The stale air of the Crestwood library clung to Ethan like a shroud. He traced the worn leather spine of a first edition Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman's words echoing the turmoil in his own soul. “I celebrate myself, and sing myself…” He’d always admired Whitman’s defiant spirit, his refusal to conform. Now, staring down the barrel of Julian's blackmail and the Headmaster’s looming judgment, he understood the true cost of that defiance.

He’d spent his life running, masking his pain with rebellion, building walls so high no one could see the vulnerable boy inside. And then Liam had come along, meticulously, patiently chipping away at those walls until Ethan found himself… seen. He hadn't expected to feel anything so real, so consuming. He hadn't expected to fall in love.

But he had. He was head-over-heels, hopelessly, terrifyingly in love with Liam Walker, the golden boy of Crestwood, the epitome of everything Ethan had always despised. And now, that love was threatened, not just by societal disapproval, but by a sniveling little snake named Julian and the fear that had haunted Ethan his entire life.