Wolf Dé Roses’ first day at Prestige isn’t even warm yet—five minutes on campus and he’s already a Board problem.

From a blind corner near a broken security loop, Nia Calloway watches the lobby turn into a stage: polished marble, muted whispers, phones lifting at hip-height… and Mr. Langston walking in like a lawsuit wearing cufflinks.

Langston doesn’t question Wolf’s talent—he questions his existence. Hoodie. Shoes. “Open call.” Legacy loophole. Reputation. Donors. His son Alexander. Everything becomes a public warning wrapped in “standards.”

Principal Garrison Gray steps in with that calm, surgical voice—then does something worse than yell back: he names last year without naming it. The fallout. The erased teacher. The liability hearing. The Calloway incident.

Nia hears her own name used like armor and a knife a ...