The enemy of my heart [BL]

First day

"I'm really sorry about barging into the bathroom earlier," I muttered, trying to sound sincere without sounding too pathetic. "That was... incredibly stupid of me."

Ronin shrugged. "Nah, you're fine. Just... don't tell anyone, alright?"

His voice was calm but cool, like he was handing me a warning, not a request.

"I won't. Don't worry," I replied, attempting to play it off casually.

Was that a threat? I wondered, side-eyeing him as we stepped through the school gates.
It's the first time he's spoken more than five words to me and it already sounds like a mafia warning. Cool cool cool... this'll be fine.

We walked into the corridor, and I immediately noticed the looks. Eyes turned. Whispers started.

"Guess my new haircut does wonders," I quipped under my breath with a smirk, trying to convince myself I was still the center of attention.

But then-

"Who's the guy behind Liam? He's totally my type," someone whispered, not even trying to be discreet.

"He's so hot. Who is he?" another voice added with a little too much excitement.

My smirk faded.

Well damn. Guess I'm chopped liver now. Since when did I care about attention? I thought, slightly bitter.

"Bathroom," Ronin said quietly, then disappeared into the crowd like he owned the place. Like he'd been here for years.

Seriously? Already moving like he knows all the secret hallways and shit?

I peeked into the classroom and was immediately greeted by familiar voices.

"Liam! What took you so long?" James called.

"Sorry," I said with a dramatic sigh as I dropped into my seat. "Babysitting duties."

Evelyn, who sat in front of us, turned around with a smirk. "How was camp?"

"Meh. Mid," I muttered, face-planting onto my desk.

"I still can't believe it took up our entire weekend," James grumbled, his hand forming a tight fist like he was ready to punch time itself.

"What he said," I murmured from under my sleeve, exhaustion kicking in from our late-night gaming war.

The chatter died down as Mr. Green stepped in.

"Class," he began in his signature overly-dramatic tone. "We have a new student to welcome today."

Rumor had it Mr. Green was gay, which made everyone extra confused when they found out he had a wife and three kids. The guy was a walking contradiction.

Ronin stepped into the room, cool and casual, like he was entering a movie scene. Heads turned. People whispered.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Mr. Green said.

"Holy shit, he's hot," someone muttered nearby.

And not just the girls. Even some of the guys looked like they were questioning things.

"My name's Ronin Laurier," he said simply, voice deep and collected. "Just moved here. Uh... I'm friends with Liam."

The class slowly turned to look at me like I was some secret celebrity handler.

Friends? Since when? You literally iced me out this morning.

Ronin took the window seat across from us.

James leaned in immediately. "Bro. Why didn't you tell me you had such a hot friend?"

I rolled my eyes. "Relax. There are hotter guys here. Like, I dunno... William? That dude looks like he drinks protein powder for breakfast."

James raised an eyebrow. "Okay, but William doesn't make people sweat when he walks in."

Evelyn giggled. "And I'm supposed to believe you two are straight?"

James dramatically gasped. "Are you saying Liam and I are a couple just because we occasionally lock eyes in slow motion?"

"We're looking at the same guy, right?" Evelyn said, taking off her glasses and squinting like Ronin was an optical illusion.

"I don't think removing your glasses will help, genius," James teased.

"They were foggy. I was cleaning them," she said quickly, pretending she wasn't mentally thirsting over Ronin.

Mr. Green cleared his throat. "Okay! I hope you all went through the notes for today's pop quiz."

"Shit," I whispered.

"There was a test!?" James exclaimed, louder than socially acceptable.

Mr. Green passed out the sheets. When he reached Ronin's desk, he paused. "You don't have to take this."

"I'll do it," Ronin said with zero hesitation, as if this was just a warm-up.

Minutes passed. Then-

"Time's up!" Mr. Green called. "Swap papers and mark each other's."

I glanced at my paper. "47 out of 50," I said under my breath, my confidence instantly revived. "See? English is my bitch."

"I got a 20," James announced. "Thanks, rugby camp."

"37!" Evelyn said proudly. "Not bad for zero studying and zero guilt."

Mr. Green skimmed through the pile, brows raised. "Looks like... Ronin scored the highest. 48."

Excuse me?

"What?" I blurted out.

That was my thing. I always crushed English. It was my domain. My pride. My ego's last stand.

Did he cheat? How the hell did he beat me by one point after transferring yesterday?

"Hey, it's okay," Mia said, gently placing a hand on my shoulder. "You don't always have to be number one."

"Thanks," I muttered, trying not to visibly combust from jealousy and embarrassment. My face burned, and not in the good way.

"Hey Evelyn," James whispered. "Look at lover boy over there getting consoled like he just failed the SATs."

"Shut up," I whispered harshly, nudging him.

"I was just gonna ask, do you have any plans this week-" I began, turning to Evelyn.

But she wasn't even listening. Her gaze had drifted to the front of the room, where Ronin was casually tossing his test paper in the trash like it was nothing.

"What the fuck..." I muttered.

And not because he looked smug or cocky.
But because, even that looked hot.

.............

I was on something when I wrote this 🥲.