"Crystal...Crystal...Crystal!"

I jolt awake from someone shaking my shoulder and shouting my name. My eyes take a moment to adjust, blinking several times as the back seat of my family's town car becomes clearer.

"We're almost there," my mother says, giving me a side-eye to express just how annoyed she is that I didn't wake up faster.

My stop drops, weighed down with dread as I glance out the window. I already know what I'll find. I've seen the pamphlets more times than I can count. But seeing it in person is so much...worse.

Off in the distance is the sprawling grounds of Black Water Academy. Its five buildings stand tall beneath the sky's dark clouds like a group of tyrants looking down on everyone condemned to its control. Some could say it's beautiful with its clean architecture and vibrant black and orange school banners strung from building to building. But a golden cage is still a cage and this bird prefers to spread her wings and fly.

"Don't look so distraught," my mother chides. "You did this to yourself. Your father told you if you ran away one more time what would happen. If anything, you should be happy he wants to keep you close instead of sending you to that military academy Grandpa suggested."

Lucky me.

I roll my eyes and slump in my seat, arms crossed over my chest.

But of course, leave it to Mom to rub salt in the wound. "At least your father is allowing Kyle to come visit you on weekends. You should be happy about that."

Sitting upright, I turn to her with pleading eyes. "Is that really a good idea though? I mean, this is a punishment. Shouldn't visitation be revoked as well?"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous." She laughs and waves a dismissive hand in the air. "Kyle's done nothing wrong, so it's not fair to punish him as well. Besides, the two of you have been together for years and after you both finish school, you'll be married. Your father wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that."

Another eye roll from me as I go back to sulking.

Heaven forbid my parents risk my future as Mrs. Kyle Wheeler. Not when my impending nuptials will restore them with respect and power among their hoity-toity upper society friends. Forget the fact that the guy they've doomed me to only likes me for my looks and my body.

"Remember, Crystal, arm candy is supposed to be admired, not heard."

I huff just thinking about his words at last month's gala before I packed my bags and tried to escape for the umpteenth time. My freedom was short-lived though and even being sent to this hell hole isn't far enough away from that jackass.

Resting my head against the car door, I close my eyes and wish for sleep and dreams of beaches and a devastatingly hot guy that has invaded my rest for years. An imaginary guy who has made me feel more wanted and understood than any real person in my life. But my eyelashes barely kiss the top of my cheekbones before my mom is shaking my arm again.

"Don't even think about it. We'll be pulling up in just a few minutes."

I resist the urge to roll my eyes and pout again.

Probably doesn't matter anyway. I haven't seen Captain in over a week and I have a bad feeling that's not going to change any time soon.

Mom's farewell as she dropped me off at Black Water Academy was anything but sentimental. She didn't even bother to get out of the car, not even to see Dad who was impatiently waiting for me outside the front doors as if he thought I'd make a break for it.

"Crystal Ruby," my dad greets me with his usual stern tone.

"Come on, Dad," I begin, doing my best not to sound annoyed. "You gotta stop with the first and middle name. People are gonna hear you and start doing it too."

"What's the problem with that? Is there something wrong with your name?"

He doesn't bother waiting for an answer though, not when two younger-looking boys appear from the giant double doors of the main building. He doesn't even have to give them instructions. The two automatically grab my bags from the curb where the driver set them, and turn to go back inside. Because of course, there's no way the headmaster of such a prestigious boarding school or his daughter would be caught dead carrying bags like some kind of servant.

Our walk through the main hall is a silent one. The only sounds are our footsteps against the hardwood floors. It's not until we reach an identical set of tall double doors that I hear the chatter of what sounds like hundreds of kids.

To my complete disappointment though, we take a right down another hall, away from what I'm assuming is the courtyard that I've seen in the pamphlets so many times before.

"It'll be faster to go the back way and avoid getting caught in the crowd," my father explains.

So the back way we go, which to me, feels longer. We make it through the main building and experience a brief amount of fresh air as we cross to another with the words "Darling Hall Dormitory" above the door.

Upon entrance, we're greeted by a large open room with couches, a television, tables that could seat up to eight people, bookshelves, and a front desk where a stern-looking woman sits. There's also another large set of doors to the left side and a wide staircase to the right. But the most noticeable things in the room are the many sets of eyes that turn our way as we walk toward the stairs. Even the boys caring my bags seem nervous from the curious glances of each girl we pass.

"So," I speak up as we reach the third and final floor. "No co-ed dorms?"

My dad shoots an amused look over his shoulder while stopping at room number thirty-six. "Not funny. Boys are not allowed in the girls' dorms and girls are not allowed in the boys. No exception."

"What about them?" I point at the two boys clutching to my luggage as if their lives depend on it.

Dad rolls his eyes and knocks on the door. "Fine, one exception, when I say so and only with my supervision."

The door opens a moment later revealing a pretty brunette. A soft smile quickly forms on her delicate face as she steps to the side and waves us in.

"Please, come in," she says in a cheerful voice just before her gaze lands solely on me and she holds out her hand. "I'm Mia."

My dad turns toward her. "This is my daughter, Crystal Ru—"

"Crystal," I quickly cut him off and shake her hand. "Just Crystal, though Crys works too."

Mia smiles wider. "Happy to meet you, just Crystal. I'm so excited to finally have a roommate. It's been almost a year since my last one."

"I wonder why," one of the boys still holding my luggage murmurs not so quietly.

Dad shoots him a pointed look. "You can leave the bags there and go. Thank you for your help."

The boys do as he says, dropping both my suitcases by the door and quickly leaving after giving him a respectful nod goodbye.

"Well," Dad begins, already inching toward the door. "I'll go ahead and leave you two to get acquainted." His eyes flick to me. "We'll have dinner at my place tomorrow night. You can tell me how you're settling in then."

There's no hug or sentimental farewells before Dad slips out and disappears. A few years ago I'd be hurt by that but I've accepted things as they are now.

"So...headmaster's daughter, huh?"

"Unfortunately." I sigh, looking away from the door.

Mia smiles comfortingly. "Don't worry. Most kids wouldn't even be here if it weren't for their parents being complete failures at the whole raising kids thing."

I try not to ask if that applies to her as well but my face must say it all.

"Yeah, mine too." Her smile drops as she nods. "Anyway, what do you wanna do? I could help you unpack, decorate your side of the room, or give you a tour."

My head Perks up at the mention of a tour. "I heard there's a courtyard. We went the least noticeable route but things sounded busy out there."

"Oh for sure." Mia smiles brightly again. "Everyone hangs out there. Come on, I'll show you."

The trip downstairs and out the giant side doors takes no time at all. And once we're bathed in the sunlight, I see exactly what Mia meant by "everyone."

The courtyard is smaller than I expected and jam-packed with kids. It reminds me more of a large alleyway that divides the identical dormitories, each one stretching nearly the whole length of the cement yard. At the top end is the main building and all its classrooms and the bottom end is sectioned off with a tall iron fence and a single archway out.

Mia catches me eyeing the possible escape through the fence and says, "That's where the sports fields are, plus the teacher housing, Headmaster McClay's place, and Black Water forest."

"Is it all fenced in?"

Mia shakes her head. "No, the forest is the only fence out there. Why?"

I shrug, pocketing the information for later. "No reason...so, what about the kids? Anything I should know?"

Mia taps her chin as she looks around before shrugging back. "Not much really. You got the typical cliques and groups. The jocks, the needs, the preps, the punks, and everything in between."

"Which one are you?"

Mia's eyes grow wide before she tries to play off her shock while twirling a strand of hair. "Um...I'm more of a loner."

This time it's my turn to be surprised. Mia's pretty and not just in the typical sense. She also seems super friendly as far as I can tell. Why anyone wouldn't want a friend like that is beyond me.

But I decide not to ask, not right now anyway. We've only just met and I don't want to seem rude to my roommate.

Looking around at the crowd of kids grouped in different areas throughout the courtyard, I try to figure out which clique is with. It's hard to tell though with most everyone still in their uniforms for the day or bustling around with energy. The only one that seems to really stand out is a group of six guys sitting on top of a picnic table in the center of the chaos. The rest of the kids walking around give their table a wide berth as if there's some invisible force field blocking them from everyone else.

"Who are they?" I ask, taking a moment to look over each one.

My eyes narrow to see through the bodies walking between us but even then, I still can't make out all of them. The one sitting in the center is turned to the guy behind him, talking huddled together leaving me with only a view of the back of his head and his midnight black hair. As for the other five, they have looks to kill, and the admired glances from a few of the girls that pass seem to agree.

Mia visibly tenses from the corner of my eyes. "Oh, they're...well, they don't really have a name but they basically run this place. All the cliques report to one of the five guys and do as they're told like mindless sheep."

"If they're the ring leaders then why is everyone acting like they have the plaque?"

"Out of fear and respect. One word from them and your entire social life goes down the drain."

I'm tempted to ask her if that's why she's a loner but bite my tongue.

"From left to right it's Woong, Chan, Miles, Noah, and Seong," Mia explains, trying to subtly point them out for me.

"And the one in the middle?" I ask but the second the words leave my mouth, the boy turns around.

All the air rushes from my lungs and my heart begins to race as a set of familiar dark eyes meet mine. Black strands of hair fall in his sculpted face and my hands tremble, remembering what it felt like to run my fingers through those same locks. Or at least, an imaginary version of them. A version that wasn't and couldn't possibly be real.

This has to be a dream. There's no way...

But even though I know that, my skin still remembers every touch and caress, every kiss and word that left that mouth. A mouth that slowly tips to one side as my stare is returned. But while I'm shocked in place, mouth hanging open like a fish, there's no shock in those nearly black eyes, and there's no familiar warmth in that smirk.

Still, no matter the amount of alarms going off in my head or the red flags waving in front of my face, my body still heats up from the memories, and sudden desire pulls low in my stomach.

That's it, Crys, you've finally lost it!

Oblivious to my meltdown, Mia answers, "That's Hunter. If the school reports to the other five, then they report to him. They call him their..." She stops to think, her eyes searching the sky for answers.

And while she looks for the right word, this boy...this Hunter, leans forward to rest his forearms on his knees like a predator sizing up his prey from a high perch. The faces of his friends mirror him, each one watching me with an intensity that makes my gut twist.

"Captain," I whisper, unable to tear my eyes from his. "They call him their captain."

Mia looks back at me with wide eyes. "Yeah...how'd you know that?"

But I don't answer her, not when Captain...Hunter throws a wink my way that sends a shiver down my spine and has my legs ready to give out. Instead of allowing that to happen though, I take off for the girls' dorm and run like a scaredy cat. Freaky deja vu and dream boys be damned.

Chapter Word Count: 2389

Total Word Count: 4518

Hey, loves! Thank you for checking out chapter 2 of IYD! I went a little over the word count I was aiming for, but not bad considering my normal chapters have a habit of going over 4k words. Anyway, I was really excited about this chapter and I hope it doesn't disappoint. Can't wait to hear what you all think!

So, with that said, let's get onto the questions!

First off, what do you think of Crystal? What do you think of her relationship with her parents and Kyle? Did you like Mia? What do you think of the school so far? What did you think of the boys' entrance? How was Hunter's reveal for you? Did it hit the right level of emotion in your opinion? What do you think about Crystal's reaction to seeing him? And finally, what do you think will happen next?

Leave your thoughts in the comments and if you like what you read, please hit that star button!

💜 xoxo