Chapter 3: The First Crack in the throne
The alarm clock on April's bedside table didn't just beep; it screamed, a harsh, metallic sound that felt like it was drilling into her temples. She groaned, pushing her face deeper into her pillow, which still smelled faintly of the convenience store's floor cleaner.
For a split second, she thought she was back in the "Seven-Star," dreaming of grey eyes and black hoodies. But as her fingers brushed against her phone, she remembered. She clicked the screen on.
There it was. A grainy, dark photo of Jaden Sterling, the prince of St. Jude's Academy, looking absolutely wrecked in a neon-lit store.
"It wasn't a dream," she whispered, her voice raspy from lack of sleep. A slow, triumphant shiver ran down her spine. She had done it. She had found the leverage to change her life.
Getting ready for school felt different today. Usually, April tried to make herself invisible. She brushed her hair until it was flat, wore her glasses to hide her eyes, and kept her head down to avoid the sneers of the wealthy heirs. But today, she spent an extra five minutes in front of the cracked mirror. She tucked her shirt in tighter and stood a little taller.
She wasn't just the scholarship girl anymore. She was the girl holding the leash of the school's most powerful student.
The subway ride to the elite district felt shorter than usual. As she walked toward the towering, gold-trimmed gates of St. Jude's, she saw the usual line of luxury cars dropping off students in tailored blazers. But today, there was a commotion at the main entrance.
A crowd had gathered mostly girls from the junior class whispering and pointing. In the center of the circle stood Jaden. He was leaning against a black pillar, looking as perfect as ever in his school uniform, but his jaw was set in a hard, rigid line. He looked like he was waiting for an executioner.
As soon as April stepped through the gates, his head snapped toward her. The grey eyes that usually looked over her head were now locked onto her with an intensity that made her breath hitch.
The whispers intensified.
"Wait, is he looking at... Mendoza?"
"Why is Jaden Sterling standing at the gate? He's never here this early."
April felt every eye in the courtyard turn toward her. It was like a spotlight had been switched on, and for the first time, she wasn't in the shadows. She walked toward him, her heart thumping against her ribs.
"You're late," Jaden said as she reached him. He didn't raise his voice, but it carried across the silent crowd.
"The subway doesn't wait for anyone, Jaden. Not even for your schedule," April replied, her voice cool.
Jaden's eye twitched. He hated the subway. He hated that she was standing there in her worn-out shoes, challenging him in front of everyone. But then, he remembered the photo. He remembered the contract.
With a stiff, almost robotic movement, Jaden reached out. The crowd gasped in a collective, sharp intake of air.
He didn't push her. He didn't insult her.
Jaden Sterling reached out and took April's heavy, battered backpack right off her shoulder.
"Give it here," he muttered, his face turning a light shade of pink that he tried to mask with a scowl. "A girl shouldn't be carrying something this heavy. It's... unseemly."
April froze. She hadn't expected him to go this far so fast. His hand brushed hers as he took the bag, and the warmth of his skin sent a jolt of electricity through her.
"Jaden?" a sharp voice called out.
It was Marcus, the #3 student. He was standing a few feet away, his arms crossed, a look of pure suspicion on his face. Behind him, the "Golden Trio" girls were looking at April as if she had just stepped on a kitten.
"What are you doing with the scholarship girl's bag, Jaden?" Marcus asked, his eyes narrowing. "Is this some kind of joke? A bet we didn't hear about?"
Jaden looked at Marcus, then back at April. He took a deep breath, and for a moment, the "JD-Zero" rebel and the "Golden Boy" merged into one. He stepped closer to April, his shoulder almost touching hers, and looked Marcus straight in the eye.
"It's no joke, Marcus," Jaden said, his voice ringing with a newfound authority. "April and I... we've been spending a lot of time together lately. Studying. Talking."
He paused, the silence in the courtyard so thick you could hear a pin drop.
"Actually," Jaden continued, a smirk a real, dangerous smirk curling his lips. "I think I'm starting to prefer her company to yours."
The courtyard exploded into chaos
The air in the courtyard felt like it had been sucked out of a vacuum. For a long, agonizing moment, the only sound was the distant cawing of a crow atop the academy's stone gargoyles and the rhythmic thump-thump of April's own heart, which felt like it was trying to break through her ribs.
Marcus's face underwent a fascinating transformation. The smug, untouchable grin of the school's third-ranking heir curdled into an expression of pure, unadulterated shock. He looked from Jaden who was still casually holding April's fraying backpack to April, who was trying her best to look like a girl in the throes of a secret romance rather than a girl who wanted to scream.
"Prefer her company?" Marcus spat the words as if they were shards of glass. He let out a forced, jagged laugh, looking around at the gathered crowd for support. "Jaden, stop. This is a bit, right? You're making a point about... what? Charity? Social experiments?"
Jaden didn't flinch. If anything, he stepped a fraction of an inch closer to April. She could feel the radiated heat from his arm, the expensive scent of his sandalwood cologne swirling around her like a silken trap.
"Do I look like I'm joking, Marcus?" Jaden asked. His voice was terrifyingly calm, the same voice he used when he was shutting down a difficult equation in class or, as April now knew, when he was dominating a high-stakes gaming lobby. "April is the only person in this entire school who actually challenges me. Everyone else is just... noise."
He turned his gaze toward April. The intensity in his grey eyes was so sharp she almost looked away. For a second, she forgot it was a contract. For a second, she saw a flicker of the 'JD-Zero' rebel in him the guy who hated this school as much as she did.
"Ready to go?" he asked softly.
April swallowed hard, her throat dry. "Ready."
As they began to walk toward the massive oak doors of the main building, the crowd parted like the Red Sea. The silence followed them, thick and heavy with the scent of a brewing scandal. April could feel the daggers being thrown at her back by the "Golden Trio" girls, and she knew that by the time first period started, every student at St. Jude's would have a notification on their phone about the 'Scholarship Scandal.'
Once they were inside the deserted North Hall, away from the prying eyes of the courtyard, Jaden's posture immediately collapsed. The 'King' disappeared, replaced by a boy who looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
He practically shoved the backpack back into her arms. "There," he hissed, his face flushed a deep, embarrassed crimson. "I did it. Are you happy now, Mendoza? I've just nuked my social standing in under sixty seconds."
April caught her bag, the weight of the textbooks nearly pulling her down. She smirked, regaining her composure. "Oh, stop being dramatic, Jaden. You didn't nuke it; you just made yourself the most interesting person in school again. Besides, you were the one who suggested we need a distraction. That was a very... convincing performance."
"It wasn't a performance," Jaden muttered, dragging a hand through his hair until it was even more disheveled than usual. "It was survival. Marcus was already suspicious. If I didn't shut him down hard, he would have been following us all day."
He leaned against a cold stone pillar, looking exhausted. "Do you have any idea what's going to happen now? My phone is already vibrating in my pocket. My mother's 'social scouts' are probably already calling her. By noon, I'll have to explain to the most powerful woman in the city why I'm carrying the luggage of a girl who lives in the Old District."
"Then tell her the truth," April said, her voice softening just a fraction. "Tell her I'm your tutor. Tell her you're so impressed by my work ethic that you wanted to... get closer to it."
Jaden looked at her, a bitter smile twisting his lips. "My mother doesn't care about 'work ethic,' April. She cares about optics. And right now, the optics are that the Sterling heir has lost his mind."
He straightened his blazer, his eyes turning cold again as he looked at the classroom door at the end of the hall. "We have Calc together. Sit next to me."
April blinked. "What? I always sit at the front. You always sit at the back."
"Not anymore," Jaden said, his voice regaining its commanding edge. "If we're going to sell this, we sell it completely. You sit with me. We share a textbook. We whisper. We make everyone in that room wonder what the hell is happening to the rankings."
He took a step toward the door but stopped, looking back over his shoulder. "And April? Don't think for a second that this makes us friends. You're holding a gun to my head, and I'm just making sure you don't pull the trigger. That's all this is."
He didn't wait for her answer. He pushed the door open and walked into the classroom, leaving April standing in the hall.
She looked down at her hands. They were shaking. Not from fear, but from the sheer adrenaline of the gamble. She was playing a dangerous game with a boy who had everything to lose, and for the first time in her life, she wasn't the one being bullied. She was the one holding the cards.
April took a deep breath, adjusted her glasses, and followed him inside.
The moment she crossed the threshold, thirty heads snapped toward her. The teacher, Mr. Garrison, paused with his chalk mid-air. Jaden was already seated at his usual desk in the back corner, but he had pulled out the chair next to him the chair that usually remained empty because no one dared to sit in his 'inner circle.'
He didn't look at her, but he tapped the desk with his pen.
April walked past the front row, past her usual seat, and felt the weight of Marcus's glare from the middle of the room. She sat down next to Jaden Sterling, the wooden chair creaking under her weight.
"Open your book to page 142," Jaden whispered, not looking up from his own notebook. "And try to look like you're actually enjoying yourself, Mendoza. You're supposed to be my 'distraction,' remember?"
April opened her battered textbook, her shoulder just inches away from his. "Trust me, Jaden," she whispered back, a sharp glint in her eyes. "Watching you squirm is the most fun I've had in years."
Behind them, a girl gasped. In the back of the room, someone snapped a photo.
The war for the #1 rank had officially turned into a battlefield of hearts, and April Mendoza was just getting started.