The hallway buzzed with excited whispers and exclamations. Groups of students huddled together, pointing and murmuring:
“Wait… Adrian’s mom is Lady Vivienne?!”
“No way… the Adrian we see here in school… his mom is that famous model?”
“OMG! I knew he was mysterious, but this? This is next level!”
“Does this mean all the rumors about his family were true?”
“I feel like my life is a lie… I’ve been walking past him for months and had no idea!”
“Imagine having a mom like her… I would never go back to school again, I’d just live in luxury!”
“She’s so elegant… and calm… even with all of us staring!”
“Wait… so Chloe’s joking about becoming her daughter-in-law? That’s insane!”
“Does anyone else notice Adrian doesn’t look anything like her at first glance? But now I see the resemblance!”
“I need to post about this—my followers will freak out!”
  The principal stepped forward, raising a hand to restore a semblance of order. “So… Lady Vivienne, what do I owe the honor of this visit?”
Lady Vivienne’s eyes narrowed slightly as she glanced at Adrian. “Look at my son’s face,” she said, her voice calm but firm. “I came here because of that.”
“Mom! You’re making a scene!” Adrian groaned, running a hand through his hair again. His face was flushed, partly from embarrassment, partly from exasperation.
The students froze, staring between Adrian and his mother in utter shock. Whispers erupted around the hall:
“Wait… that was him she was talking about?”
“Her son?! That’s Adrian??”
“I… I can’t believe this…”
Lady Vivienne’s eyes swept across the crowd, landing on a few students. “I want to see the student who dared fight with my son,” she said sharply, her gaze commanding.
The principal, a composed woman with an air of authority, stepped in quickly. “Let’s settle this amicably… in my office,” she said, gesturing toward the building.
Lady Vivienne sighed, straightening her posture, and gestured for Adrian to follow. He muttered something under his breath but obeyed, trailing behind his mother as she walked with elegance and authority.
The students could hardly contain their chatter. Chloe, in particular, was practically vibrating with excitement, phone still in hand. She whispered frantically to herself while recording snippets of the scene:
“I… I can’t believe this is real. Adrian… the Adrian I like… his mom is Lady Vivienne?! No way! My role model… my crush’s mom… WHAT?!”
Sarah and Amy, standing nearby, could only gape, sharing a look of disbelief. Even the hallway, usually filled with mundane chatter, was now alive with whispers, exclamations, and the hum of shocked excitement.
Chloe’s mind raced. “The Adrian I like… the Adrian I… oh my gosh, this is insane. How am I supposed to act now?!”
The school group chat was exploding.
“GUYS WE FOUND HIS ACCOUNT!!!” someone dropped a screenshot.
Within minutes, students were rushing to confirm it for themselves. Adrian’s TikTok handle, @AdrianGolden, was right there in bold letters—sitting pretty with a jaw-dropping 3.5 million followers.
“Three point five… million?” Sarah’s jaw nearly hit the floor as she stared at Amy’s screen. “Are you kidding me? He’s basically a superstar online!”
Amy blinked, stunned. “Wait… you mean to tell me Adrian, the calm and somehow cold boy who barely talks to anyone except when necessary.... is that popular?”
“Not popular,” Chloe corrected dramatically, already clutching her phone like a lifeline. “He’s ICONIC. Do you see that number? Three point five million followers! And I—” she squealed, “—am following him immediately.”
The group chat was spiraling:
“He’s been hiding this from us??”
“No wonder his mom is Lady Vivienne.”
“How did we not notice sooner???”
“I swear, this school is sitting on celebrities.”
Some students even dug deeper, pulling out old blurry pictures where Lady Vivienne had always turned Adrian’s face away from the camera. Suddenly it all made sense—why no one had noticed until now.
The excitement only grew louder. In every hallway, whispers traveled like wildfire:
“Three point five million followers!”
“Bro’s famous!”
“He’s literally walking among us like it’s nothing.”
Chloe, practically glowing, pressed her phone to her chest. “It’s destiny. It’s fate. Adrian Golden… soon to be Chloe’s Golden...or better still Chloe Callahan."
Amy facepalmed. “Oh no. Here we go again…”
   ********************
The atmosphere inside the principal’s office was tense. The blinds were half-drawn, the faint sunlight slicing across the polished desk where the principal sat, hands folded neatly.
Lady Vivienne, however, was far from calm. She stood tall, her presence commanding every inch of the room. Even the bodyguards stationed at the door looked smaller compared to her fury.
Adrian sat stiffly beside her, one cheek still faintly bruised. “Mom, I told you—it’s nothing. You didn’t have to come here for this—”
“Shut up, young man,” she cut in sharply, her tone firm enough to silence him on the spot. Her sunglasses dangled from her fingers as she leaned forward, eyes blazing. “Do not minimize this. Someone laid their filthy hands on my son. Who did this to his face?”
The principal, a dignified woman in her fifties, cleared her throat softly, trying to mediate. “Lady Vivienne, I understand your concern. But this is a school matter, and we handle such cases with—”
“Handle?” Vivienne’s laugh was short and cold, echoing through the room. She straightened, tilting her chin with that same regal poise that had once owned runways. “Look at him. Look at what’s been done. Do you call this handling?”
Adrian pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering under his breath, “You’re making a scene…”
“I will make a scene until justice is done,” she snapped, voice sharp but controlled. Then she turned her gaze back to the principal. “Bring me the student who dared to raise a hand against my son. Now.”
The principal exhaled, choosing her words carefully. “Lady Vivienne, please. Let us settle this amicably....."
  The tension hung thick in the principal’s office when a sharp knock came at the door.
“Come in,” the principal called, her voice steady.
The door creaked open, and in stepped Ethan—hands shoved in his pockets, his posture stiff but his expression unreadable. A hush fell instantly over the room, even Adrian straightening in his seat.
“I did it,” Ethan said plainly, his eyes darting only briefly toward Adrian before settling on the principal. “We just… got into a fight.”
For a second, silence swallowed the room whole.
Then Lady Vivienne’s gaze snapped to him, sharp enough to cut glass. She took a single step forward, her heels clicking against the tile. “You? You’re the one who dared touch my son?”
Ethan didn’t flinch. He held her glare, though his jaw tightened. “Yes, ma’am. It wasn’t planned. We fought. That’s all.”
Adrian groaned, burying his face in his hand. “For crying out loud…”
The principal raised a hand gently. “Lady Vivienne, please. Let me handle this. Violence is against school rules, and both students—”
“Both?” Vivienne’s voice sliced through the air like a whip. “My son is the victim here. Look at his face! You would punish him for being attacked?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Adrian muttered quickly, trying to defuse the fire. “I told you, Mom—it was just a fight. I hit him too.”
That made Vivienne snap her head toward Adrian, eyes wide in disbelief. “You—what?”
Adrian looked away, embarrassed. “Yeah. I fought back. He didn’t just… beat me up.”
For a moment, Lady Vivienne looked torn between strangling Ethan and scolding her own son. Finally, she exhaled dramatically, pressing a hand to her temple. “Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. The two of you—like children throwing punches in the street.”
The principal seized the chance to step in. “Exactly. Which is why this matter will be settled fairly."