Chapter 30 – Dorm Wars
Sam's POV
I should’ve known peace never lasted long in Dorm 9. The next afternoon proved it.
Classes had dragged, my mind too full of Elias’s words from the blackout night. I tried to shove them down, but they clung to me—softness, different, trust. Dangerous words. Words that made me uneasy.
By the time I pushed through the dorm’s heavy front doors, backpack slung over my shoulder, I wanted nothing more than to collapse on my bed and shut out the world. But the second I stepped inside, I knew something was off.
The air was different. Voices were louder, sharper. Not the usual rowdy shouts of Dorm 9 boys, but something harder. Laughter that wasn’t friendly echoed down the hall.
Elias came up beside me, running a hand through his messy hair. “You feel that?”
I glanced at him. “Feel what?”
“The shift. Something’s up.”
I nodded toward the growing crowd funneling toward the common room. “Guess we’re about to find out.”
When we rounded the corner, Declan’s voice snapped like a whip. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Four guys stood in the middle of the common room, their matching dark jackets marking them as outsiders. Dorm 11 boys. Rival dorms weren’t supposed to mix, but here they were, smirks plastered across their faces like they owned the place.
The tallest one, blond hair slicked back, grinned. “Relax, Ward. Just came to say hi.”
“Hi my ass,” muttered one of our guys from the couch.
“Get out,” Declan said flatly.
Blondie spread his arms. “Or what? You’ll cry to your daddy?” His friends laughed, nudging each other.
The tension spiked so hard it crackled.
Elias stepped forward, calm but sharp. “You’re trespassing. Leave.”
“Big word for a pretty boy,” Blondie fired back, smirk widening.
“Say that again,” Elias growled, his voice low.
One of Blondie’s friends snorted. “Oh, he’s serious. Look at him, ready to break a nail.”
Our guys muttered, shifting restlessly. Someone shoved someone else just enough to make it dangerous.
Declan pushed in close to Blondie, jaw tight. “You’ve got five seconds to get out before I break your nose.”
Blondie tilted his head. “Five seconds, huh? What if I’d rather stay?”
He shoved Declan’s shoulder.
The room exploded.
“Don’t you touch me!” Declan snarled, shoving him back.
“Get him!” one of Dorm 11’s boys shouted.
Chairs screeched across the floor, bodies surged, and suddenly fists were flying.
I froze for a half-second, heart racing. It was chaos—grunts, curses, laughter that turned vicious. One guy from Dorm 9 tackled a rival onto the couch, both of them throwing sloppy punches. Another slammed into the snack table, scattering chips and soda everywhere.
“Break it up!” Elias barked, but his voice was swallowed by the noise.
Blondie swung hard at Declan, fist catching his jaw. Declan staggered but came back swinging, landing a brutal punch that made Blondie stumble. Blood spattered. The crowd roared like it was a show.
“Take him down, Ward!” someone from our side shouted.
“Kick his ass!” a Dorm 11 boy yelled back.
Elias shoved two guys apart. “Enough! Cut it—”
He didn’t finish. One of Dorm 11’s boys lunged at him, fist raised.
“Elias!” I shouted, but he was fast—blocking the punch, twisting the guy’s arm, and shoving him against the wall.
But another was already charging from the side.
Before I could think, I stepped in. I shoved the second guy back hard. “Back off him!”
The rival looked me up and down with a sneer. “What’s this? Little Hale wants to play?”
My stomach knotted. Don’t blow it, Sam. Don’t fight like yourself. Remember who you’re supposed to be.
“Try me,” I snapped, forcing my voice to sound low, rough.
He smirked. “You don’t scare me.”
“Good,” I shot back, fists clenching. “That’ll make it easier when I knock your teeth out.”
A flicker of surprise crossed his face before he laughed, mean and sharp. “Cute.”
Then he swung.
His fist clipped my shoulder, pain shooting down my arm. I stumbled but stayed up. My old instincts screamed at me—duck, sidestep, strike fast. The way I used to defend myself. But I couldn’t. If I moved like me, they’d see.
So I swung back, a clumsy punch that grazed his jaw.
He snorted. “Pathetic.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. Adrenaline buzzed in my veins. I shoved him with both hands, harder than I meant to. He staggered back into a chair, toppling it.
“Still pathetic,” I muttered, chest heaving.
Elias caught my eye for half a second—something unreadable in his look—before another fist came at him and he turned back.
The whole room was fire now, chaos feeding itself. Declan had Blondie in a headlock, snarling. One of Dorm 9’s boys swung wildly and missed, crashing into the wall. Rival boys shouted insults, our guys barked them back.
“This is insane!” I shouted over the noise.
“No kidding,” Elias grunted, blocking another blow. “Stay close, Hale!”
Like I had a choice.
Suddenly someone shoved me from behind. I spun and nearly collided with another Dorm 11 boy, his grin sharp.
“You look scared,” he taunted.
“Do I?” I forced a smirk. “Maybe I just think you’re ugly.”
He snarled and lunged.
Before he could reach me, Declan’s voice cut through the chaos like a blade. “Enough!”
Everyone froze. Or maybe it wasn’t his voice that stopped them.
Because in the doorway stood the dorm supervisor. Arms crossed, eyes blazing.
“What the hell is going on here?”
The silence was instant, heavy, dangerous.
Someone whispered, “We’re dead.”
The supervisor’s gaze swept the wrecked room—chairs overturned, blood on Blondie’s lip, chips crushed into the carpet. His eyes narrowed.
“Every last one of you,” he said coldly. “In my office. Now.”
My stomach dropped.
We were so, so screwed.