I should have known peace at Westbridge wouldn't last.
It ended the next morning.
I was halfway across the courtyard, clutching a cup of the cheapest coffee the café sold, when my phone started vibrating like it was having a panic attack.
One notification.
Then ten.
Then so many the screen froze.
I frowned. No one ever texted me this much. I barely knew anyone here.
I unlocked my phone.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Girl is this you???
CLASS GROUP CHAT: Nahhhh this can't be real
UNKNOWN NUMBER: You sat with HIM???
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Check Westbridge Gossip NOW
My stomach dropped.
Slowly, like I was defusing a bomb, I opened the school's unofficial gossip page.
And there it was.
A photo.
Grainy. Slightly blurry. But painfully clear.
Me. Sitting across from Adrian in the library. His sleeves rolled up. My head tilted toward him like I was actually comfortable. Like we were… close.
The caption read:
"Scholarship girl already climbing the royal ladder? 👀👑 #LibraryDate #GoldDiggerAlert"
My hands went ice cold.
"I didn't—" I whispered to myself. "It wasn't— we were just talking…"
A group of students walked past me, and their conversation dropped to a whisper the second they saw my face.
"That's her."
"No way."
"She's brave, I'll give her that."
"Or desperate."
Each word hit like a pebble. Small, but there were too many of them.
I turned and walked faster, eyes locked on the ground.
Three years. Keep your head down. Stay invisible.
So much for that.
By the time I reached my locker, I could feel the stares physically. Like heat on my skin.
Someone had stuck a sticky note on the metal door.
"Future Queen? 😂"
I ripped it off and shoved it into my bag, my chest tight.
"This is so messed up," a voice said beside me.
I turned to see a girl with short braids and kind eyes watching me carefully. I recognized her from orientation — Maya. Another scholarship student.
"You saw it?" I asked quietly.
"Hard not to. It's everywhere." She lowered her voice. "They're acting like you proposed to him in the library."
"I didn't even know who he was," I said.
Her eyebrows shot up. "Wait… seriously?"
"Seriously."
For the first time all morning, she laughed. "Okay, that actually makes it funnier."
"Not for me."
"True," she admitted. "But listen — people here get bored. Royal drama is like oxygen to them. This'll blow over."
Before I could answer, the hallway suddenly shifted.
You could feel it before you saw it — conversations stopping, bodies subtly turning.
Adrian.
He was walking down the corridor with two security officers a few steps behind, like always. Calm. Composed. Untouchable.
Except his eyes weren't calm.
They were scanning.
Looking.
For me.
My heart started racing. "Oh no. No, no, no…"
Maya grabbed my arm. "Breathe. He's just a guy."
"He's not just a guy, he's a national headline!"
Too late.
His gaze landed on me.
And he changed direction.
Straight toward my locker.
Whispers exploded behind him like fireworks.
"He's going to her."
"This is insane."
"Is this a show or real life??"
He stopped in front of me, close enough that I caught the faint scent of something clean and expensive.
"Did you see it?" he asked quietly.
I held up my phone with the post still open. "You mean the part where I'm apparently a professional gold digger?"
His jaw tightened. "I'm sorry."
That surprised me. "You didn't post it."
"No, but this happens because of me." His voice dropped. "They watch anyone who stands too close."
I forced a small shrug, even though my hands were shaking. "I'll survive. I've been called worse than gold digger."
His eyes flicked up sharply. "You shouldn't have been."
The hallway had gone completely silent now. Everyone pretending not to stare while absolutely staring.
"This is exactly why I didn't want—" I stopped myself.
"Didn't want what?" he asked.
"To be noticed," I finished. "I worked really hard to get here. I can't afford distractions. Or rumors. Or royal scandals."
Something in his expression shifted. Not anger. Not pride.
Hurt.
"So you want me to stay away," he said.
It wasn't a question.
I opened my mouth.
Closed it.
Because the honest answer was yes.
But the problem was… sitting across from him in that quiet library had felt like the first easy moment I'd had since arriving.
"I don't know what I want," I admitted.
A long pause stretched between us, heavy and loud despite the silence around us.
Then—
A camera flash.
We both turned.
A student at the end of the hallway quickly lowered her phone, pretending to fix her hair.
Adrian exhaled slowly. "It's already worse."
"I should go to class," I said, my voice small.
"Lara."
I looked up at him again.
"I meant what I said yesterday," he told me. "I don't want you talking to me like I'm a title."
I gave a weak half-smile. "Kind of hard when the title comes with paparazzi."
For the first time, he smiled back — but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Welcome to my life."
And just like that, I saw it.
The cage.
Not the palace, not the crown — the cage built from expectations, cameras, and people deciding who he was allowed to stand next to.
I stepped back, my books clutched to my chest. "This is dangerous for me."
"I know."
"Probably dangerous for you too."
A pause.
"Definitely," he said.
Neither of us moved.
Then the warning bell rang, loud and shrill, snapping the moment in half.
I turned and walked away, every step feeling heavier than the last.
Behind me, whispers rose again like smoke.
By lunchtime, the photo had a new caption.
"Prince Adrian and mystery girl again this morning. Guess it wasn't just a library study session… 👀"
And just like that, my quiet life at Westbridge Royal Academy was officially over.