Chapter 1 - THE FOLDER VICTORIA SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAD
Victoria Hale was already pouring water across Ariana Cole’s final project when Ariana turned the corner.
Not a spill.
Not an accident.
Victoria had unscrewed the cap, tilted Ariana’s own bottle over the presentation board, and watched three weeks of research bleed into blue ink.
“Stop!”
Ariana lunged for the pages.
Victoria smiled.
“Scholarship girls can print another.”
Several students slowed in the hallway.
Nobody stepped in.
That was how Hawthorne Academy worked when Victoria Hale was involved.
People noticed.
Then they decided not to.
Ariana dropped to her knees and gathered the ruined pages.
Victoria placed one cream designer shoe directly onto the final section.
Ariana looked up.
“You knew that was my final project.”
“Then maybe you should’ve protected it better.”
Ariana’s hands tightened around the wet paper.
Do not react.
That had become her private rule.
Victoria wanted reactions.
Ariana had learned that months ago.
She stood.
Victoria stepped closer.
“You’re always so superior.”
“I’m trying to get to class.”
Victoria shoved her shoulder.
That was different.
Ariana’s body responded before anger did.
Eight years of Taekwondo.
She caught Victoria’s forearm, redirected the momentum, and turned just enough that Victoria stumbled sideways without hitting the floor.
No strike.
No injury.
Controlled.
“Don’t touch me again.”
The hallway went silent.
Victoria’s face flushed.
For one second, Ariana thought she might slap her.
Instead Victoria reached into her designer bag.
She pulled out a thick burgundy folder.
Ariana recognized her own name handwritten on a temporary label.
SCHOLARSHIP REVIEW — COLE, ARIANA.
Her stomach tightened.
Victoria waved it inches from her face.
“My father already handled your review.”
Ariana stopped breathing.
“What?”
Victoria smiled again.
“You really thought Hawthorne was going to keep paying for you after everything you’ve done?”
A woman’s voice cut through the hallway.
“Victoria.”
Ms. Parker.
The school administrator approached with measured steps.
“Give me the folder.”
Victoria hesitated.
That was the first mistake.
Ms. Parker took it.
Then she saw the gold crest stamped into the burgundy cover.
Her expression changed.
Ariana knew the symbol.
Everyone at Hawthorne did.
A shield.
Three stars.
An oak branch.
The Hale family crest.
The same crest engraved into Victoria’s gold ring.
Ms. Parker looked at the folder.
Then Victoria’s hand.
Then back at the folder.
“Where did you get this?”
Victoria’s confidence faltered.
“My father’s office.”
Ms. Parker opened the cover.
Ariana could not see the first page.
But Ms. Parker could.
She went completely still.
“Why is your family seal on this?”
Victoria’s face drained of color.
Before she could answer, Ms. Parker closed the folder.
“Both of you. My office.”
Ariana looked down at her destroyed project.
“Am I in trouble?”
Ms. Parker looked directly at her.
“I don’t know yet.”
It was not comforting.
Then Ms. Parker added:
May you like
“But I think someone else may be.”
Victoria stopped smiling.
Related Stories
