Love Across Boarders

Chapter two

I could feel their eyes on me the moment I walked into the hallway-new students, always gawking. It happened every year, and every year it bored me even more. Fresh faces trying to figure out where they fit into the hierarchy of Kingsview. Most of them had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into. Kingsview wasn't just any school; it was a kingdom, and in kingdoms, there are rulers and those who serve.
"Yo, Darren, you coming to the party tonight?" Jackson called from across the hall, grinning as usual. He leaned against the doorframe of his room, a beer already in his hand despite the fact it wasn't even noon.
I raised an eyebrow. "It's the first day, man. Already?"
He shrugged. "You know how it is. Gotta welcome the newbies in style."
"Yeah, sure," I replied, glancing down the hall where a few more first-years were standing around, wide-eyed and clueless.
One of them-a girl with dark skin and serious eyes-stood out. She wasn't like the others. She wasn't fawning over me, wasn't hanging on every word Jackson and I said. She was just... watching. Calm, observant. I hated that. It threw me off.
"Who's that?" I asked, nodding in her direction.
Jackson glanced over his shoulder, then back at me with a smirk. "Oh, her? That's one of the scholarship kids. Busayo something."
Scholarship kid. Of course. I should've known. Every year Kingsview let in a handful of these underdogs. They always came in with that same look determined to prove themselves, like being here made them special. It didn't. Not really. You could give someone a spot here, but they'd never belong unless they were born into it.
I shrugged and moved on. There was no point in thinking about it. She'd disappear into the background soon enough, just like the rest of them.
I grabbed my keys off the counter and headed out, not bothering to join Jackson in the party plans. I had bigger things on my mind-mainly the pressure from my dad. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I already knew what it was without looking.
You should be focusing on networking, Darren. Make sure you're getting close to the right people this year.
My jaw clenched as I read the text. It was always like this with my father-reminders about my "responsibilities," how I needed to uphold the Blake legacy, how I couldn't just drift through school without thinking about my future. It was exhausting. He never understood that I needed space to figure things out on my own.
I slid the phone back into my pocket, ignoring the tightness in my chest. It was always the same with him-pressure, expectations, and no room for mistakes. No room for me to be anything other than the perfect son of Gregory Blake, heir to a legacy that felt more like a cage every day.
As I walked through the quad, I noticed Busayo again. She was standing by one of the older buildings, looking around like she was lost,her phone was in her hand, probably trying to figure out where to go next.
There was something about her that got under my skin. It wasn't just that she was out of place-it was the way she carried herself, like she wasn't trying to fit in, like she didn't care that this place didn't belong to her. That was dangerous. Kingsview was a world where people like her were supposed to stay in their lane.
I kept walking, ignoring the pull to look back. She wasn't my problem. None of this was.
That evening, the campus was alive with the usual chaos of the first week. Parties, loud music, and drunk students littered the quad. Jackson had already texted me three times about coming to the big one, but I wasn't in the mood. Not tonight.
Instead, I found myself wandering the quieter side of campus, away from the noise and chaos. It was here, in the older part of the grounds, that Kingsview's real history lived. The buildings were ancient, covered in ivy, with gothic arches and stone carvings that made the place feel like something out of a different time. It was a reminder of how long this institution had existed and how my family had been part of it for generations.
But it also reminded me of the weight I carried the expectations that I couldn't escape, no matter how hard I tried.
As I rounded the corner, I saw her again. Busayo. She was sitting on a bench, her face illuminated by the soft glow of her phone screen. She looked tired, like the day had already taken more from her than she had expected. I watched her for a moment longer than I should have. There was something about her that didn't add up. She wasn't falling apart like most of the other scholarship students did after their first day here. She was holding it together, her back straight, her eyes focused.
I don't know why I did it, but I walked over.
"You lost or something?" I asked, keeping my voice casual.
She glanced up, her expression calm, though I could see the flicker of surprise in her eyes. "No," she replied evenly. "Just getting used to everything."
I smirked. "Yeah, this place can be a lot. Especially if you're not used to it."
Busayo looked at me for a moment, like she was weighing my words, trying to decide if I was mocking her. Then she said, "I'll get used to it. I've handled worse."
I raised an eyebrow at that. Bold. Most people didn't talk to me like that especially not scholarship students. They usually tried to impress me, not push back.
"Let's see how long that lasts," I said with a smirk, before turning and walking away. But as I walked off, I couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't like the others. Something told me she wasn't going to disappear into the background like I had expected.