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Chapter 137
~Author’s POV~
He blinked, caught off guard, clearly not expecting a stranger, much less a pretty one, to talk to him. "O-oh, yeah... It’s right down that hall, left at the painting of the council founders. Big brass door, you can’t miss it."
Solstice grinned. "Thanks." She leaned in conspiratorially. "You’re a lifesaver."
He flushed—barely noticeable, but she caught it—and she extended her hand with a casual flick of her fingers. "Got a na?"
"N-Navin."
"Nice," she said, gently taking his phone from his grip and inputting her number. Then she called her line and smiled. "If I get lost again, I’ll call the hero." She handed it back, winked, and turned on her heel.
He was still standing there, stunned, when she disappeared around the corner.
Inside the school’s central hallway, Solstice kept her head down, smile gone, expression returning to that calculated calm. She reached the brass double doors and knocked once.
"Co in," ca a voice from inside.
Solstice stepped into a neatly organised office. Behind the large wooden desk sat Ms. Heart, PSA’s long-ti secretary of the Principal. Her fingers paused mid-typing when she looked up.
Solstice offered a bright, rehearsed smile. "Hi. Silver Aura, reporting in. Transfer student."
There was a flicker—just a flicker—of suspicion in Ms. Heart’s eyes. But the woman said nothing.
Instead, she reached for a folder beside her and slid it across the desk with a perfectly painted nail.
"Dorm assignnt, campus map, locker code, and class schedule."
Solstice accepted it all gracefully. "You can change the locker code to suit anything you want or leave it as it is."
"Thanks, but who will do that?"
Ms. Heart shrugged. "You’d be surprised how many lazy students we have that does that."
"In that case, they lack the concept of privacy." Ms. Heart finally looked up, but Solstice’s smile was bewitching as she humd and stepped back.
But as she turned, Ms. Heart’s voice followed her like a breath of cold wind. "The principal seems to be making a lot of exceptions this year."
When Solstice turned, Ms. Heart looked up. "Everything alright?"
Solstice gave a smile that was just shy of genuine. "I guess I’m just... lucky like the other selected few," Solstice stated to prove to her that she had heard all her words.
Ms. Heart didn’t respond.
Solstice exited the office without another word. She didn’t head to the dorm.
Instead, she detoured toward the South Locker Wing. She found her locker—exactly where it was supposed to be, thank you forged floor plan—and placed her folder inside, leaving only her class schedule and phone in her hoodie pocket.
Then she made her way toward her designated classroom.
There were whispers the mont she walked in. Not loud ones. But just enough to notice.
A new face. A stranger with cool confidence and a walk that suggested power, not nerves.
Her gaze swept across the room once, ignoring the onlookers, her so-called classmates, then locked on her target.
Valerie.
The girl sat in the back row, half-curled into her seat, a thick black-covered book open on her lap. Her legs were crossed, and one finger tapped against the page like the silence around her was more precious than oxygen.
Solstice walked past rows of tables, murmurs trailing behind her like shadows.
When she reached Valerie’s row, she didn’t hesitate.
She stopped in front of her cousin, extended her hand for a handshake, and said with a smile that lit up her entire face: "Hello. My na’s Silver. Silver Aura. Nice to et you."
Valerie lifted her eyes slowly. No emotion flickered across her face. Not shock or confusion.
Only a smirk that was far too tired for a teenager. "Welco to PSA."
Then she dropped her gaze back to her book... and didn’t take her hand.
Imdiately, murmurs resounded all around them, but Solstice didn’t let it faze her and continued, "I want to be your friend," she said quietly, her voice still soft and warm.
Valerie didn’t look up.
"Good luck with that," she replied, flipping the page.
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~Valerie’s POV~
I didn’t need to look up to know it was her.
The mont she walked into class, the energy shifted slightly, but enough, like a breeze that didn’t belong on a still day.
From the corners of my eyes, I noticed heads were tilted and whispers stirred. So boys leaned forward. Girls squinted, already judging.
And I felt it in my gut.
Solstice.
But I didn’t raise my head. Not at first. I let her co to . Knowing my cousin, she couldn’t resist.
When she stopped before my desk, as I had guessed, I turned one page of my book as if that was all I cared about—a deliberate pause. A subtle tension curled behind my ribs.
What witchery will she do?
Then she spoke. The voice light was crisp and far too bright for the room.
"Hello, my na’s Silver. Silver Aura. Nice to et you."
I finally lifted my eyes, slowly, calmly. Not a single ripple of emotion crossed my face.
Of course, she’d use a fake na.
Of course, she’d co in like this, bold and smiling like she hadn’t broken every rule in the book.
I gave her a look that said, ’Don’t play with ’, but instead I smirked and said, "Welco to PSA," I said flatly.
And I didn’t take her hand.
Let the class stare. Let her feel the cold shoulder. That was the ga we were playing, wasn’t it? Pretend to be strangers in front of strangers. I could do that all day.
However, that big-headed fish, she didn’t back down.
"I want to be your friend."
Cute but all I could say was, "Good luck with that," I replied without looking up again.
I didn’t an it cruelly. But I also didn’t an it kindly. I ant it like a warning.
She knew how important this mission was. And since she wasn’t using her real na either, she had to play her cards right.
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