The corridors of Aetheris Academy glowed with the soft shimmer of enchantment. Its prestige was second only to the mysterious Valerius family, whose name whispered through the city like a sacred incantation.
Evelyn Hawthorne kept her eyes low as she passed a group of laughing girls in designer spell-threaded uniforms. Her own shoes—neatly polished but two years out of trend—clicked against the pristine marble floors. She could hear her stepsister, Isabella, giggling not far behind her, surrounded by their usual entourage of privileged elites.
Evelyn's world was a careful balance of invisibility and quiet rebellion. The Hawthorne name might have carried weight once, but her father's public favor had long since shifted to his second wife's children. In private, Evelyn was the daughter of an inconvenient past.
Great! Since we're now drawing from those inspirations, I'll blend in more dramatic misunderstandings, intense romantic tension, social power dynamics, and emotional highs between the leads—especially involving status and hidden identities.
A sudden collision snapped her out of her thoughts.
Books scattered. She stumbled.
"Watch it," came a voice—cool, low, and commanding.
She looked up into a pair of piercing eyes. The boy towered over her, his dark blazer lined with threads of silver enchantment.