Chapter 1 — Formation

By the time Dr. Voss said the words group project, half the class had already started moving.

Not particularly because he’d dismissed us, rather it's because everyone in that room had apparently known each other since birth, and the second they smelled collaboration in the air, chairs were scraping, laptops were snapping shut, and people were drifting into their little pre-approved clusters like magnets finding the only metal worth touching.

I stayed where I was.

Mostly because I didn’t feel like panicking.

My laptop sat open in front of me, a DaVinci Resolve timeline neat and color-coded, the assignment we’d been given forty minutes ago already finished. Around me, the room buzzed with the same tired, fluorescent misery every uni classroom had after four p.m. The air is too dry, lights too bright, somebody’s shitty cologne doing chemical warfare from three rows up and Dr. Voss was still talking, hands folded behind his back as he paced the front of the room like he was delivering a war speech instead of explaining a documentary assignment to a bunch of half-awake media students.

“Groups of five maximum,” he said, adjusting his glasses. “Three minimum. You’ll produce a short documentary-style piece on a subject of your choosing. I want a structured, clear editing language, and actual effort for once. You've got two weeks. Don’t disappoint me.”

He paused.

Then, with the exact amount of cruelty expected from a man who taught editing theory like it was sacred text, he added, “Class dismissed.”

The room exploded.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed a hand over my mouth, already tired.

“Bro.”

Cade dropped into the seat beside me like he was collapsing after a twelve-round title fight instead of a fifty-minute lecture he spent doodling sneakers in the margins of his notes. He turned his laptop toward me. His assignment file was still called untitled final actual final 2.

“I did not understand a single thing that man said after ‘documentary,’” he told me.

“Do you ever understand anything after the first noun?”

“That is a fantastic question. Unfortunately, due to being such a complex person I have many layers so information takes twice as long to soak”

“So you're an onion?”

“More like a man of mystery.”

I finally looked at him. “You drew the same shoe six times.”

“It shows evolution.”

I snorted despite myself and started packing up my charger.

Cade, as usual, looked like he’d walked in late and still somehow come out looking better than everybody else. Relaxed fit hoodie, chain half-hidden under the collar, hair just messy enough to look intentional, grin too easy to be fake. He’d been my boy since Year Ten, which meant I’d had long enough to get used to the fact that he could talk to literally anyone and somehow come out of it with a new contact, a free drink, and/or somebody’s cousin following him on Instagram.

I didn’t have that problem.

Or gift.

Whichever.

“Just join my group,” Cade said, nudging my arm. “Me and you, easy.”

“You have a group?”

He pointed across the room with his chin. “I've got vibes.”

I followed his line of sight and immediately regretted it.

Front row. Of course.

Sienna Blaze was already standing, one hand on the desk, the other gesturing like she was pitching THE startup. Even from the back of the room, she had that kind of energy people automatically made space for. Her hair was this natural, fiery red that should’ve looked ridiculous in fluorescent lighting and yet it somehow didn’t. If anything, it made her look more expensive. Her outfit was fitted, styled, and intentional down to the accessories, like she’d stepped out of a camera test and happened to stop by class on the way.

Beside her was Declan Wolfe, who looked like he belonged anywhere but indoors under strip lights. A tall, built and calm in that physical way where you could tell he didn’t need to prove anything because his mere existence already did half the work for him. He wasn’t saying much, just standing there with one hand in his pocket while Sienna talked, occasionally glancing at her like the rest of the room existed at a lower priority.

Then there was Livia.

She wasn’t doing anything dramatic. That was probably why I noticed her.

She sat a little apart from the others, one leg crossed over the other, scrolling through something on her tablet with the kind of focus that made the room around her feel slightly irrelevant. Straight black hair that was clean and simple. No loud styling, nothing too try hard. Her skin was so clear it looked unfair. And for someone who did beauty content—I only knew that because Cade had pointed half the class out to me once—she barely looked like she was wearing any makeup at all.

Minimal if any at all.

Still impossible not to look at.

Like she didn’t need attention, and somehow that made her stand out more.

As if on cue, she looked up.

Just for a second.

Her eyes met mine across the room, and something in my chest did this weird, stupid little stutter like my body had mistaken eye contact for a medical emergency.

Then Cade snapped in front of my face.

“Hello? Earth to socially malfunctioning editor?”

I blinked. “Shut up.”

“Oh, you looked too long,” he said immediately, grinning. “That was a long look. You got caught in the pretty trap.”

“I was taking in our group.”

“Mhmm.”

“I was.”

“Xaaaaaaav.”

“Cadeeeeeee.”

He laughed, pushing himself out of the desk. “Come on, man. Voss is definitely about to do some evil shit and assign us if we don’t move.”

I stood, slinging my bag over one shoulder just as Dr. Voss’s voice cut clean through the room.

“Cade and Xavier.”

Cade winced. “There it is.”

Dr. Voss looked over the top of his glasses, then pointed.

“Join that group.”

Of course.

Cade looked at me. I looked at him.

Then we both looked at the front row like we were being assigned community service.

“Coulda been worse,” he muttered.

“How could this possibly have been worse. ”

He thought about it. “Actually, yeah. This is pretty bad.”

We made our way down the aisle through the usual post-class chaos. Sienna saw us coming before we got there. Her expression changed instantly—not badly, just quickly. Measured. Assessed.

That kind of thing always stood out to me.

She looked Cade over first, then me, then gave a quick glance back to Declan like she’d already run the numbers.

“Okay,” she said, before either of us could talk. “This is good. We needed an editor.”

I stopped in front of the desk. “Hi to you too.”

That made Cade snort.

Sienna blinked once, then smiled in a way that somehow managed to be both charming and slightly condescending. “Hi. I’m Sienna Blaze.”

“Yeah,” Cade said. “You say it like we’re on your payroll.”

“That depends,” she said. “Are you useful?”

“Emotionally? Sometimes. Academically? Not often.”

“I’m talking to him.” She pointed at me.

“Rude,” Cade said.

“I know your work,” Sienna said to me, ignoring him. “Or at least I know you’re the one Voss keeps not bothering because you finish before everybody else.”

“That almost sounded like a compliment.”

“I was making an observation.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

Declan stepped in then, not aggressively, but just enough to shift the space. “Are you good to film and edit or not?”

Straight to it.

I looked up at him. “I’m good.”

He nodded once, like that was all he needed, and stepped back again.

Cade leaned in toward me slightly. “See? Warm bunch.”

“I can hear you,” Sienna said.

“I know.”

She rolled her eyes, then turned just enough to gesture toward Livia. “This is Livia Sterling.”

Livia had already looked up again. Up close, she somehow looked even more put together, even though there was nothing loud about her. Her outfit was simple. Clean black top, light jacket, fitted trousers, jewelry so minimal it almost didn’t register. She carried herself like a woman who didn't bother with the pretentious norms of society.

“Xavier Vayne right?” she said.

Though it sounded like a question, it was more of a statement. Like she knew my name but said it like a question just for the fun of it.

I paused. “Yeah?”

Cade immediately pointed at her like he’d just witnessed witchcraft. “Nah, see? That’s weird. How’d you know that?”

“He introduced himself in the first seminar,” she said.

“That was like… two months ago.”

She gave a tiny shrug. “I remember things.”

Sienna made a face. “That’s creepy.”

“No,” Livia said calmly, “I'm just a good listener”

I bit back a smile.

Cade did not.

“Ohhhhh, I like her,” he said.

“Thank you,” Livia said, in a tone of genuine appreciation.

There was something weirdly funny about that. Not in a loud way. Just enough to make the corner of my mouth twitch.

Sienna noticed.

Interesting.

“So,” she said, clapping once to pull the focus back to herself, “assignment. Documentary. We should do something that actually has a chance of standing out.”

“Standing out for Voss or standing out online?” I asked.

She gave me a look. “Both.”

“Of course.”

“That a problem?”

“Depends how dumb the idea is.”

Cade made a low ooh noise under his breath.

Declan crossed his arms.

Sienna smiled again, but this time there was a little more edge to it. “See, I thought you were quiet. Turns out you’re just selective.”

“That’s one word for it,” Cade said.

Livia’s eyes flicked toward me briefly, and for some reason that felt more noticeable than anything Sienna had just said.

Sienna ignored it. “There’s this town a couple hours out. People online keep posting weird clips from the woods around it. Nothing conclusive, but enough to make people talk.”

“Enough for what?” I asked.

“For something interesting,” she said. “Which is more than I can say for every boring ‘urban isolation’ piece Voss gets every semester.”

“That sounds like a terrible idea,” I said.

“It sounds like a worthy documentary.”

“It sounds like TikTok bait.”

“It can be both.”

Cade raised a hand. “In fairness, that is kind of our whole degree.”

Declan gave a single approving nod. “He’s got a point.”

I looked at Cade. “Whose side are you on?”

“The side of not making a short film about traffic cones and local architecture.”

“That was one time.”

“And it was terribleeee.”

“It got a first.”

“Out of pity.”

Sienna was already typing on her phone. “Great. So we’re doing it.”

I stared at her. “That wasn’t a vote.”

“Yeah,” she said. “It wasn't”

That should’ve irritated me more than it did. But the truth was, once she started listing what needed doing—gear, batteries, route planning, shot priorities, research split—I realized she was assigning me the exact stuff I would’ve preferred to handle anyway.

That didn’t mean I liked being told.

But I respected efficiency when I saw it.

Cade, meanwhile, was fully settled in already, leaning against the desk like this was now his family. “I call front seat.”

“Why?” Declan asked.

“So Xav can drive and I can DJ.”

“You do NOT want him touching the aux,” I said.

“Woooooow. Abuse.”

“You listen to remixes made by dudes who probably smoke pen ink before touching a soundboard”

“Don't insult JK Vortex.”

“Who the hell is JK Vortex”

“My muse”

Livia let out the smallest sound beside her—barely even a laugh—and I looked over before I could stop myself.

She looked down at her tablet again almost immediately.

But the corner of her mouth had moved.

Sienna was still talking. “We’ll plan the details in the group chat tonight. Everyone be serious about this, please. I’m not wasting two weeks on something half-done.”

“Don’t worry,” Cade said. “You’ve got me.”

“That’s exactly what worries me.”

Declan smirked.

I adjusted the strap on my bag and glanced once more at the group I’d apparently be spending the next two weeks with.

Sienna, already halfway into command mode. Declan, orbiting her like gravity was personal. Cade, somehow making himself at home in under five minutes. Livia, quiet and unreadable and already more interesting than the rest of them put together.

This was going to be a lot.

I could feel it in my soul.

But standing there, watching Sienna map the whole thing out while Cade heckled her like a professional nuisance, I figured it was manageable.

Annoying, sure.

Potentially exhausting, definitely.

But manageable.

That was the thought I left with.

And if there was one thing I’d learn very quickly, it was that manageable was the first lie the story told us.