Chapter 6 The New Student
Mia's POV
Two years had passed since everything in my world fell apart. Since the day my mother slammed the door behind her and never looked back, my siblings were taken with her, along with the warmth of home. My closest friends did not just walk away they made me feel like I was something to be avoided, a stain on the perfect picture they wanted their lives to be.
Yet here I was, still moving through the halls of Suncrest Academy, chin lifted just enough to look unbreakable. I carried every whisper, every stare, like invisible weights hooked beneath my ribs. I had become a cautionary tale. A name spoken behind manicured hands. A shadow that no one wanted to be caught standing beside.
This was my final year before college, and I needed to get through it and graduate with honors. I could not afford to fail, not after everything I had lost.
This was my last chance, my final shot at changing my story. Not for applause. Not to make them regret what they did. I was not trying to be unforgettable anymore.
I was fighting for freedom from the past and from the pain. From the version of myself they tried to destroy.
The uniform I wore had been carefully mended at the seams. My shoes were clean but worn. I carried no makeup, no brand name labels, just the silent resolve of someone who had already survived the worst year of her life.
My father had always been the steady one the one who kept the lights on, the fridge full, and the house filled with laughter. When he died, everything good died with him. My mother did not grieve for long, as if his memory meant nothing as if marrying someone else was more important than mourning him.
And the ones who once promised they would never leave? They were the first to run. My so-called best friends cut ties like I was contagious, whispering that being seen with me would only pull them down too.
If not for Mrs. Rodriguez, I would have dropped out. She paid what my mother would not, and helped me stay in the same academy that once paraded me as a model student.
I had vowed not to aim for the spotlight again. But now, with college on the line and my future hanging by a thread, I knew I had to push harder than ever. Not for pride, but for survival. I needed perfect grades to get a scholarship and a way out.
So even if no one clapped for me, even if I remained the loner in a hallway full of golden lives, I would rise again.
I passed the lockers slowly that first day, my gaze forward, my grip on my books firm. Laughter echoed in corners I used to belong to. Familiar voices. Familiar pain.
"Why is she still here?" someone muttered as I walked past.
I did not slow my steps. I had been shattered before, but not anymore. Let them whisper. Let them stare. Their judgment no longer held power over me. And this time, I would rise without apology, and without ever looking back.
My former best friends had also become the reigning queens of Suncrest Academy.
They called themselves the Powerful Four now, like they had forgotten the girl they once swore they would grow old with. Once my ride or die sisters, they now floated at the top of the social food chain polished, untouchable, magnetic.
The football captain, the soccer stars, the golden boys of every sport lingered near them like moths drawn to their shine. And me? I was the shadow left behind. The forgotten name in their rise to the top, watching from the quiet edges of a world that used to be mine too.
I chose the seat farthest from the center the quietest corner by the window, where shadows fell and eyes rarely lingered. I was not there to make friends or draw attention. I was there to survive the year in peace.
The bell rang, and the classroom buzz faded as students scrambled to their seats. Our homeroom teacher, Ms. Valera, walked in with a clap of her hands and a too-cheerful smile.
“Welcome to your final year,” she said with a smile. “Let’s make it count.” The door creaked open. And everything changed.
Gasps rippled through the room like a wave. Heads turned. Whispers ignited instantly sharp, electric.
I kept my head down, my fingers tightening around my pen, used to this kind of reaction.
Except this one was not about me.
"You must be the new student?" Ms. Valera's voice softened with curiosity.
"Yes, ma'am," came the reply.
His voice was confident and controlled. The kind of calm only people who were used to being noticed possessed.
“Sorry for the delay. I lost my sense of direction for a moment, but I promise it won’t happen again.”
My pulse leapt at the sound of that magnetic voice before I could stop it, before I could even think.
"I have heard great things," Ms. Valera continued, smiling wider. "Top honors from your school abroad. Fluent in four languages. It is safe to say Suncrest just gained a future valedictorian."
"That is Liam Alcaraz, is it not?" Chloe practically squealed, hissing to the girl beside her. "His dad owns the Alcaraz Group one of the biggest conglomerates in the country. This is huge."
I blinked, but tried not to react. I was not about to be impressed by some rich transfer student with a jawline and a resume.
Chloe was not done. "His family is worth billions. He used to study in Europe. I heard his mom is an heiress too."
"Take any seat you like, Mr. Alcaraz," Ms. Valera said.
His footsteps echoed slowly, deliberately. I felt it before I saw it. He was not walking blindly. He had already seen me.
The moment he stepped in, he spotted me. Not the girls fluttering lashes and whispering his name like it was sacred. Not the ones in designer shoes who were clearly used to getting attention.
Me.
Sitting by the window, eyes on my notebook like I wished I could disappear into the paper. I was unmoved by the chaos of his arrival. He walked straight toward me.
"Is this seat taken?" he asked, already halfway into the chair before I could answer.
And when I finally looked up, he froze. I could see his reaction. He stared like he had not expected me. I hated that part of me that noticed everything about him.
Dark tousled hair that looked like it had been kissed by the wind. Storm gray eyes that did not flinch when they met mine. A jawline made for teen drama covers. And that smile was lazy, devastating, and tragically dimpled.
No one that beautiful had any right to smile like that.
"I guess I will sit here," he added casually.
My brain short-circuited. Boys like him did not sit beside girls like me. Not anymore. Not since my mother left. Not since my so-called best friends abandoned me. Not since I stopped being someone.
I turned away, trying to keep my pulse slow. My fingers clutched my pen like a lifeline.
"I am Liam," he murmured once Ms. Valera turned her back. His voice dipped low and amused, like he was not just talking but watching me squirm. "And you are?"
I hesitated.
Everything in me screamed to ignore him. To build a wall so high that not even a boy like Liam Alcaraz could climb it. I knew his type too charming, too confident, too temporary. The kind who made girls like me forget what they had sworn never to hope for again.
But something in his tone was different. He was curious if I mattered in this place.
"...Mia," I whispered.
He smiled again. And this time, the dimple on his right cheek appeared like a secret being offered just to me.
"Mia," he repeated slowly, like he was committing it to memory. "Nice to finally meet someone who is not trying to impress me."
I did not reply.
Because for the first time in a long time, something shifted in my chest.
And it terrified me. He was not a crush. He was a spark. A flicker in the cold. A question I did not ask and did not want to answer.
I forced my focus on the board, even as my skin buzzed with awareness. He did not say another word, but I could feel him there. His presence was like warmth pressed against my side.
He was watching me. Not the way boys watched the popular girls. He was studying me. Noticing me.
And I hated how a small, traitorous part of me wondered if maybe he would be different. If just maybe someone would stay this time.
No. I shut that part of myself down. Hope was a luxury I could not afford anymore. Not for friends, especially not for boys, the kind with dangerous smiles and storm colored eyes.
When the bell rang, I stood fast, clutching my books like a shield. I just needed to get to my next class alone.
But before I could escape, I heard them.
"Liam Alcaraz, right? Does your family own the Alcaraz business all over the country?"
"You are like loaded. Right?"
The swarm was instant. Chloe and her friends cornered him like moths to a flame.
“Hey,” Chloe called out, loud and sugary, just as I was passing the door. “The new boy sat beside her, didn’t he?” A few laughs followed, low and knowing, and someone added that he was only being polite, that it was ridiculous for me to think otherwise, that I was pathetic for imagining anyone would be interested in me at all.
Half the class turned to stare, and I tightened my grip on my books before walking out, not looking back, not even once.