Roman woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed.
For the first few seconds, he forgot where he was.
The bed beneath him was too soft.
The air smelled too clean.
Sunlight poured into the room through the large French windows, painting golden streaks across the polished floor.
Then reality returned.
Vesperridge Academy.
Roman slowly sat upright and stretched his body lazily.
His joints cracked softly from yesterday’s stress and traveling.
The fight with Luciano, the strange dinner incident, Johnny’s warnings—everything from yesterday replayed briefly inside his head before he pushed it away.
Today was a new day.
He climbed down from the bed and walked toward the window.
Outside, the academy was already alive.
Students dressed in neat uniforms crossed the courtyards below while gardeners trimmed hedges carefully beside marble walkways.
A few teachers moved between buildings carrying books and coffee cups.
The cool morning breeze swayed the flower hedges planted around the campus, making the entire place look almost unreal.
Roman leaned slightly against the window frame.
The morning looked bright.
Beautiful even.
But strangely, he felt a foreboding sense of bad omen
He still did not fully understand how this school worked.
There seemed to be hidden rules, hierarchies, special students, 0pprumors.
Roman glanced toward the bed across from his.
Empty.
Johnny still had not returned all night.
Roman frowned slightly.
Where exactly did that strange boy sleep?
A small uncomfortable feeling settled in Roman’s chest.
Johnny acted weird, yes, but there was also something sad hidden underneath all that strange behavior.
Roman shook away the thought and checked the leather wristwatch his mother and sisters had managed to buy him last Christmas after saving money for months.
His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
“Oh no.”
He was late.
Very late.
Roman practically flew toward the bathroom.
The shower water hit his skin cold at first before warming up gradually.
He bathed quickly, nearly slipping twice in his hurry.
By the time he finished, steam clouded the mirror and tiny droplets clung to his skin.
He rushed back into the room and opened the package containing his new school uniforms.
Roman paused briefly.
The uniform looked beautiful.
The maroon blazer carried the silver V-shaped crest of Vesperridge Academy proudly on the chest pocket.
The fabric looked thick and expensive, softer than anything Roman had ever worn before.
The charcoal trousers were neatly ironed with sharp vertical lines running perfectly down the front and back.
Even the white inner shirt smelled fresh and expensive.
Roman dressed quickly.
The fabric brushed smoothly against his skin while he hurried around the room grabbing his things.
Once fully dressed, he finally looked at himself in the mirror and blinked.
He looked…Good.
Really good.
Sharp shoulders.
Clean haircuts.
The he maroon blazer fit his body perfectly.
For the first time since arriving at Vesperridge, Roman actually looked like he belonged there.
A small smile appeared on his lips.
Then the smile disappeared immediately.
The tie.
Roman stared at the burgundy-and-white checkered tie hanging uselessly around his neck.
Big problem.
Back in Ashford, boys rarely wore ties unless it was for church weddings or funerals.
Roman had never learned how to knot one properly.
Still, he tried.
He adjusted both ends evenly and tied a knot.
The result made him look like a waiter serving drinks at a village ceremony.
Roman frowned deeply and untied it.
He tried another style.
This time one side became ridiculously shorter than the other.
He looked like a confused puppy wearing a ribbon.
Roman groaned.
Third attempt.
Worse.
Fourth attempt.
Disaster.
By the fifth attempt, the tie hung around his neck like a dead snake.
Roman stared at himself in frustration.
“Forget it.”
He grabbed his bag quickly.
At this point, being late mattered more than fashion.
Roman locked the dorm room behind him and hurried into the hallway.
Finding his classroom turned out to be far harder than he expected.
Vesperridge Academy is massive.
Every building looked almost identical—tall maroon-and-ivory terrace structures lined with endless windows and polished walkways.
The maps posted around campus somehow made things even more confusing.
Roman walked in circles at least twice.
One sign pointed left.
Another pointed right.
A third map somehow made him end up beside a tennis court.
“So much for an elite school,” Roman muttered under his breath while sweating lightly.
By the time he finally located the correct building, he was already twenty-five minutes late.
Roman climbed the stairs hurriedly, breathing hard.
He reached the classroom door panting like someone running from wild animals.
Without thinking, he pushed the door open.
“I am so sor—”
“Where exactly do you think you’re going?”
The sharp voice cut through the classroom instantly.
Roman froze.
Standing near the board was the most intimidating woman he had ever seen.
She was tall and painfully thin, with pale skin that almost looked ghostly beneath the classroom lights.
Her blonde hair was pulled tightly backward into a severe bun, exposing sharp cheekbones and cold grey eyes covered with smoky eyeshadow.
Dark red lipstick painted her lips like blood.
Honestly…She looked like a vampire.
A terrifying one.
In one hand she held a short cane which she swung lightly against her palm.
Roman instinctively stepped backward.
Was corporal punishment allowed here?
Surely not.
Right?
“What is your name, hood boy?”
The classroom exploded into laughter instantly.
Roman turned slightly.
More than thirty pairs of eyes stared directly at him curiously.
Roman cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Roman… Roman Patterson.”
He paused slightly.
“And I’m not a hood boy.”
“Silence!”
The teacher’s voice cracked through the room like thunder.
The laughter died immediately.
Her cold grey eyes returned to Roman slowly.
Danger practically radiated from them.
“I have already heard about you, hood boy,” she said coldly.
His mind told him this is about the Luciano’s incident.
New surely traveled fast in this school.
“I knew you would eventually enter my class,” the woman continued while slowly circling around him.
“And now that I see you, I already know the type of student you are.”
Roman stayed silent.
“You are the type that doesn’t understand gratitude,” she continued sharply.
“Even when called to a table you do not belong to.”
The classroom grew very quiet.
Roman felt heat rise behind his ears.
So even teachers were openly taking Luciano’s side now.
“If you are not careful,” she said softly, “you may find yourself returning to wherever you crawled out from.”
That lasts sentence hit Roman hard.
Why did rich people always talk like poor people were stray animals invading their territory?
The teacher continued walking around him slowly.
“You arrive on your first day sweating like a criminal,” she sneered.
“And that tie around your neck…”
The class giggled quietly.
Roman glanced downward in embarrassment.
The tie hung around his collar awkwardly like a defeated ribbon after a party.
“You look like a hoodlum pretending to be a gentleman.”
More laughter.
Roman clenched his fists quietly.
The teacher stopped directly in front of him again.
“You think you’re special?”
Her voice lowered dangerously.
“Every student in this academy is special. Every single one.”
She leaned slightly closer.
“So don’t come from God-knows-where and begin challenging authority.”
Roman immediately understood what she meant.
Luciano.
Everything always came back to Luciano.
Roman lowered his eyes slightly.
He was not stupid.
This was not the moment to fight back.
Not when he barely understood the school yet.
Not when everyone already seemed against him.
“I apologize, ma’am,” Roman said quietly.
“It won’t happen again.”
The humility in his voice surprised even himself.
The teacher studied him carefully.
“Good.”
She pointed toward the front of the classroom.
“Stand there until my lesson ends.”
Roman obeyed quietly.
For the next thirty minutes, he stood before the entire class while the teacher continued teaching as though he were invisible.
But Roman could feel the students staring constantly.
Some looked amused, some mocked him openly.
Some looked annoyed.
Others looked strangely interested.
Roman slowly closed his eyes for a moment and focused on breathing calmly.
He could survive Vesperridge too.
Eventually the teacher’s cold voice reached him again.
“Go to your seat.”