Love Across Boarders

Chapter four

I watched her leave the dining hall, the same determined set in her shoulders as last night. She didn't flinch when she saw me, didn't give me the satisfaction of looking uneasy. That bugged me more than it should have.
"Earth to Darren," Jackson's voice cut through my thoughts, snapping me back to the group. They were all laughing, talking about some stupid prank they wanted to pull on the freshmen. I wasn't paying attention.
"You good, man?" Jackson asked, raising an eyebrow. "You've been weird since yesterday."
I shrugged, trying to play it off. "Just got a lot on my mind."
"Yeah, well, you might want to focus on more important things than the scholarship kids," he said, clearly noticing where my eyes had been lingering. "What's the point, man? They don't last. You of all people know that."
I didn't answer, but Jackson wasn't wrong. Every year, a handful of them showed up, all wide-eyed and full of ambition, thinking they could make something of themselves here. And every year, they either faded into the background or burned out trying to keep up. Kingsview wasn't built for them. It was built for people like us-those born into power, those who already had their paths laid out before them.
But Busayo was different. She didn't look scared or desperate to fit in, like most of the scholarship students. She looked... steady. Too steady. It was like she didn't realize that Kingsview could chew her up and spit her out just like the others. Or maybe she did realize it, and she didn't care. That bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
"You coming tonight?" Jackson asked, pulling me back again.
I nodded absently. "Yeah, sure."
Jackson grinned, satisfied, and turned back to the group, launching into a story about last year's legendary welcome party. I wasn't really listening. My mind was still on Busayo. I didn't know why, but there was something about her that I couldn't shake. Maybe it was because she didn't care about who I was. She wasn't fawning over me like everyone else, like the girls who always wanted to be seen with me, to be close to the Blake family name.
I hated that I was even thinking about her.
"Come on, man," Jackson said, slapping me on the back. "Let's get out of here. Classes start soon."
We walked across the quad, the sun filtering through the trees in patches of light. Kingsview looked like something out of a brochure, all prestige and charm on the surface. But underneath, it was a game. A game I knew how to play better than most. And I was good at it. Too good to be distracted by someone like her.
I sat in the back of my economics class, barely paying attention to the lecture. My mind was on autopilot, like it always was when it came to academics. The professor droned on about market trends and financial growth, but I didn't need to hear it. My dad had drilled this stuff into my head since I was old enough to understand it. Kingsview might be the best school around, but for me, this was just a formality-a stepping stone to the life that had already been planned for me.
I stared out the window, tapping my pen against my notebook, when something caught my eye.
Busayo, walking across the courtyard, heading toward the computer science building. She looked different from the rest of the students. Not because of her clothes or her hair, but because of the way she moved-focused, like she wasn't here to mess around.
What's her deal? I thought. She didn't fit the mold, didn't fall into the patterns I expected. That threw me off. And I didn't like being thrown off.
I shifted in my seat, trying to focus on the lecture again, but my mind kept drifting back to her. Part of me wanted to ignore her, to let her blend into the background like Jackson said she would. But another part of me-a part I didn't fully understand-wanted to push, to see how far she could go before she cracked.
By the time I made it to the library later that afternoon, the sky had darkened, clouds rolling in. I wasn't in the mood for studying, but I had promised my dad I'd stay on top of things this year. He'd been on my back ever since I barely scraped through last term. "No more coasting," he'd said. "You need to focus, Darren. You need to take this seriously." As if I didn't already know what was at stake.
The library was quiet, just the way I liked it. Most students didn't come here until exam season, so for now, it was the perfect place to think-or not think.
As I rounded the corner of one of the book stacks, I nearly walked straight into her. Busayo. She was sitting at a table by the window, her laptop open, eyes focused on the screen.
She didn't notice me. Or maybe she did, and she just didn't care. Either way, I found myself lingering for a second longer than I meant to. She looked different here, surrounded by books and silence. Like she belonged in this space more than anywhere else.
I was about to walk away when she glanced up. Our eyes met for a split second, and for the first time, I saw something flicker in her gaze. Not fear, not awe just curiosity. She tilted her head slightly, like she was trying to figure me out.
That made two of us.
I gave her a nod, a small, almost imperceptible gesture, and then turned and walked away before I could think about it any longer.
As I settled into a seat far from her, I couldn't help but wonder how long she'd last here. Kingsview wasn't for the weak. It wasn't for people who didn't know their place.
But something told me she wasn't going to crack easily.
And for reasons I couldn't quite explain, I wanted to be there when she finally did.