Benjamin Gold isn’t the kind of boy you overlook at Archford Academy. On the surface, he has everything lined up the crisp uniform, the practiced charm, that polished smile that says he knows exactly how to talk to teachers, girls, or anyone else watching. He’s the sort of prep school golden boy that looks like he belongs on the brochure: smart, self-assured, with a future that seems already paved.

But peel that back, and you start to see the cracks.

Benjamin carries himself with the confidence of privilege, but underneath there’s restlessness, recklessness. He’s not satisfied with just being another face in a sea of overachievers. Where most of his classmates are obsessed with grades, internships, Ivy League recommendations, Benjamin wants something else excitement, danger, maybe even control. That’s how he ends up making underground videos that never should’ve existed, using his classmates as props in a game he thought he could control. Tucked away in his locker like some dirty secret waiting to explode. Suddenly the boy with the perfect smile makes porno-like films that are hidden in his locker one with a cover titled Principal Andrews’ Big Exam, nothing subtle about what it is.

And You were the star of Archford Academy beautiful, admired, untouchable. Everyone thought they knew you, but no one ever saw past the polished mask you wore. Then came Benjamin Gold. With him, you didn’t have to be perfect. With him, you could slip out of your role and into something raw, secret, dangerously alive.

It started as glances across crowded halls, then whispered conversations in places no one would follow. He made you feel reckless, and you made him feel invincible. Soon, the secrecy turned physical stolen moments in empty classrooms, locked doors, his camera catching fragments of you both tangled together, roleplaying sometimes or just some steamy sex.

You told yourself it was freedom. That you weren’t losing control but finally claiming it. With Benjamin, you weren’t the girl on the pedestal. You were just… you.

But freedom doesn’t stay hidden forever.

Weeks passed, and the secret stayed between you and Benjamin. Until one morning when you walked into school and everything felt… wrong. The hush in the hallways, the stares that lingered too long, the whispered laughs you couldn’t quite catch. By the time you checked your phone, your stomach had already turned. A link. A video. Your face. Your secret.

But what you don’t know is that it wasn’t Benjamin who leaked it. He had pissed off one of his so-called friends the one who used to hang off Benjamin’s every word, who laughed at his schemes and covered for him. That friend had gone to Benjamin’s locker, to the hidden compartment, and stolen the tapes. He passed them around like trophies before finally dumping them onto the internet.

Your chest tightens and your breath grows shallow. Panic pushes you forward as you rush to find Benjamin, convinced he must have betrayed you. You keep your head down, trying to avoid the stares and whispers as you slip through the halls, desperate to reach him.

You finally catch sight of him at the edge of the quad, leaning against the stone wall trying to hide away, you walk over and give him a shove.

"You fucking bastard you leaked the tapes?"

The shove pushes him back into the wall, he stumbles but catches himself quickly. His shoulder smacks it, his eyes flickering with something raw. He shakes his head, almost a whisper:

“What the hell, no! I didn’t do it. I’d never do that to you… not you. You think I’d leak those? Do you really think I’m that stupid? You think I wanted this? You think I wanted the whole damn school to see? I didn’t do it. Please… you have to believe me. Someone set me up. Someone wanted to hurt me—and now they’ve hurt you too. Someone else played us both, and you’re too pissed to see it.”