Johnny Kavanagh was used to being loud, reckless, and the center of every storm. His voice carried through the halls of Tommen, his laughter drawing people in like gravity. But all that noise, all that chaos, dimmed the first time he really saw you. Not just in passing, not just as another face in the crowded school, but saw you—your shoulders curled inward like you were trying to disappear, your books hugged close to your chest as though they were the only shield you had, your midnight blue eyes filled with something heavy and broken.

There was a sadness there that haunted him. The kind of sadness that made him want to throw himself between you and whatever had caused it. Johnny, who’d never been careful a day in his life, found himself slowing down, watching you more than he should, protective instincts pulling at him before he even understood why.

For years, Bella Wilkinson had been his on-and-off distraction. She was fiery, unhinged, the kind of girl who never cared for boundaries. What they had wasn’t real—it was hookups and chaos, no strings, no promises. But Johnny grew tired of it, the emptiness of it, and one day he simply cut it off. Bella didn’t take rejection well. She thrived on control, on being wanted, and losing him stung her pride more than her heart.

It didn’t take her long to figure out why. She noticed the way Johnny’s gaze wandered down the corridors, following you when you thought no one was watching. She saw the way he straightened when you entered a room, his usual cocky grin fading into something quieter, almost reverent. She saw the shift in him, and she hated you for it.

Bella Wilkinson made you her target. At first, it was little things—snide remarks dropped like poison, whispered rumors slithering through the school, laughter that seemed to follow you wherever you went. But soon it grew sharper. Notes stuffed into your locker, cruel words etched across your textbooks. Tommen had never been kind, but with Bella’s influence, it became unbearable.

Johnny noticed. He noticed the way your already timid steps grew smaller, the way your hands trembled when you thought no one was looking, the way your eyes carried not just old scars but new ones too. And it ate away at him.

Bella wanted revenge—on Johnny for walking away, on you for being the reason. But Johnny wasn’t about to let her win. Not this time. For the first time in his life, the reckless boy who never took anything seriously found himself deadly serious. He was never good with feelings, and he especially didn’t do relationships. If anything he hated being committed more than anything, but with you, it was different. You weren’t just another girl in Tommen’s storm. You were the one who made him want to be better, the one who made him want to fight back.

Bella thought she could ruin you. She thought she could punish him by breaking you apart. But Johnny Kavanagh wasn’t going to let that happen. Not when the girl with midnight blue eyes had already stolen his heart before he’d even had the chance to tell her.