"If I want something, I can simply take it," Kashi said with a frown. "Why do I need to wait?"
"Because sometimes patience is simply nice," Zarri said from behind her, laughter dancing in her teenage voice. "And more fun."
Kashi stood still while Zarri brushed the dust from her school uniform. Her brows remained drawn together as she pondered the strange answer.
Patience.
It sounded like something adults said when they had no power to do what they truly wanted.
"I do not have time for patience," Kashi finally said.
Zarri straightened and laughed again."None of us do."
Kashi turned to look at her.
The girl before her was smiling, bright and amused, as though the world itself was a private joke only she understood. Then she stretched out her hand.
"I'm Zarri Mathias."
Kashi looked down at the offered hand. For a moment, she only stared.
Then she took it.
"Kashi Saints."
Zarri's smile widened. "I feel we would make good friends, Kashi. Don't you think so?"
Kashi looked at her, and slowly, a smile appeared on her face. "The very best."
Earlier that day…..
A girl sat by the classroom window, her cheek resting lightly against her hand as she looked outside.
Her face carried no emotion nor even interest.
She simply stared at the school grounds beyond the glass, watching students move about beneath the afternoon light. Their laughter, their gossip, their tiny dramas, all of it bored her.
She sighed. School was painfully dull.
"Kashi."
A voice sounded behind her.
Kashi did not turn. "What is it?" she asked lazily.
"Where is it?" The voice was cold, strained with anger.
Only then did Kashi sigh again and turn around.
A smile settled on her face, soft and sweet enough to be mistaken for innocence by anyone foolish enough to believe in such things.
"Mia, dearie," she said. "Have you no manners?"
Mia stood before her desk, her hands clenched at her sides and her face dark with frustration.
"I have no time for your games, Kashi. Hand it over."
Kashi tilted her head. Then she raised one hand. A tiny bracelet dangled from her fingers, catching the light as it swayed.
"What?" she asked with an exaggerated pout. "This?"
Mia's eyes locked onto it at once. "Yes. That."
"Why?"
"It isn't yours," Mia said sharply.
The bracelet belonged to her. Juan had given it to her, and because of that, Mia had worn it every day like a little piece of treasure. Earlier that morning, she had misplaced it. It had slipped from her without her noticing, and by the time she realised, panic had already taken hold of her.
She searched everywhere.
Then finally, a classmate whispered that she had seen the bracelet among Kashi's things.
"Oh," Kashi said, twirling the bracelet slowly around one finger. "But finders keepers, isn't that how the saying goes?" She tapped her fingers lightly against the desk, her other hand resting beneath her chin.
Mia's fists tightened.
But she did not move recklessly.
No one moved recklessly with Kashi Saints.
The Saints family name was not one students spoke carelessly. It carried too much power. In this school, Kashi could smile while ruining someone, and the teachers would still find a way to call it a misunderstanding.
Kashi watched Mia's anger with quiet amusement.
"You're pretty bold, you know," she said.
Mia frowned. "Bold?"
Kashi nodded.
"You wore this every day since Juan gave it to you," she said, lifting the bracelet slightly. "Flaunting it around the school like some foolish little thing in love."
Mia's face flushed from embarrassment and rage "Kashi…"
Kashi raised one hand. "Ah, ah, ah…" She said softly.
The smile vanished from her face.
And somehow, that made her look even more dangerous.
"Your tone, Mia," she warned. "Tone."
"You have no right," Mia said, her voice trembling now. "It's mine."
"Really?"
Kashi lowered her gaze to the bracelet, then slowly slipped it around her own wrist. She lifted her hand, turning it slightly as the tiny stones caught the light.
"But it fits me so perfectly, doesn't it?" she said, holding her wrist out for Mia to see.
Mia's face tightened with hurt. "Juan... "
"Was mine," Kashi cut in.
Her voice dropped cold and sharp. "And so was this bracelet."
Mia flinched.
Kashi's eyes darkened as she stared at her.
"You think you can wear what he gives you like some silly little lover of his?" she scoffed.
The truth was, Juan meant nothing to Kashi.
At least, that was what she had told herself in the beginning.
None of the boys in the school had ever truly mattered to her. They were all the same, loud, foolish, easy to impress, and far too eager to orbit around her because of her name, her beauty, and the power attached to the Saints family.
But Juan had been different.
Not because he was special.
Not at first.
Kashi had only admired what everyone else admired. Juan was the school's golden boy, brilliant, kind, handsome, warm in a way that made girls giggle behind their hands and boys want to stand beside him. Everyone liked Juan.
So Kashi decided she would like him too.
It had amused her at first.
She showered him with attention. Gifts. Smiles. Her presence. She inserted herself into his circle of friends with effortless grace, befriending those around him until there was no gathering, lunch table, study group, or school event where she did not somehow belong.
She was Kashi Saints.
Beautiful.
Wealthy. Untouchable.
She had everything. So naturally, Juan should have looked at her.
But he did not.
That foolish boy, with his kind smile and gentle eyes, had the audacity to look elsewhere.
At Mia.
At first, Kashi ignored it.
She noticed the little glances Juan gave Mia when he thought no one was paying attention. The way his gaze lingered when Mia laughed. The way his voice softened whenever he spoke to her.
Kashi told herself it was nothing.
A distraction.
A passing interest.
Something he would forget in a few weeks.
But Juan did not forget.
Instead, he spent more time with Mia. He turned down lunch with Kashi to sit elsewhere. He invited Mia to parties. He walked beside her after class. He smiled at her in that infuriatingly gentle way, as though she were something precious.
Then he had gone too far.
He had bought Mia a diamond bracelet. And worse, he had given it to her publicly.
In front of everyone.
Announcing his feelings like a fool too drunk on affection to understand what he had done.
Something inside Kashi had cracked that day.
How dare he?
How dare he make her look foolish?
She had lowered herself for him. She had wasted time on him. She had entertained his friends, attended his football games, smiled from the stands, clapped when he scored, and acted like some devoted girl waiting to be chosen.
And he had chosen Mia.
Mia, from a wealthy family, yes, but not wealthy enough. Not powerful enough. Not Saints-level.
A second-rate little girl standing beside a name she could never touch.
"Kashi, please…" Mia whispered.
Kashi looked down at the bracelet on her wrist.
Weeks.
Weeks of pretending. Weeks of tolerating Juan's circle of boring friends. Weeks of smiling, cheering, waiting, allowing him to think he had the right to overlook her.
All for him to rub dirt in her face by falling for trash like Mia.
Slowly, Kashi removed the bracelet.
Mia's eyes followed the movement at once.
For one brief, foolish second, hope flickered across her face.
Kashi smiled.
Then she let the bracelet fall from her hand. It hit the floor with a faint sound.
Mia's breath caught. "Kashi, don't... "
Crack.
Kashi brought her shoe down on it.
The delicate bracelet snapped beneath her heel.
Mia's eyes widened in horror.
For a moment, she could not move. She only stared at the broken bracelet lying on the floor, the glittering little thing Juan had given her now bent, crushed, and ruined.
Then she dropped to her knees and picked it up with shaking hands.
Tears gathered in her eyes.
Why?
Why?
Why?
She looked up at Kashi.
Kashi stared back at her with a cruel smirk.
For years, Mia had endured her.
She had avoided her when possible, kept her head down, swallowed insults, stepped aside, and done everything she could not to get on Kashi Saints's bad side.
So what had she done to deserve this?
Kashi tilted her head. "You can have it now," she said. "It looks like trash." Her smile sharpened. "Just like you."
Something in Mia snapped.
With a cry, she lunged at Kashi.
The room erupted.
Mia crashed into her, grabbing, clawing, and lashing out with years of swallowed humiliation. Kashi stumbled back, shocked by the sudden attack, then raised her arms to defend herself.
"You bitch!" Mia screamed, tears streaming down her face. "You fucking bitch!"
Kashi hissed, struggling against her.
Mia was quicker than she looked. Her hands tore at Kashi's uniform, her nails scratching wherever they could reach. Rage had made her reckless, and for a few seconds.
Then Kashi's expression twisted.
She grabbed Mia hard by the shoulders and shoved her violently.
Mia crashed into a nearby desk with a sharp sound, her body hitting the edge before she stumbled to the floor.
"How dare you touch me, you rat!" Kashi spat.
But Mia was not finished.
Still crying and shaking with fury, she pushed herself up and moved to attack again.
Before she could reach Kashi, a hand seized her from behind.
Mia was yanked backward with shocking ease, pulled off balance, and tossed aside as if she weighed nothing.
"That's enough, you two." The voice was calm.
Almost bored.
Kashi turned sharply.
The girl standing between them was Zarri Mathias.
For a second, Kashi forgot her anger.
Zarri.
She recognised her.
Everyone did, in the vague way students recognised someone strange who never tried to belong. Zarri had transferred to the school recently, she was a year ahead of her and in arts department but she barely spoke to anyone. She sat alone, walked alone, ate alone, and carried herself with a kind of detached amusement that made people unsure whether she was shy, proud, or simply uninterested.
No one knew much about her.
And until now, Zarri had never interfered in anything.
Mia lay on the floor, crying openly now, the broken bracelet still clutched in her hand.
The noise had already drawn attention. Students rushed into the classroom, crowding around the doorway and whispering among themselves.
Some looked at Mia with pity.
Most did not.
Some even sneered. Of course they did.
No one needed to know what had happened before choosing a side. Once they saw Kashi Saints standing there, furious and offended, the story had already written itself.
Mia should have known better.
That was how their world worked, the strong survived and the weak crushed.
Mia's friends finally pushed through the crowd and helped her up, she held the ruined bracelet tightly against her chest as they led her out of the classroom, past the staring eyes and cruel whispers.
Kashi remained where she was, breathing hard, her uniform slightly rumpled and her pride more wounded than her body.
Then her eyes snapped back to Zarri.
"You," she said, surprise cutting through her anger.
Zarri looked at her.
There was no fear in her face, only that strange little smile, as if she had walked into the middle of a storm and found it entertaining.
Kashi's frown deepened. Why had Zarri interfered?
"My, my, darling," Zarri said, stepping closer. "Look at your dress."
By then, the crowd had already dispersed. The whispers had followed them out of the classroom, trailing behind Mia and her friends like smoke, but the room itself had grown quiet again.
Kashi stood where she was, stiff with irritation, her uniform wrinkled and stained with dust from the fight. Her hair was slightly dishevelled, and one side of her collar had been pulled out of place.
Zarri reached for her without asking.
Kashi's eyes lowered to the hand touching her uniform.
She did not move. But her thoughts sharpened at once.
Get your hands off me, you filthy mongrel.
"Let it be," Kashi said with a frown. "It's ruined already."
"Yes, it is," Zarri replied, still brushing at the dust. "That little cat was quite ferocious in her attack."
Kashi's pride bristled. "I could have handled it."
"Dios mío, darling," Zarri said, her voice light with amusement. "I couldn't leave a damsel in distress."
[My God]
Kashi blinked.
Damsel in what?
The words sat strangely in her mind. She had been called many things before, beautiful, spoiled, cruel, powerful, arrogant, impossible, but never that. Never someone who needed saving.
She stared at Zarri as if the girl had just spoken in riddles.
"All for such a stupid bracelet," Kashi muttered, looking away.
Zarri's hand paused. "You liked it that much?" she asked, one brow lifting slightly close enough to irritation.
Kashi scoffed at once. "Ew, no. It was ugly."
Zarri released a breath, visibly relieved. "Goodness," she said. "I was beginning to think your taste in jewellery was terrible."
Kashi rolled her eyes. "It was mine regardless. I wanted it."
Zarri tilted her head, studying her with that strange, amused smile again.
"If you want something that much," she said, "you need to wait."
Kashi frowned.
"If I want something, I can simply take it," she said. "Why do I need to wait?"
"Because sometimes patience is simply nice," Zarri said, moving behind her to dust off the back of her uniform. "And more fun."
Kashi remained still as Zarri worked, though her expression stayed unconvinced.
Patience.
The word sounded weak to her.
It sounded like something adults told children when they wanted to delay them. Something powerless people dressed up as wisdom because they could not get what they wanted immediately.
Kashi Saints had never understood the need to wait.
She wants it, She takes it.
That was how the world worked or at least, that was how it worked for people like her.
"I do not have time for patience," Kashi finally said.
Zarri straightened behind her.
For a brief second, her smile softened into something almost knowing.
Then she laughed again, bright and childish.
"None of us do."