Maya adjusted the strap of her worn backpack as she stepped through the gates of Ridgewood International High. The gates looked like they belonged outside a senator's mansion or even the president's White House, not a school. Gold initials gleamed at the top, catching the sun in a way that made her squint.
Maya came down from the car and bid her mum goodbye.
She exhaled slowly.
Scholarship or not, you got in. Don't freak out.
Inside, everything felt too polished. The halls were bright, the floors reflective, she could see her own shoes in them, which only reminded her that they weren't new. Students floated around her, smelling like expensive perfume and confidence. Girls in short designer skirts talked loudly, comparing vacations in places Maya had only seen on postcards. Boys wore tailored uniforms like they were ripped from magazine ads.
Maya kept her head down and tried not to stare.
It wasn't insecurity at least she didn't want to call it that. It was just… a different world. One she wasn't born into.
She turned a corner, hoping to find the main office, when a sudden wave of noise rolled through the hallway, excited, dramatic, like a concert crowd winding up.
"He just came in!"
"Move, move!"
"Did you see his hair today?"
Maya almost laughed. It's just a guy.
But the energy shifted. Students pressed back against their lockers as if making way for someone important.
And then she saw him.
Not because she was looking for him. But because you couldn't miss him even if you tried.
Liam Kingston.
Tall, athletic build, uniform slightly undone like he didn't care about rules but still somehow looked flawless. There was something unsettling about the way he moved, calm, slow, like he had all the time in the world and the hallway belonged to him alone.
Girls watched him the way people watch fireworks, breathless, waiting for something to explode.
Maya tried to look away before anyone thought she was staring too, but Liam's eyes lifted at the exact wrong moment.
And they landed on her.
Not a glance. Not a polite look.
A full pause.
As if she was a new book on a shelf he had never noticed before.
Maya froze, startled. She felt suddenly too aware of her clothes, her shoes, the backpack that wasn't from any brand at all.
Liam's expression didn't change much, but there was a flicker, something curious, almost entertained. His gaze dipped briefly to the scholarship badge clipped to her shirt, then back to her face.
She forced herself to move first, stepping past him with what she prayed looked like confidence.
Behind her, she heard whispers erupt:
"Who is she?"
"Is she new?"
"Why did he look at her like that?"
"No way. Liam never looks at anyone."
Great.
Just what she needed on her first day.
Maya tightened her grip on her schedule and kept walking, pretending she couldn't feel his eyes lingering on her one last time before she disappeared into the crowd.