Ethan Cole sat in the farthest corner of his high school classroom, pretending to take notes while his eyes betrayed him, drifting again and again toward the same girl. Isabella Reynolds.
It wasn't just that she was beautiful, though she was—her long dark hair spilling over her shoulders like a waterfall, her eyes catching the sunlight whenever she turned her head. It was the way she carried herself, effortlessly confident, as though the world bent to her rhythm. She spoke and people listened. She laughed and the room lit up. Isabella wasn't just another student. She was the kind of girl people remembered years later, the kind of girl who lived in the center of every story.
And then there was Ethan.
He was the shadow at the edge of the frame, the boy who worked two part-time jobs after school to help his mother pay the bills. The boy whose shoes were starting to fray and whose notebooks were secondhand. The boy who had never once believed he belonged in Isabella's world.
Still, he watched. He couldn't help it.
When the final bell rang, Ethan shoved his books into his backpack and told himself today was the day. For weeks he had rehearsed what he would say, whispering the words in the mirror until they lost their sting. His friends would laugh if they knew. Half the school believed Isabella was untouchable, out of anyone's league—especially his. But Ethan had learned something working late nights in the diner: courage wasn't about believing you could win. Courage was stepping forward even when you knew you couldn't.
He walked out into the courtyard where students were scattering in every direction, some rushing to buses, others lingering in clusters. Isabella stood alone by the gate, her phone in her hand, her expression soft in the fading afternoon light. Ethan's heart pounded so hard he thought it might crack his ribs.
This is it, he told himself. It's now or never.
His legs felt like stone as he approached. He cleared his throat, and she looked up. Her eyes met his, and for a heartbeat the noise of the world fell away.
"Hey," Ethan managed, his voice unsteady. "I… uh… I was wondering if maybe… you'd like to go out sometime?"
The silence that followed stretched like a blade. Ethan wanted to vanish, to melt into the pavement before she laughed or, worse, pitied him.
But then Isabella smiled. A soft, genuine smile that reached her eyes.
"I'd love to," she said.
For a moment, Ethan thought he'd misheard. But no—her smile held steady. She meant it. The weight of weeks, months, years of self-doubt shattered in an instant. He felt lighter than air, as though the universe had finally, mercifully, handed him a miracle.
"Really?" he asked, still dazed.
"Really," Isabella said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Friday night?"
Ethan nodded, too stunned to speak. She gave him a wave and walked off toward her car, leaving him frozen in place, his heart thrumming with impossible joy.
He had done it. He had asked. And she had said yes.
That night, Ethan lay in bed staring at the ceiling, a smile plastered on his face. For the first time in years, he wasn't worried about bills or broken shoes or the way the world looked down on him. For the first time, he let himself dream.
But dreams are fragile things.
Far across town, while Ethan slept, a black van rolled down an empty street. Men in dark coats spoke in hushed voices, their faces hidden by masks. They weren't looking for Ethan. Not yet. But fate was already shifting, aligning like storm clouds before lightning strikes.
Ethan didn't know it then, but the yes he had waited for his entire life was the beginning of something far darker. Something that would burn away everything he thought he was—and forge him into something new.
Something deadly.
And Isabella Reynolds, the girl who had just said yes, would one day stand in his path again. Not as a classmate, not as his first love—but as his enemy.