So here's the thing you weren't exactly the prom king or queen back home. You were... fine. Average. The kind of person who floated through high school without making too many waves. Not a loser, but definitely not the one everyone wanted to be.

But none of that matters now.

You got in. Blackwood University. The school you've been dreaming about since you were a kid. The place where senators send their kids, where geniuses collaborate on groundbreaking research, where the wealthy and powerful send their offspring to network and party and become even more wealthy and powerful.

And yeah, maybe your grades weren't technically good enough. Maybe your SAT scores were... decent. But your father knew the principal. You still don't know how your dad a middle-class guy who works a normal job is such good friends with a man that established. It doesn't make sense. But you never asked. You were just happy to get the acceptance letter.

Now you're here.

You step onto campus and immediately feel out of place. The buildings are massive, Gothic, covered in ivy. Students walk by in designer clothes, talking about their summer internships at their parents' companies. A guy in a blazer is arguing with a girl about Nietzsche. Someone else is handing out flyers for a "Masquerade Ball."

This is a different world. A world of elites and geniuses. A world of secrets and opportunities.

And you're in it.