Roommate Badboy - Wicked Academy

35

Ruby yanked Stella down the corridor, her fingers digging into Stella's arm like a vice. She didn't say a word, but the tension between them crackled, thick with an unspoken accusation.

She led her to a quieter part of the academy, away from the prying eyes of students and faculty. Ruby spun Stella to face her, eyes burning with a fierce anger.

"Defending our enemy, seriously?" Ruby's voice was low, but it was like a whip crack in the silence of the corridor. Her eyes flickered with a mix of disbelief and irritation.

Stella averted her eyes, unable to defend herself against the torrent of Ruby's words.

"You've got some serious explaining to do." Ruby stepped closer, her voice sharp, insistent. "And I'm not letting you slide with this."

She had no choice. The words felt like a confession she wasn't ready to make, but they spilled from her anyway. "I...I've developed feelings for Jason."

Ruby froze. Her entire body went rigid, as though the words had struck her like a physical blow. The world seemed to pause for a heartbeat, the sound of Stella's confession hanging in the air like a blade between them.

"What?" Ruby breathed, voice barely audible, and her eyes flickered with a mix of shock, disbelief. Her grip on Stella's arm tightened, and she pulled her in closer. "Please, tell me you're not serious."

Stella's pulse pounded in her ears. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. She wasn't supposed to say this out loud, to make it real. But she couldn't take it back now.

"I really like him, Ruby," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don't know when it happened, but it did. And I can't pretend it's not there anymore."

Ruby's expression softened, a quiet sorrow replacing her earlier fury. "Are you still aware what he represents? He's the leader of Blaze, Stella. Blaze."

Stella's heart raced, and she bit her lip to keep herself from breaking. Ruby wasn't just angry, she was terrified. And she had every reason to be.

"I know," Stella whispered. "I know what this means, but...I can't just turn it off."

Ruby sucked in a sharp breath, ready to lash out, but Stella cut in, her voice firm despite the turmoil in her chest.

"I've started to see him for who he really is," she admitted, the words tumbling out before she could stop them. "He's not the person we made him out to be. He's not bad, Ruby."

There was a brief shift in Ruby's expression, replaced by something Stella couldn't quite name.

"You don't know him the way I do. No one does," Stella pressed on, her voice quieter now, almost pleading. "He's more than just a Blaze, more than the guy I once despised. There's a side of him that-" she hesitated, but the truth was already unraveling, "that no one else sees."

Ruby tugged a strand of hair behind her ear, her fingers trembling slightly as she steadied herself. Her voice quiet but heavy with tension. "You think this will just blow over? No, Stella, this isn't just risky; it's a ticking time bomb."

She let the silence stretch, the tension thickening with every passing second. "The moment anyone finds out..." She stopped herself, almost unwilling to say the next part. But she did. "The fallout will be catastrophic."

Stella shut her eyes, the heaviness of Ruby's words pressing down on her, suffocating her in their truth. The silence between them felt like a time bomb, ticking steadily with every passing second.

Ruby's voice softened, a quiet intensity creeping into her words, her gaze steady, though there was a tinge of vulnerability now.

"You thought I didn't know?" Ruby's words were barely a whisper, but they carried the weight of something far deeper than the situation at hand. "I was the one who told you to give Frederick a shot, remember?" She paused, her expression unreadable for a moment before she continued, her voice cracking ever so slightly.