Ficorpio
Chapter 1
The school’s golden boy accused me of cheating on an exam, and on my birthday, my childhood friend brought him to me to make peace.
“We were classmates once. There’s no need to let things get this ugly.”
She was right. There was no need.
So I threw away her birthday present, destroyed everything connected to her, and walked completely out of her world.
I had planned for us to remain strangers from then on.
But years later, at a business gala, she spotted me in the crowd at a glance.
Surrounded by admirers, the girl who had grown up beside me looked at me with reddened eyes.
“Was it fun?” she asked. “Hiding from me for seven years?”
During the break between classes, the doorway to our classroom was packed with people, everyone craning their necks to look inside.
The story of Adrian Vance, the class monitor from Room Three, accusing a classmate of cheating had spread throughout the entire school in less than a single period.
Adrian stood beside his desk, his face dark with anger. The desk had been kicked so hard it was twisted out of shape.
Several students gathered around him to offer comfort, though their eyes kept drifting toward me.
I was the classmate he had accused.
“Adrian’s the class monitor. Maybe he just made a mistake because he was trying to keep order. Everyone gets things wrong sometimes. It was only a misunderstanding. It’s not like he committed some unforgivable crime, right?”
As soon as someone said that, several others nodded and looked at me.
They were waiting for me to say something comforting to Adrian.
I met their pointed, suggestive stares, and my heart sank.
That familiar feeling of being shut out rose inside me again.
Our classes were assigned according to academic performance. Room Three was the top class in the entire grade, and I had fought tooth and nail to get in.
Adrian had always been popular. Handsome, helpful, and famous throughout the school as its golden boy.
Most of the time, everyone put on a show of unity, pretending we were one big family.
But the moment something went wrong, not one person was willing to stand up for me, the outsider who had transferred in halfway through the year.
I clenched my teeth and glared at them. I refused to lower my head.
“Adrian owes me an apology.”
They were about to say more when Adrian suddenly looked up at me.
His face was grim, and his tone was as unpleasant as it could be.
“Fine. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said anything just because I was trying to protect the class and enforce the rules. I’m sorry. Is that enough, Ethan Bennett?”
He looked so unwilling that the apology barely sounded sincere.
Before I could say anything, he abruptly stood and walked out of the classroom.
A moment later, a wave of shocked cries rose from the hallway.
Chapter 2
Realizing something was wrong, I followed him outside.
Adrian was surrounded by a crowd.
He was bent over, clutching his ankle. A fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead, and his face had gone pale.
The voices around him poured into my ears all at once.
“His parents were in a car accident not long ago. He’s already having a hard time. Did you really have to push him this far?”
“Seriously? Was one apology really that important?”
“And you people call yourselves classmates…”
The crowd around me suddenly opened up, leaving a wide empty space.
I stood there, frozen and at a loss.
Then I looked up and met Claire Sterling’s eyes as she came out of the faculty office.
Claire had beautiful eyes. She usually looked at people with a chilly indifference, but whenever she looked at me, there had always been a trace of warmth in them.
Not now.
The eyes fixed on me were filled with unmistakable reproach.
In that instant, I understood.
Claire blamed me too.
Adrian Vance lost his footing on the stairs after a moment’s distraction.
Claire immediately helped him to the infirmary.
With one arm draped over her shoulders, Adrian met my gaze coolly. The mockery in his eyes was unmistakable.
He was mocking me.
In that instant, I felt exposed.
Adrian had seen through me. He knew I was in love with Claire, even though I had never told her how I felt.
That left me certain of one thing: he had accused me of cheating on purpose.
Claire didn’t come looking for me until after she returned from the infirmary.
The evening breeze tossed the ends of her hair as she leaned against the railing and turned to look at me.
“Is hearing him say one sentence really that important to you?”
Her voice sounded the same as always. Nothing about it had changed.
Yet somehow, I could tell that she blamed me, just like everyone else did.
Something seemed to lodge in my throat, choking off every word.
After a long silence, I lowered my eyes to her and gave a bitter smile. “I don’t understand. He stages an accident to make everyone feel sorry for him, and somehow I’m the one in the wrong?”
Claire stared at me, momentarily stunned.
Maybe the sight of my bitter smile was too painful, because some of the tension in her finally eased.
“He didn’t stage anything. He really hurt his ankle. And I never said you were wrong.” Claire looked away. “I just don’t think this needs to turn into such an ugly scene.”
The bell rang, sharp and insistent, and with every chime, my heart sank a little deeper.
I stood frozen, silently watching her as a sudden sense of betrayal swept over me.
Did she really just want to keep things from getting ugly?
Or was there another reason?
By the time school let out, Claire was gone.
Adrian Vance’s seat was empty too.
Chapter 3
Someone came over to tell me that Claire had something to take care of and that I should head home on my own.
I nodded. “Oh.”
I couldn’t have said what I was feeling.
On the way out, the other students paired off in twos and threes, their laughter carrying down the street. I kept my head lowered as I pedaled, and for some reason, a flood of memories rose up without warning.
Back in our old neighborhood, Claire Sterling’s name had always carried weight.
Everyone knew she was cold to most people, but fiercely protective of the ones she cared about. Whenever I got into an argument with someone, Claire was always the first to charge in and take my side, without bothering to ask who was right or wrong.
I had lost my parents when I was young and lived with my grandmother in that same neighborhood. Claire used to trail after me everywhere, calling me “big brother” this and “big brother” that.
But little by little, she started acting strangely whenever the words came up.
Eventually, she began calling me by my full name instead.
I was carrying her backpack at the time, watching her lazily from the corner of my eye.
“Look at you. Your wings have grown in, and now you think you can call me by my name?”
As if I had seen straight through her, she lowered her head and muttered, “What big brother? You’re only a few days older than me!”
Then, as though she were deliberately trying to provoke me, she puffed out her cheeks and shouted, “Ethan Bennett! Ethan Bennett, Ethan Bennett, Ethan Bennett!”
Claire clearly expected me to chase her down and teach her a lesson like I used to. She spun around and took off running.
But I didn’t follow.
I stood there for a long while before finally giving in.
“Fine, fine. I can’t control you anymore.”
Then I let out a quiet laugh.
“Besides, I never liked being called ‘big brother’ either.”
…
By the time I came back to myself, night had already settled over everything.
The school wasn’t far from home, but along that short stretch of road, I turned back again and again—one hundred and eight times, it felt like.
The narrow path lay dim beneath the night sky.
Not once did I see the familiar figure I was looking for.
The next morning, Claire waited for me as usual so we could walk to school together.
On the surface, nothing had changed.
But somewhere along the way, I couldn’t stop myself from asking why she’d gotten home so late the night before. I tried to sound like I didn’t care.
Claire gave a casual explanation. Something had held her up.
She didn’t say what.
I found out soon enough.
The moment we walked into the classroom, Adrian Vance looked up and smiled at Claire.
“Morning, Claire. Oh, and thanks for driving me home last night.”
I froze, then slowly turned toward him.
Adrian had a good smile. Everyone thought so.
I’d just never realized a smile could be so irritating.