OWNED BY THE SPOTLIGHT

Aria's pov:

“Aria! Aria! Get up, don't make me do this alone”, my friend Mila said.

“Mila, please let me rest, it's barely noon and I'm so tired”. I yawned and pulled the pillow over my head lazily.

“Don't you know today is Cassian vale's concert? I told you about it yesterday, dummy.” She yelled at my face.

I pulled the pillow down to have a look at her face, and truth be told, her face looks so funny right now, with her nose flaring up and down, and I was almost tempted to laugh out loud.

“His concert starts in three hours time, and traffic will be insane soon. If you make me get there late, I'd kill you, fry your brain and eat”. She said while stomping her legs on the ground like a baby.

“Are you a zombie? Why would you fry my brain and eat”. I said laughing seriously.

“You try me”, she said dragging the pillow away from me.

Mila was clad in a ripped jean and a Cassian Vale's tour hoodie, she stood in front of my bed with her babyish face, her hair was packed in two ponytails, and her eyes was shinning bright like she had just being personally invited on stage by the so called Cassian.

“He's my celebrity crush, yunno, and as my best friend, you're coming with me to grace the concert tonight!” She said dramatically.

“Jeez, I don't even like him, I don't want to go out, and I don't want to see his face.” I groaned and slumped on my bed in an attempt to make her leave me and go alone, but Mila didn't buy that.

“I think he's arrogant”, I said sitting up. “And he's also over hyped, and too aware of how pretty he is”.

“Oh, so you do think he's pretty”. Mila smiled sheepishly.

“That's not the point, jug head”. I rolled my eyes at her.

She grabbed my arm, and dragged me off the bed anyway.

Two hours later, we were stuck in a wild traffic, surrounded by cars blasting Cassian's songs at high volume.

Now I can't even have some minutes to myself before we get to the concert. His voice was everywhere, from the car surrounding us, to Mila's car, to the billboards towered above us showcasing adverts with his song.

I covered my ears with my palm and rested my head against the car window as I watched the city blur past us.

“You're going to change your mind tonight, I promise. Everyone does after watching him live for the first time. It happened to me too, so it definitely would happen to you.” Mila said, gripping the steering to move since the traffic has reduced a bit now.

“I doubt it”. I replied.

“This is the first time you'd be seeing him live, girl. Bet it with me, you'd change your mind”.

“I can't change my mind, Mila. Guys like that don't even surprise me”.

“You're impossible”, she laughed.

Maybe or maybe not. I don't just like idols, and I do not give a fuck about them, I don't even fancy music not to talk of liking idols.

When we finally got to the stadium, the security checked our bodies and we were allowed to enter afterwards.

The inside was looming like a glowing beast. I looked around and saw thousands of girls lurking around pending the time Cassian would come on stage.

Most of them dressed in slutty, revealing clothes.

“This is insane”, I murmured.

“This is history.” Mila corrected, her face is not in any way different from the girls I looked at earlier, all of them have this excited face, like the idol they are anticipating is a god on his own.

Mila grabbed my hand and took me to the seats she booked for us. Our seats were closer to the front than I’d expected. It was angled perfectly towards the stage, and I can see everything clearly.

I sat down slowly and looked around again. Some girls around us were already crying, one clutched her chest like she had been shot. “I feel like I'm about to pass out”, she whispered to her friends.

“He looked at me during soundcheck.” Another said.

They kept whispering, and I felt I had accidentally wandered into a religion.

Screams, chants, and music kept vibrating round the stadium. But all of a sudden, the light dimmed and the screams doubled, then tripled.

Those that were hanging around quickly found their seats and sat down as everyone knew what was about to happen already.

Then Cassian Vale walked onto the stage, and the stadium erupted. I flinched and covered my ears because the girls beside me were already going crazy. The kind of noise coming out of their throats could definitely make a healthy person go deaf.

I looked at my right, and Mila wasn't left out. Her voice was even louder than the crazy girls beside us, and I was stuck in the middle of die hard fans of Cassian.

I looked ahead and saw him clearly since our seats are closer to the front.

He was actually taller than he looked on screens.

He was clad in a black leather outfit, which has a diamond studding on it, and he was moving with that kind of confidence that came from knowing that every eye was his at the moment.

The light went off suddenly, then his voice came up next, the light came back on and it was dimmed on only him at the centre of the stage.

I don't like him but I won't lie, his voice wasn't just a sound, it was command.

Girls screamed his name, some sobbed shamelessly, and some even fainted and had to be rushed out by security.

Mila wasn't left out, she was shaking like a leaf beside me. “Oh my God! He's real.” She kept shouting shamelessly too.

Cassian smiled at the crowd like he owned them, and this was the exact moment I decided I was actually right.

Arrogance is the right word for this.

After the third song, Mila stopped screaming and grabbed my hand.

“I need to tell you something, best.” She said seriously this time.

“Hmm, that sounds ominous”. I said suspiciously.

She grinned slightly. “I got into Aurelius Crown Academy.” She screamed.

I blinked twice, “You're joking right?”

“No, I'm fucking not! Full acceptance. And I'm resuming next week.” She blurted out.

My stomach twisted as I opened my mouth to talk, but closed it back when I couldn't form anything inside my head.

“That's… Wow, Mila”. I finally said swallowing hard.

Aurelius Crown wasn't just an ordinary school, it was a place for the elite, heirs, and billionaires.

Though we are among that category, but why Aurelius Crown of all places?

When I thought of how fragile Mila is, I felt something closer to dread. “Will she be able to cope alone?” I thought.

“And guess who else goes there?” She boomed beside me again.

I already knew the answer..

She leaned in, and whispered like it was a secret even though his face was projected high on a screen the size of a building.

“Cassian.”

I snorted. “Of course I know”.

“And guess who else is going?” She added, her eyes narrowing playfully at me.

I frowned. “Who?” She paused to see my reaction.

“You”, she screamed.

The world tilted. “What!” I shouted.

Mila laughed. “Mama didn't tell you?”

“No, she didn't.” I said slowly.

“Oh”, she mouthed. “I guess she wants it to be a surprise… You're also transferring to Aurelius Crown too. Same school. Same halls. Same department. Same…”

I stood up abruptly before she even finished talking.

Mila is closer to my mom than I, no doubt.

She calls her ‘mama’. They talk on phone often, especially when she's away for her business trips. Well she calls my mom on the phone most times which is something I stopped doing.

I feel a mother should check on her child more often. She hardly calls to check on me, and anytime I complain, she always come up with excuses, always claiming she's busy, so I stopped calling her too.

Mila and I have been friends since childhood, she knows the in and out of my family. My mom is away for a business trip currently and I have no idea why Mila got to hear this information before me.

I need to confirm from her first, she can't just transfer me as she likes to any school, not to talk of the one I detest the most. Though Aurelius Crown is popular, but I don't like the school one bit.

I sat down back as the screams around me faded into a dull hum.

“That's not funny”. I said seriously.

Mila sobered when she saw the look on my face.

She cupped my cheeks. “Aria… I thought you knew.”

My chest tightened, my mother and her decisions, she likes making decisions without putting me in mind or think of how I'd feel.

I looked back at the stage. Cassian was still singing, he was showered in different coloured lights and adored by thousands. And suddenly, the distance between us felt dangerously small.

Aurelius Crown Academy is a kingdom built on power, and legacy. And I was dropped right into it without my consent, that broke my heart more than I can explain.

“I don't belong there”. I whispered.

Mila squeezed my hands, “you'll survive, and I'll survive.” She said.

The light on stage brightened and Cassian stepped forward. The crowd lost it's little sanity it had left.

He then looked straight at me, he didn't look at the crowd, he didn't look at Mila who was practically vibrating beside me either.

Me..

I wouldn't count it as an accident, or a passing glance. He continued looking at me with an unsettling precision, and his dark eyes continued narrowing at me, as if he had singled me out of thousands.

The smile on his face shifted into something sharper and curious. My breath caught, and for a split second, the noise disappeared. The screams, the music, and the world disappeared too.

Then all of a sudden, he flicked his eyes away and the spell broke, the crowd surged back into sound immediately.

“What's wrong, best?” Mila shouted over the noise.

“Nothing”, I lied. My skin pricked, and a strange chill settled deep in my chest.

Because in that moment, Cassian locking eyes with me made me understand something I couldn't explain yet…

Aurelius Crown wasn't just a school, it was a kingdom. And it's king had just noticed me.

The concert ended, and we drove straight to my house. Mila slept over at my place, and while she was asleep, I called my mom to confirm what Mila said, and lo and behold, she was right.

My mom didn't even feel remorseful about it, I begged several times, but she wouldn't listen. She claimed she has a reason for transferring me to the school, so I was left with no other choice than to attend that Godforsaken school.

A week after the concert, I still remembered how his eyes found mine among the crowd and I hated that I remembered.

I woke up before my alarm, I faced up staring at the ceiling of my room like it had personally offended me.

I'm finding it hard to stand up and freshen up because today was my official day at Aurelius Crown Academy, and the thought alone is giving me headache.

Mila had started days ago, she insisted on arriving early to “study the ecosystem”, as she called it.

I called it scouting predators.

I stood up finally and dragged my lazy feet to the bathroom to take my bath. I finished bathing, I dabbed my body with my towel and stepped into my walk-in closet.

Aurelius Crown requires uniform, but that doesn't mean simplicity.

Everything was sharply tailored. It also looked expensive.

I ironed my fingers over the white shirt, and I paired it with the academy's navy high-waist skirt fitted enough to define my shape.

Yes, I have a natural wide hips, and a figure-eight shape that guys are willing to die for. It had always drawn attention anywhere I go whether I asked for it or not. But today, I wasn't asking.

I combed my blonde hair and let it fall in loose waves over my shoulder. My face is small and round, I have this gentle girl face, but I know deep down that I'm far from gentle. You can't really know until you find my trouble though.

I applied a touch of lipgloss, and light mascara. I stared at myself in the mirror

“You don't bow, not here, not ever”. I whispered.

My driver rolled towards the gates of Aurelius Crown Academy, the ride was thirty minutes to my house.

Guards stood still with blank expressions as students poured in through different entrance. They stepped out of their cars that could cost a home.

Ferraris. Rolls royce. A matte black Aston Martins.

The school looked so perfect. The car stopped. “Good luck, miss Aria”. Mr. Haydes said as I stepped out.

All eyes were on me, my blonde hair, my hips, my posture, and my calm face.

I lifted my chin proudly, let them look, I get this everyday.

I thought proudly..

A slow breeze brushed against my legs, and lifted the ends of my skirt.

I adjusted my skirt and looked around. It settled on me that I was standing alone in a courtyard full of predators, then I felt a shift in the air.

The low sound of a car cut through the murmurs. The students that stood near the driveway straightened instantly. Someone whispered a name under their breath, then another voice followed, then another.

The sound spread so fast but I didn't turn around. Then suddenly, everywhere became silent, everyone stopped whatever they were doing, and even the guards composed themselves more.

The engine stopped, and the car door opened.

I finally turned to have a look at what was causing these discomfort, and to my greatest surprise, I met someone's eyes already staring at me coldly.