Lilly's Pov
"I can't believe this is real," I whispered.
"Believe it," Zeal said kindly, and I heard the smile in her voice. "You earned this, Lilly. Don't let anyone make you feel like you don't belong here, okay? Not Beauty, not the Elite Council, no one."
"I'll try," I said, though I wasn't sure I believed it.
"Good." She checked her phone. "Now, I should get going—I have a class soon. But if you need anything, I'm in room 217. Just come find me, okay?"
"Thank you," I said, turning to face her. "For everything. Seriously."
She smiled and left, closing the door behind her with a soft click.
Alone in the room, I picked up one of the uniforms and held it against myself, catching my reflection in the mirror mounted on the closet door.
For a moment, I could almost see it—Lilly winters, Ravencrest student, looking like she belonged. Then reality reasserted itself, and all I saw was a girl playing dress-up in clothes that cost more than she'd made in six months of working minimum wage.
I was still standing there, lost in thought and spiraling into self-doubt, when I heard footsteps pounding down the hallway.
The door burst open so hard it bounced off the wall, and a whirlwind of color and energy exploded into the room.
"Oh my God, you're here!" A girl with bright purple streaks in her dark hair and more bracelets than any human should be able to wear launched herself at me. I barely had time to brace before she was hugging me like we were long-lost friends. "I'm Sage! Are you Lilly? Please tell me you're Lilly and not some random person who wandered into our room."
"I'm Lilly," I confirmed, trying not to get knocked over by her enthusiasm. "And you're very... enthusiastic."
"Thank God!" She released me and spun around, arms spread wide. "I've been dying to meet you. Another scholarship kid! We're going to be best friends, I can already tell. The stars said I'd meet someone important today, and here you are!"
She was talking a mile a minute, already unpacking what looked like a crystal collection from her bags—rose quartz, amethyst, some stones I couldn't identify. She arranged them on her desk with the care of someone handling precious artifacts.
"What's your sign?" she asked without pausing. "I'm a Pisces sun, Sagittarius moon, Cancer rising. Very emotional but I try to stay optimistic. How are you settling in? Have you met anyone yet? Oh no, not Beauty and her cronies, please tell me you didn't meet them first."
"Actually," I said, a laugh bubbling up despite everything, "I met them at the front entrance."
"And you're still alive?" Sage's eyes went wide. "That's promising! Did she try the whole 'are you the cleaning lady' routine? She does that to everyone who doesn't show up in a limo."
"Pretty much word for word."
"Classic Beauty. She's the worst." Sage flopped onto her bed, making her bracelets jangle. "Well, not the absolute worst—that honor belongs to the Elite Council—but she's definitely in the top five worst people here." She paused, studying me with surprising intensity. "But enough about them. Tell me about you! Where are you from? What made you apply to Ravencrest? Do you have any special talents? I can read tarot cards and I'm weirdly good at predicting when it's going to rain."
I found myself relaxing for the first time since I'd arrived, Sage's genuine friendliness cutting through all my anxiety like a knife through butter.
"I'm from the East," I said, sinking into my own bed. "I applied because of the scholarship—I couldn't afford to come otherwise. No special talents unless you count being stubborn and refusing to quit when things get hard."
"Oh, I like you," Sage declared, sitting up. "We're definitely going to be friends. Now come on, help me figure out where to put all my crystals. I need to set up a proper altar space for positive energy, and I want to make sure the room has good feng shui."
As I helped her arrange rose quartz and amethyst around the room, listening to her explain the properties of each stone with the enthusiasm of someone discussing their favorite hobby, I felt some of the tension drain from my shoulders.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
Sure, I'd already made enemies. Sure, I was completely out of my depth. But at least I had one ally.
That had to count for something.
---
The next hour passed in a blur of unpacking and Sage's non-stop chatter.
She told me about the classes, the professors, the various cliques that ran the school like feudal territories. She was a sophomore, so she knew the lay of the land, and she seemed genuinely happy to share her knowledge.
"Professor Nightshade teaches Literature," she said, hanging up clothes in her closet. "Tough but fair. Professor Hawthorne does History—avoid him if you can, he plays favorites. And whatever you do, don't fall asleep in Professor Evernight's Calculus class. She has this sixth sense for it."
"Noted," I said, trying to absorb the flood of information.
"Oh!" Sage said suddenly, rushing to the window. "Come here, you have to see this!"
I joined her at the window, looking down at the lawn below. Students were gathering in small groups, their designer clothes and easy confidence making them look like they'd stepped out of a magazine spread.
But one cluster in particular drew the eye.
Three guys stood at the center of a crowd—tall, confident, and even from three stories up, clearly magnetic.
"That's them," Sage said, her voice dropping to an awed whisper. "The Elite Council."
I couldn't see their faces clearly from this distance, but I could see their body language. The way they held themselves. The way other students seemed to instinctively give them space while simultaneously trying to get closer.
Two of them were talking to each other, gesturing with the casual ease of people who'd never known what it was like to be uncomfortable in their own skin.
But the third...
The third one looked up.
Even at this distance, even through the glass, I felt it—that same electric shock I'd felt in the café. Like touching a live wire. My breath caught in my throat as I recognized the sharp features, the dark hair that caught the afternoon light.
Zayn Blackthorne.