frenzy finalizing their project and thankfully I didn't have much to do for surprisingly Natalie and Leo had a actually worked together and cleared it up."Wow." I mumbled, looking up at them standing proudly before me, i felt a pang of shame, "So what am I going to do?"The seemed puzzled at my question, looking at each other before Nat shakes her head, "Nothing."I blinked unsure if I heard right. "Nothing?"She nods again. "Yes nothing. All you have to do is go home, get some beauty sleep, and come back tomorrow looking like a million box."Leo nodded in agreement. With the guilt that I let them do all the work, I don't argue. They didn't expect me to, turning away and talking amongst them like I wasn't there.The last thing I expected to see happen was watching Leo and Jade, two polar opposites work so peacefully together without their opinions competing to override the others.But
TRISTAN Watching the coach lead Myles out of the rink, I sat there, hands buried in my pockets, finally understanding why he was the one kicked off the team. That had been the worst game I’d ever seen. It couldn’t just be nerves—what the hell was he doing out there? Maybe he’d made the right call, giving up the deal. Even if he made it to D-day, he wouldn’t have stood a chance. Jade had gone quiet, her face a mix of worry and confusion as she scanned the rink, muttering something to Leo and Natalie. Well, that was that. I sighed, standing up. My guilt faded, replaced with a hollow sense of vindication. So much for stealing his position—*his fucking position.* But just as I turned toward the exit, he slid back onto the rink, cutting through the ice like a wrecking ball. I froze mid-step, blinking. It was so smooth I had to double-check to see if it wasn’t someone else. But no, it was him—Myles—gliding around his team with a swagger that was impossible to ignore. I dropped ba
TRISTANMy week was ruined the very hour Victoria announced she was moving in. Announced. Because that’s exactly what she did."What are you doing, Al? You don't even know who she is!" I growled, stomping over to where he was.Al nodded gently. "I don't, but you saved her life. Surely you care about her."I turned sharply, glaring at Victoria, and she gave me an awkward smile. "You're leaving. Right now!"To my surprise, she turned to Al, and I heard him sigh. "I think you're making a hasty decision, Master Tristan," he said. I still couldn’t believe my ears. "Have you heard what she has to say? She doesn’t have anywhere to go."And suddenly that was supposed to be my business? This was my space, my sanctuary. I’d created it to protect myself from people like her, and now I was just supposed to give her a room?I heard her heels clicking, and soon she stood before me. There was no mischief in her eyes as she searched mine. "My father found out about me and Mel. Mel’s in hiding because