❝Sometimes, you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.❞
— Socrates
"Don't scream."
I'm frozen. A chill goes down to me as my eyes move to the left, the guy now a bit visible to me. I'm debating whether I should bite his hand or not, but he doesn't take another moment to wait for me to do something. He opens the classroom door that's a few steps beside us and drags me there. He removes his hand from my face, which I'm thankful for.
I hear Asher and Lily talking about whether someone's there or not. I think Asher even comes to check that spot but goes away since I hear the fading footsteps. I sigh. I can't mess anything up if I want to succeed.
"Can you let go of me now?" I say quietly to the boy whose fingers are still wrapped around my wrist. He steps back in realisation, instantly letting me go. It's relatively dark in this room, the only source of light being the windows on our left.
"What, no thank you?" he asks me, his voice flat. "I just saved your ass out there."
"I didn't ask for your help," I mutter. "I could've handled it myself."
"Yeah, sure," he says in disbelief. "Why were you after them? That's Asher Hale we're talking about. You want him to notice you that bad, huh?"
"Shut up."
"You're a first year, right? If he finds you snooping around like that, he's gonna make your life here a living hell."
I look up at him, searching for his eyes. But the light isn't enough for me to tell me what I need to know. I've already got questions about him. Why was he here in the first place? Why did he even help me?
"What's your name?" he then asks me. I'm surprised he doesn't know, but at the same time, not everyone knows how I look yet. I'd prefer it if I keep it that way. I'm not here to make friends, or even allies. I'm just here to finish what was started. I'll do anything to do that but I'll do it alone.
"Why would I tell you?" I deadpan.
"Consider it a payback for saving you. You're gonna owe me otherwise."
I don't like owing people. "Harley. We done now?"
Even if there wasn't much light here when I said that, I can swear his expression faltered at that moment. He was quick to regain his composure, though, but I was naturally going to consider the worst. I'd underestimated the students because of my narrow vision, forgetting that there'll be other people too. Some who'll be clingy and some who'll be competitive. It's a gamble.
"You're the first ranker," he says, an amused smile tugging on his lips as he steps closer. "Harley Kingsley. Right. You're not how I expected you to be."
"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow. "What did you expect?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know." He's looking at me with his hands in his pockets.
There's something in his words that's different. There's something up with him. I'll figure it out sooner or later if I cross paths with him later.
I shake my head, tired. I turn around, walking towards the door when he grabs my arm again, more firmly this time. I look at him, my face blank. "What?"
"Straighten your shirt," he says simply. "You don't want to give people a wrong idea of what you were doing here."
My lips tugged upwards in a small smirk. "You don't want that?" I straighten it anyway.
"Nope," he states. "At least not yet."
I give him a look and scoff before walking out of the room. I look to the direction Lily and Asher vanished and shrug, walking back into the hall as the music starts to hurt my head almost immediately.
I notice the guy from before isn't following but I'll admit it, he's got my attention for now. I want to see him more clearly, and come to conclusions about what's going on. So far, I've miscalculated a lot of things. So much for being a genius, I think. I'll have to think about it more to predict accurately and maintain relationships while figuring out the names.
"Where the hell did you go off to?" I hear Jude's voice snapping me into reality and I comprehend my surroundings. Right. I'm still at the party. I can think about it later. "Hey, Harley."
"What?" I ask her, annoyed. I look at her to find another girl, the one she was talking to when I last saw her. It's now that I notice her features - she's short compared to even Jude, with hair just a little longer than shoulder level. She wears a light blue skirt with a plain white coloured sleeveless top. Her hair is held together with a sky blue bandana and overall, she looked like someone friendly; more so than Jude.
"This is Ana. You know, the fourth ranker. She's cool, I think you should meet her."
I mentally debate whether to go along with it or not. I look into her eyes and find that she's most probably not hiding any kind of ulterior motive.
She's the peacemaker.
Or at least, that's what my judgement says. She's probably the rainbows and sunshines and always the calm type.
"I'm Harley, nice to meet you," I say, my voice worn out.
Ana smiles and extends an arm towards me, which I reluctantly shook. "Ana Vorklov. I've heard a lot about you." She eyes Jude, who just nudges her. I'm genuinely irritated by the fact that Jude's around me and talking about me. It's mean but it's safe to say that I'm not fond of her at all. Ana probably sees through me. "Don't worry, it wasn't anything bad."
I shrug.
"All the first years are eager to meet you, by the way, you know. Because of your score."
"I honestly couldn't care less."
This makes Ana laugh for some reason. I'm still not comfortable with their presence. They'll make a great pair. Their vibes just go together. Mine, however, I have no idea what my vibe is like but I can say that it's nothing like theirs. After talking to both of them for a while, I back away from them, deciding that they're probably better off amongst themselves.
I turn around but don't notice who's standing there and bump into them, the person holding me steady. "Can't you even walk straight, Kingsley?" Asher's familiar voice echoes in my ear and I look up, taking a step back. I don't reply to him because it will only drag the conversation. He shakes his head, draping a hand across my shoulder. "Huh? You're not gonna talk to me? I thought we were past that stage."
"Shut up," I mutter quietly as he pulls me closer to him, his lips tugged up in a smile.
"Oh, so technically, we are speaking."
"No, we aren't."
He purses his lips and his eyes darken. I look at him, a heavy feeling weighs down my chest. "You know, I'd really appreciate it if you keep your attitude down, Kingsley."
"And why would I do that?"
"You ask a lot of questions."
I stay silent once again. He waits for me to answer him but when I don't, he just smiles and shakes his head. "You're interesting," he says and I cringe, "And I'll figure out how you got into this school with marks that high."
"What, am I your play toy or something now?"
"Maybe you are."
School hasn't even begun and I've already made some progress. I think I may know which one of the people mentioned in the diary he is. I just need a slight confirmation and I'll get it sooner and later. I'll be able to strike one name off from my list then.
I don't reply to him for a while. We're still walking, students making way for us and staring but I can't say that I don't like the attention for once. It feels amazing. Not because I'm standing here with someone so close to me but because of the thoughts that have finally started to be sorted into their rightful places, as if I've put a piece of a puzzle in the correct position. I just have to wait for all of them to fall correctly into their place.
He finally stops at the other end of the room and turns around. He pulls me closer to him, leaning down so that his lips are just inches away from my ear. When he speaks, a shiver goes down my spine. "I hate things to be one sided," he whispers. "You may think you're some queen with that snarky little attitude of yours but you're forgetting one thing."
He moves his face away, his smile never fading. Letting go of me, he takes a step forward.
"If you're gonna want to be some queen who thinks she's smart, just remember that I am the king." His voice turns deeper. "And I hate it when things don't go my way."
He turns again, meeting my eyes.
"So, play with me, Harley Kingsley. And make it worth it."
If it was any other time I was talking to Asher Hale, I'd have not understood what he meant. But right now, standing here at Redville in front of him, I understand everything. Asher Hale is drunk on power, and he thinks he can control and manipulate me in his favour by playing this game with me. But there's no way I'm going to let that happen.
Just like the way he holds secrets against people, I'll use his' to break him.
I'll never be controlled by him - not even in his dreams. I will shatter his heart and reputation in a million pieces until he forgets to count.
I will be the undoing of Asher Hale.
Author's Note
Thoughts on Asher?