CHAPTER 2: Madison Pierce Laughs First

Madison expected anger.

Poor boys were supposed to make the scene easy. They shouted, grabbed, embarrassed themselves, and gave people like Chase a reason to step in as heroes. Ethan did none of those things. He crouched, gathered one book, brushed grit from the cover, and stacked it carefully against his forearm.

The quiet made everyone uncomfortable.

“Are you going to cry over library books?” Chase asked.

Ethan picked up the second book. “They’re mine.”

Madison tilted her head. “You bought them?”

“No.”

That was enough. Her face lit with the pleasure of finding the wound.

“Exactly,” she said. “People like you don’t buy things here. You borrow them. You beg for them. Then you act like we’re supposed to clap because you learned how to blend in.”

The crowd shifted. Even at Ashbourne, where cruelty often wore perfume, there were lines people preferred not to cross in daylight. Madison crossed them because she had never been punished for anything except arriving late to a party.

Ethan’s fingers tightened around the book spine.

Chase stepped beside her. “Madison asked you a question last week. You ignored her.”

“She asked me to do her calculus project.”

“I asked nicely,” Madison snapped.

“You asked because you thought I couldn’t refuse.”

A sound moved through the students. It was small, but Madison heard it: surprise turning in the wrong direction.

Her cheeks colored. “You think you’re better than me?”

Ethan picked up the third book. “No.”

“Then apologize.”

He stood with the books pressed against his chest. His hoodie sleeve had slipped, exposing an old leather bracelet with a tiny metal charm. Chase noticed it and smirked.

“Nice jewelry. Did the thrift store throw that in?”

Ethan’s expression changed so slightly most people missed it. Madison did not. For one second, she saw something behind his eyes that did not belong to a boy afraid of her.

Before she could name it, Chase grabbed the last book from the ground and tossed it toward the red sports car.

It hit the hood with a dull slap.

Everyone froze.

Madison laughed first because she thought that would make it safe.

Ethan looked at the book resting on the red paint.

Then he reached into his torn hoodie pocket.