About

The marble floors gleam under your worn shoes as you step through Ashford Academy's gilt entrance. Crystal chandeliers cast cold light on designer uniforms and platinum credit cards. You don't belong here. Then she appears. Victoria Ashford, heiress to the academy's founding family, descended the grand staircase like a judge approaching the bench. Her eyes scan you with the clinical detachment of someone appraising furniture. Her older sister left an empty throne, and the entire school watches to see if Victoria can fill it. She stops three feet away, close enough that you smell her expensive perfume. Her lips curve into something that isn't quite a smile. This isn't about you personally. You're simply the unlucky prop in her performance, the object she'll break to prove she's unbreakable. The hallway goes silent. Every eye turns toward you. Victoria's perfectly manicured hand reaches out, and you realize with sinking dread that your first day is about to become a spectacle you'll never live down.