Katherine made it halfway across the athletics complex before someone called her name.
"Katherine!"
She didn't stop. Couldn't. If she stopped moving she'd fall apart right there on the pathway, and she'd already given this school enough free entertainment for one week.
Footsteps behind her, getting closer. "Katherine, wait"
A hand caught her arm.
She spun around, yanking free. "Don't touch me."
Maxim stepped back, hands raised. He was still in his riding gear, hair damp with sweat like he'd just come from the stables. His phone was in his hand, screen still lit up.
He'd seen it then. The video.
"I've been looking everywhere for you," Maxim said. His eyes scanned her face, dropped to the lost and found clothes that hung off her frame, then landed on the jacket. His expression changed. "Is that—"
"What do you want, Maxim?"
"I saw the video. Emma posted it an hour ago and I've been….I went to the locker room but it was locked and I thought you were still…" He stopped. "Are you okay?"
Katherine laughed. It came out wrong, sharp and bitter. "Do I look okay?"
"No." At least he was honest. "I'm sorry. I should have checked sooner but practice ran late and I didn't look at my phone until—"
"Until what? Until after I'd been locked in there for three hours?" Katherine's voice cracked. She steadied it. "Don't worry about it. Someone already let me out."
Maxim's gaze dropped to the jacket again. Black, expensive, unmistakable. Everyone at Von Steiger knew what Damiens favorite jacket looked like.They were custom-made.
"Damien," Maxim said quietly.
Katherine didn't confirm it. Didn't need to.
"What did he want?"
"To help."
"Damien doesn't help people." Maxim's expression shifted into something Katherine couldn't read. "What did he ask for?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because Emma did this to you because of me." Maxim shoved his phone in his pocket. "I reported her Monday. I thought—I don't know what I thought. That the school would actually do something. That she'd get real consequences and now she's—" He gestured helplessly at Katherine. "This is my fault."
"Yeah," Katherine said. "It is."
Maxim flinched.
Good.
Katherine was tired of people making decisions about her life without asking. Tired of being collateral damage in other people's wars. Maxim had reported Emma to feel better about himself, to play hero, and Katherine was the one who'd paid for it.
"I'm sorry," Maxim said again.
"Great. I'm still out a laptop and all my clothes and three hours I'll never get back, but at least you're sorry."
"I can replace the laptop."
"I don't want your money."
"Katherine—"
"I want you to leave me alone." Katherine started walking again. "Go back to your world and stay there. Stop trying to help. You're bad at it."
She made it five steps before Maxim spoke again.
"Emma's not going to stop."
Katherine stopped.
"Detention didn't scare her. It pissed her off. And now that she knows she can get away with this…"Maxim's voice was quiet. "She's going to keep going until you're gone or she gets bored. And she doesn't get bored easily."
Katherine turned around. "What do you want me to say? That I'm scared? Fine. I'm terrified. Happy?"
"No." Maxim met her eyes. "I want to know what Damien offered you."
"Why?"
"Because Damien von Steiger doesn't do anything without a reason. And if he's involving himself in this, in you—" Maxim shook his head. "Just be careful. Whatever he promised, there's a cost. There's always a cost with him."
Katherine thought about the way Damien had looked at her in that closet. Like she was a problem he was solving.
"I know," she said.
"Do you?"
"Yes." Katherine pulled Damien's jacket tighter around herself. It still smelled like his cologne, still held his warmth. "But right now he's the only option I have. So unless you've got a better solution, I'm going to take my chances."
Maxim opened his mouth like he wanted to argue. Then closed it. Because they both knew he didn't have a better solution. Neither of them did.
Unless you had protection.
Unless someone more powerful decided you were worth protecting.
"Just—" Maxim ran a hand through his hair. "Be careful. Please."
Katherine nodded. Not because she agreed, but because she wanted this conversation over.
She left Maxim standing there and walked back toward the dorms.
The campus was quiet. Most students were at dinner or already out for the night—Friday meant parties in the city, trips to Geneva, freedom that came with having money and cars and no real responsibilities. The scholarship students who were left moved through the spaces the elite had vacated, invisible as always.
Katherine kept her head down. The jacket was conspicuous, drew looks from the few people she passed. She saw them notice, saw the recognition, saw the questions in their eyes.
By tomorrow everyone would know she'd been wearing Damien von Steiger's jacket.
Let them wonder.
Her dorm building was on the east side of campus, older than the elite residence halls but still nicer than anything Katherine had lived in before. Shared rooms, shared bathrooms, but clean and maintained and hers.
Or it had been hers until Wednesday.
She climbed the stairs to the third floor, walked down the hallway to room 3-something. The door was closed. Maya might not be back yet—she usually studied in the library until curfew.
Katherine unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Maya was there.
She looked up from her laptop, saw Katherine, and her expression crumbled.
"Oh my god." Maya was across the room in seconds. "I saw the video. I've been trying to call you but your phone's off and I didn't know if you were still—" She stopped. Stared at the jacket. "Is that—"
"Yeah, I'm getting that impression." Maya's hands fluttered like she wanted to hug Katherine but wasn't sure if she should. "Are you okay? Stupid question. You're obviously not okay. Do you need anything? Water? Food? Should I kill Emma? I'll kill Emma."
Despite everything, Katherine almost smiled. "Get in line."
They sat in silence. The room still showed signs of Wednesday's destruction—Katherine's desk was mostly empty, her closet bare except for the few things Maya had lent her. Everything else was gone.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here Wednesday," Maya said quietly. "When they came. I should have—"
"You couldn't have stopped them." Katherine met her eyes. "And I'm glad you weren't here. They would have gone after you too .
"Who got you out?" Maya asked quietly.
"Damien von Steiger."
Maya's eyebrows shot up. "Damien—wait, THE Damien? The one whose family literally owns this school?"
"That one."
"How did he—why was he—" Maya sat down on her own bed, cotton balls still stuck between her toes. "Start from the beginning."
So Katherine did. Told her about Maxim reporting Emma on Monday, about the retaliation all week, about today in the locker room. About Damien walking in like it was normal, handing her his jacket, offering her protection.
In exchange for showing up to his party tomorrow.
When she finished, Maya was quiet for a long moment.
Then: "That's weird, right? Like, that's objectively weird."
"Extremely."
"Why would he care? You're—" Maya caught herself. "I mean, no offense, but you're not exactly in his social circle. Why would Damien give a shit if Emma's bullying you?"
Katherine had been asking herself the same question for the last two hours.
"I don't know."
"And he just wants you to show up to his party? That's it? That's the whole deal?"
"That's what he said."
"Katherine." Maya leaned forward. "That sounds like a setup."
"I know."
"Like, a really obvious setup. You show up, something happens, everyone laughs, you're humiliated again—"
"I know."
"So you're not going, right?" Maya looked at her. "You're not actually going to—"
Katherine's phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Send me your dorm and room number. The dress will be there tomorrow at 2 PM.
She stared at the message. Then, before she could think about it too hard, typed back her information.
The response came immediately.
Good. Car picks you up at 7:45. Don't be late.
Katherine set down her phone.
Maya's eyes went wide. "You just—did you just give him your room number?"
"Yeah."
"So you're going."
"Yeah."
"Katherine—"
"I don't have a choice." Katherine pulled off Damien's jacket, folding it carefully. "Emma's not going to stop. She's going to keep escalating.
"So you're trusting Damien von Steiger to protect you?"
"I'm trusting that showing up to his party makes me visible enough that Emma has to back off." Katherine met Maya's eyes. "Right now, I'm an easy target. No one cares what happens to me. But if someone like him is paying attention—"
She didn't finish the sentence. Didn't need to.
Maya understood.
"Okay," Maya said finally. "Okay. But if this goes bad, if he humiliates you or sets you up or does anything—"
"Then I'll deal with it."
"We'll deal with it," Maya corrected. "You're not alone in this."
Katherine wanted to believe that. Wanted to believe that Maya who'd been her roommate for two months and tried so hard to see the good in this place—would actually stand by her when things got worse.
But she'd watched two hundred students stand by while Emma poured food on her. Had watched other girls in the locker room walk away while she was being stripped and shoved into a closet.
Everyone had limits. Everyone had a point where self-preservation kicked in.
Katherine didn't blame them.
She just wasn't going to rely on them either.