If Sin seriously considered the things he had been through, this wasn’t the worst of it. Not by a mile. When he thought about it that way, he was able to keep his head from exploding.

‘So what if half the female population in school thinks I am a pervert?’

Dating was never in his cards this year, anyway!

Besides getting worked up over it was exactly what Roan and his buddies wanted and Sin wouldn’t give them that.

“How about this?” The professor finally spoke after a few minutes of pondering the best option.

Sin told her everything that happened, not because he was confident in her abilities to actually help but because he knew how this worked. He’d get suspended otherwise and his guardians would be summoned on either case and then enduring all those months would’ve been for nothing. But neither he nor Dean Conley wanted that. 

“What if I change you to our Star Campus? I looked at your grades, and they’ve been improving. If you keep them up, I can keep you there. You’ll find that people are more…” she paused, looking for the right word. “Subtle there.”

‘Translation: they aren’t going to outright bully you, just make you feel miserable in non-physical ways.’

Oh well, that was a better outcome than he expected though. Calling his guardians meant having to take action against Roan but for a multitude of reasons, that would never happen. One of them? He was dating the Dean’s daughter.

There were three campuses at Mora Institution. One of them was the Echo Academy, training and teaching for Echoes, at the end of it, students started working for the government in the various positions available for Echoes or they could move to The Arena and secure an even bigger position. The academy had a 17% acceptance rate and was only interested in C  Rank or higher students. The second was Moon Campus, where Sin was, it was for the rich and somewhat normal. The Star Campus was where all the best students were, athletes with plus A+ averages, and geniuses with sports championships under their belt. It was in an entirely different building within the campus. A land of opportunities and connections to utilize for the rest of your life.

Moving to the Star Campus did have its downsides though. 

Koa would be there. 

By the time Dean Conley finished going over the transfer of classes with him, there were twenty minutes until the bell rang for hometime. Sin opted for heading out earlier instead of risking another encounter with Roan.

Or worse. The girls.

He tried to tell them he wasn’t there by choice but they weren’t in the most suitable mood to listen. 

‘Can I blame them? Honestly, I can. Just a bit though. Why was it so easy for them to disregard my words? It’s not like they know anything about me!’

Outside, Hill and Cliff, the twin bodyguards assigned to him, were waiting by the car, Sin didn’t have to watch his surroundings like other times to make sure no one saw him entering the car since everyone was still in class.

Hill held the door open. He had a strange look on his face. 

Once Sin looked inside, he saw why. Koa was inside.

“Hello, Sinclair.” 

“You skipped class.” Sin simply said, getting in and closing the door.

“It’s only 20 minutes.”

“He’s been here for the last hour,” Cliff said from the front. 

Koa grinned and shrugged, not bothered by the truth being revealed. How was he still in the Star Campus? 

‘No matter how many times he skips, he still passes and knows everything.’ 

In addition to being smart, the bastard was handsome too. It was part of why Sin avoided walking next to his blond angelic hair and blue eyes. 

In the three years since Sin started to live with Koa’s family, that was the first time they attended the same school again, and while Koa’s initial reaction was buying celebratory dinner from three restaurants and sneaking in two bottles of champagne, Sin traced all the possible outcomes, and none of them appealed to him. Having already been in the same school as Koa before, he knew how it would play out. 

He asked Koa to temporarily keep his distance in school on the pretense of not wanting people to think of him as someone who was taking advantage of Koa. But in reality, he was convinced he could survive by himself. Of course that didn’t pan out, but Sin couldn’t bring himself to admit it. 

Koa might be his best friend, but he wouldn’t understand. Sin sometimes failed to understand it himself. Perhaps it would’ve helped if he didn’t look so different from the Everton family. His hair was dark, his skin a few shades darker, his eyes black. A stark contrast to every member of the family. A reminder that inside and out they were two distinct species.

‘I mean, they were kind enough to take me in when I didn’t have where to go but precisely because Koa was never in that position, of having no home, there will always be a line between us.’

It didn’t matter that they wore the same kind of clothes, ate the same food, rode the same cars. Koa lived in a different world than Sin, and because Koa was his friend. 

‘I… I don’t want him to know that.’

Koa reached over and ruffled his hair. “What about you? You don’t skip class.” 

Sin batted his hand away and then looked out the window. “I wasn’t feeling well.”

‘Which is not a lie…’ 

His friend looked at him but didn’t say anything. 

‘Oh right.’

“I found something out,” he said, turning to Koa. “About Tamara.”