The classroom was filled with the low buzz of students packing up for the day, desks scraping against the tiled floor, conversations filling the air with noise.
I ignored all of it, choosing to focus on my pencil moving over the page as I shaded the wings of the dragon curling in the corner of my sketchbook.
Dragons.
They had haunted my dreams for as long as I could remember. They are great, winged beasts with scales the color of gold with shadows darker than midnight. I didn't know why they fascinated me so much.
Maybe it was the way they felt real, like some forgotten part of me trying to find its way back to the me.
I was so lost in my drawing that I didn't notice the person looming over me until it was too late. The sketchbook was yanked from my hands.
I blinked, my heart stuttering as I snapped my head up.
Lucian Voss stood above me, one hand gripping the spine of my sketchbook, the other shoved casually in the pocket of his black hoodie. His dark eyes gleamed with amusement, his smile sharp enough to cut.
"Well, well," he drawled, flipping the pages. "What do we have here?"
A cold rush of fury shot through me. I shot up from my seat, reaching for my book, but he stepped back effortlessly, holding it just out of reach.
"Lucian, give it back," I snapped.
"Yes," Mira seconded. "Give her back that book." She had been sitting next to me her eyes trained on her phone.
We were too engrossed with what had our attention to the extent we didn't even notice him approach.
We really need to be on the lookout for jerks.
He ignored both of us, flipping another page. His smirk deepened as he lifted the book for the whole class to see. "Damn, Acrux, got a little dragon obsession, don't you?"
The laughter started as a low chuckle from the back of the room before spreading like wildfire.
"Fitting," Lucian continued, his voice laced with mockery. "Since you're such a little freak. Maybe we should start calling you Dragon Girl?"
Heat flared under my skin. My hands curled into fists. "Give. It. Back."
I was already fed up with his antics. Whenever he sees me, it seemed as if he got a hard on from trying to make my life miserable in this school.
He glanced up at me, expression completely unbothered. "Or what?"
More laughter. I gritted my teeth, just as Mira glowered at him with a look reserved for nasty kids. Just like him to taunt me. For some odd reason, he has always been cold to every other person but me.
Lucian was known as the loner. He always seemed to be content with his own company until for some reason he took noticed of me.
That was when he became a five star jerk.
"Aw, come on, Nova," Isla's annoying voice chimed in from the doorway, where she leaned against the frame like she had better things to do than witness this. "Didn't your mommy ever tell you that boys don't like weird girls?"
The laughter grew louder. Of course if it isn't the queen bee of the school: Isla Carter.
She was the definition of the word mean girl. She wore it like a second skin ever since we were kids. I wasn't in the mood to exchange words with her.
I barely spared Isla a glance, but my chest tightened. Being called weird was something I had become used to. Infact, I stopped being bothered by it. But now, it sort of rubbed me the wrong way.
I was used to her cruelty, but today, it grated more than usual. Maybe because Ryder was here, standing off to the side near the window, not even bothering to look my way.
His silence stung. I don't know why I was hurt by it. I shouldn't have cared. We were over. He had made that abundantly clear when he started cozying up to Isla three days after our breakup. But still.
One part of me still missed him even though I would rather cut of my tongue than admit it to him.
Not after the way ended things with me. He used the words "weird" and "controlling" to describe me when I tried to talk to him about how distant he had been to me
Lucian turned another page. "Man, you really went all in on these. I mean, look at this one." He tilted the book. "Is this supposed to be your boyfriend?"
More laughter. I saw red and I lunged at him, ready to tear him limb from limb after making fun of me like that.
Lucian dodged, sidestepping easily, his grin widening. "Oh, feisty. That's new. You usually just sulk."
"Give it back or I swear to God, Voss—"
"What?" He chuckled. "You gonna punch me like you do all those little boys who piss you off?"
Of course he was referring to some incident that happened a long time ago when I was teased about my drawings.
But that was before he came to this school. I speared Isla a cold look knowing she was the one who relayed the gossip. More laughter. I clenched my fists so hard my nails bit into my palms.
"Nova, don't," Mira murmured beside me, her hand brushing my arm even though she was with me on this.
I shrugged her off. Not bothering to listen to her. I wanted to sink my claws into the bastard.
Then, before Lucian could react, I grabbed a fistful of his hoodie and yanked him forward.
The laughter cut off. The air in the room changed.
For the first time since this whole thing started, Lucian's smirk faltered. His body tensed.
I tightened my grip, my voice low, vibrating with barely restrained fury. "I said, give it back."
For a long moment, he just stared at me. His expression unreadable. The amusement in his eyes flashed and I saw something else, something darker, flashing behind them.
Then—
"Excuse me?"
The deep, authoritative voice sliced through the tension like a blade. It seemed everybody was holding their breath wondering what I would do.
Silence crashed over the room. I didn't want to believe that he was there. But I wasn't ready to let go of Lucian's hoodie until he gave me back my book. Slowly, I turned my head.
Our school principal stood in the doorway, his gaze sharp and unimpressed. His eyes flicked between me and Lucian, taking in the way I had him by the hoodie, the way his hand still held my sketchbook.
The tension thickened.
"What is going on here?" he asked and my stomach dropped.