The Road To Armageddon

Golden Crest Academy: Unraveling the Social Strata

Welcome to Golden Crest Academy, where luxury meets privilege and academic excellence is just the backdrop for social hierarchies. Here, the halls echo with laughter, ambition, and, of course privilege. This luxurious high school campus resembling a five-star hotel with manicured lawns and filled with vibrant students is the cream of the crop of the wealthiest kids in the world.

Dillan Kim, a 16-year-old freshmen roams through the hallways.  He stands out in crowd in his neon orange over all’s like a traffic cone at the middle of a busy road. Some students gave him a questioning look, some just directly ridicules him, but he doesn’t mind, not because he is immune to it but because he can’t quite recognize sarcasm from others. He is the perfect mix of naivety and optimism.

He stands in front of a locker, a charming smile on his face.

Life in an exclusive high school for the ultra-rich isn’t always what it seems. Its like living in a luxury hotel, and while the surrounding may be dazzling, the relationships? Not so much.

A group of senior lacrosse players laughing and chatting near the lockers and one of them, Jet, the de facto leader turns to Dillan. He beckon him over.

He grins devilishly. “Hey, my favourite Korean!”, Jets friends chuckles and exchanged knowing looks.
“You’re coming to my Halloween party, right?”

Dillan who is visibly excited nodded eagerly. “Absolutely! I can’t wait!”

“But I’ve got a little favour for you, is that okay?”, Jet smirked.

This is Jet—a charismatic upperclassman, the type of guy Dillan admired and desperately wants to befriend.

“Yeah of course Jet. What’s up?”, Dillan excitedly asked.

“Think you can whip up my science paper? If you do, I’ll introduce you to more of my friends. My girl friends will like you”,

“No problem bro, I’ll get it ready in no time!”, He eagerly agreed blindsided by the offer.

“That’s my boy!”, 

Jet and his friends exchange glances, smirking as they walk away, leaving Dillan unaware of their true intentions.

Unbeknownst to him, Dillan is just a pawn in their game—used for homework and made the butt of the joke.

Dillan rushes over when he saw his friend Julian, a sophomore, carrying heavy books.

“Hey, June! You won’t believe it—Jet invited me to his Halloween party!”,

June raises an eyebrow and gives him a skeptical look, as if trying to warn him. “DK, you do realize you’re being used, right? Those guys don’t see you as a friend.”

Dillan frowns, shaking his head. “No way! They’re cool to me. I just know if I stick with them, I’ll fit in.”

June shook her head, looking disappointed and frustrated wit her friend. “You’re wasting your time.”

He shrugs off her comments. “What have you been up to anyway?”

“Just doing a light reading in the library.”

He raises his eyebrows as looked at the thick ancient looking book, impressed. “Light reading huh?”,

“This is three hundred year old book about herbs, its the first edition, although a bit outdated, its still very fun to read”, June stated, her eyes gleaming with passion. “It seems like only 3 people have read this book in the library”,

“I wonder why”, Dillan is not really into the plant stuff his dear friend is obsessed but he lets her rant about it without complaining as June also lets him rant about his obsession with mythical creatures and legends.