The BAD Brothers' Obsession

Cassandra’s POV New school. New beginning. I smiled, looking at the building of the school I’d get to finish my senior year of high school. For the first time in years, I felt happy to be in school. I shut my eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, letting go of all the anxiety within me. Once I felt ready to begin this amazing new journey, I walked into Crestwood Academy, the heels of my boots clicking against the polished floors. I gripped my backpack straps with one hand and clutched my steaming cup of hot cocoa in the other, and my stomach twisted nervously. This was it—my chance to leave the nightmare of my old school behind. No more whispers. No more humiliation while I walk through the school’s hallways. The hallway buzzed with life. Students were laughing, chatting, and slamming lockers shut. I kept my head down, navigating through the crowd, as I tried to find my way to the secretary’s office to pick up the things I needed for school. I turned a corner—and slammed into something solid. Or someone. The cup slipped from my hand, and before I could even process what had happened, the hot cocoa splashed across the guy’s pristine white shirt. “Oh no!” I gasped, taking a step back. “Watch it,” came a low, irritated voice. I froze, looking up to meet the owner of the shirt—tall, broad-shouldered, with dark brown hair and piercing hazel eyes. His sharp features twisted in annoyance, and the tension radiating from him was suffocating. “I’m so sorry!” I stammered, fumbling in my bag for tissues. My hands trembled as I pulled one out and offered it to him. “I didn’t mean to—” “Sorry?” he cut me off, his tone laced with mockery. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?” My apology stuck in my throat as his gaze pinned me in place. I straightened, hugging my bag to my chest. “Look, I didn’t mean to bump into you. It was an accident.” “An accident,” he repeated slowly as if testing the word on his tongue. His eyes roamed over me, flickering with something between amusement and disdain. “So you’re clumsy and blind.” “Excuse me?” “You heard me.” His smirk deepened as he tilted his head. “New girl, right? You should know something about Crestwood.” I swallowed hard, my palms starting to sweat. “And what’s that?” Wasn’t this school meant to be the start of a peaceful final year at high school? Or… did I just mess things up by bumping into him? “There’s nothing like an accident here.” His voice was casual, but how his hazel eyes bore into mine felt anything but. My heart thumped painfully in my chest. “What else am I supposed to say?” His smirk sharpened, the kind that sent a shiver down my spine. “How about, ‘Sorry, I’m a klutz who doesn’t watch where she’s going?’” The sting of his words made my cheeks burn, but I forced myself to swallow the retort that was begging me to escape. Not today. Not when I was determined to keep a low profile and finish my school year here at Crestwood Academy in peace. But then I remembered my mum’s advice from earlier this morning. If I truly wanted to make a good impression here, I needed to be able to stand up for myself. Heeding to my mum’s advice, I clapped back, “Well, then maybe you shouldn’t be standing in the middle of the hallway like you own it,” His eyebrows shot up briefly, as if my defiance had caught him off guard and… somewhat got him impressed? Then he laughed—a low, mocking sound that echoed in the hallway and made my stomach churn. “Feisty,” he said, his tone dropping. “I’ll give you that. I’m impressed. But you could do better.” “I don’t know who you think you are, but you’re not scaring me.” I muttered, clenching my fist to still myself so he wouldn’t see how scared I was at the moment. He took a step closer, his smirk turning predatory. “Oh, you’ll know exactly who I am soon enough.” The school bell rang, its shrill sound slicing through the tension and reminding me that I had somewhere to be. I glanced at my watch and gasped. “I’m late!” Without another word, I darted around him, ignoring his low chuckle. As I rushed toward the office, I clenched my fists, willing my nerves to settle. The last thing I wanted was to let someone like him rattle me and end up revealing that I was an easy target. Not today. Not here. Not ever. *********** The rest of the day went by as a blur. For once, things were... normal. I couldn’t believe it. The morning classes at Crestwood Academy had flown by without a single incident. No whispers. No snide comments. No mocking laughter. Nothing. I even managed to answer a question in History without stuttering. The teacher smiled at me, and I felt—what was it? Hope? Maybe my parents made the right decision to get me transferred here. As the lunch bell rang, I grabbed my bag and headed out, blending in with the stream of students. For the first time, I didn’t feel like all eyes were on me. I didn’t feel like a freak. “Hey, new girl!” A cheerful voice called out behind me. I turned to see a girl with bright red hair and a big smile walking up to me with a little clique behind her. It didn’t take a second to realize that she was the “IT” girl of Crestwood Academy. “You’re Cassandra, right? I’m Brittany. Wanna sit with us at lunch?” She asked, a broad smile on her face. Oh, my goddess! Was I actually getting a lunch invite from the school’s most popular girl? “Uh, sure?” I muttered, a little surprised. She grinned. “Great! Come on, it gets crowded if you’re late, and you could miss out on some of the goodies on the menu.” I followed her and her little clique down the hallway, my heart lighter than it had been in weeks. Maybe things were finally looking up. Then I heard it. A whisper. At first, it was faint, like the echo of someone speaking in another room. But as we turned the corner, it grew louder and clearer. “That’s her.” “She’s the one who…” “God, how pathetic.” My steps faltered. Brittany glanced back, confused but with a strange expression in her eyes that I just couldn’t place. “You okay?” I nodded, even though my stomach churned. The hallway seemed darker, the air thicker. My pulse quickened as the whispers turned into quiet snickers. And then I saw it. The walls. Lining the hallway were pictures. Hundreds of them. My pictures. I froze, my breath catching in my throat. Each image was a snapshot of my humiliation at my old school. There was one of me, drenched in soda, my hair a sticky mess. Me crying in the locker room, my clothes shredded in the background. Me on my knees in a cat costume, picking up trash from the floor with my mouth, while a group of students laughed behind me. The more I looked at each picture, the more I wanted the ground to split open and get me out of there. This couldn’t be happening. The memories I’d fought so hard to bury were plastered across the walls for everyone to see. “How…?” I whispered, my voice barely audible. The hallway went silent. The snickers stopped, replaced by the weight of a hundred stares. “And ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the latest loser we just let into our school! A wolfless freak.” Brittany mocked, a huge smirk on her face. My vision blurred as I scanned the crowd, searching for some kind of explanation. Was this a setup? Was that why she asked me to go with her for lunch? But how did they know about my life at Sailford High? How did they get these pictures? I shook my head, stepping back as the whispers bore down on me. My heart pounded in my chest. “Pathetic,” someone whispered. “Freak,” another voice hissed. The words swirled around me, louder and louder, until they were deafening. I wanted to scream, to run, to disappear. My chest tightened as the hallway blurred around me. My breathing quickened, my heart pounding like it was trying to escape my ribcage. “Having fun yet?” The voice came from behind me, smooth and laced with mockery. I turned slowly to see him again—the boy I’d bumped into earlier. His smirk was back, but it held a cruel edge this time. He stepped closer, towering over me, his hazel eyes boring into mine. “Told you that you’ll know exactly who I am. The name’s Brian, sweetheart.” His eyes narrowed, his lips curling into a cruel smile. I swallowed hard, frozen in place. His features grew darker as he leaned in, “Welcome to your new hell, Cassandra.”