로그인JULIAThat asshole!Of all campuses to be on. Of all courses to major in. Of all classes to attend!!Why did he have to end up in mine?!I marched down the hallway with the kind of annoyance that made it look like I had a grudge against the floors.Legs pounding. Arms swinging. Brows knit so closely together the expression itself hurt.But the deeper into the moving faces I went, the more audible a strikingly familiar voice got.“Jules? Jules, wait up. Jules!”Jules? Who the fuck was Jules?I turned back slightly, more in curiosity than anything else, and noticed the redhead flagging me down.“Jules. Please hold on a sec.”Jules? I was Jules??“Hi,” she said, hands on her knees as she caught her breath.“Um. Hi.” I glanced past her at the path she took down here. “Did you… sprint all the way here?”“Sort of?” she answered. “My name’s Flora. We have the same classes? Criminology?”“Huh. Doesn’t really ring a—”“Miss Aubrey called me out in class today. Adrian and I, actually.”
BIANCA“He’s not coming, is he?”I’d been staring at my phone the entire time, hoping that would be enough to signal I didn’t want to talk until Max got here.Clearly, I was wrong.“I’m not sure.” I finally raised my head and tried acting like I hadn’t noticed how antsy she’d been this entire time.Vanessa… wasn’t acting like Vanessa.The air of composure and elegance I was so used to seeing around her had completely faded. And, if I was being honest, this wasn’t even my first time noticing it.Back when she showed up at the house and first brought up “the offer,” I could tell there was something wrong.“I mean, I know he came to school today, but I’m not sure if he’ll…” The words fizzled into thin air mid-sentence.I *knew* Max wouldn’t show up. He’d made it pretty clear he wanted nothing to do with Vanessa. And if not for the way things ended with the Summer Tournament, I was pretty sure the last place he’d be was on campus.“So, were you able to reach Tiffany?” I changed subjec
ADRIAN You know, I was starting to think this whole New York thing was a humiliation ritual intentionally designed to break me.Maybe Max and Brian did know what they were doing when they chose using me instead of killing me after all. But this was one of the few times I wish Max had put a bullet through my head instead of dragging me down here.“Hi. You're Adrian, right? Max's younger brother?” Some giddy redhead asked beside me. Tsk. It was barely ten in the morning and I could almost guarantee I'd been asked that question more than a dozen times. “Who's asking?”“I'm Flora” she stuck out a hand, “I work on the Campus' Gossip blog, and well, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but you've become pretty much a trending topic on your first day at college.”Andddd the embarrassment carries on. It wasn't just my first day at NYU.It was the first time I'd shown my face in public after putting up an abysmal performance just moments before the Summer Tournament was scrapped.Today also m
JULIAI’m a big reader.I’d like to think that the moment my mom pushed me out of her womb, I cried in that nasal, loud way newborns usually did and didn’t stop until… well, until I was read a story.Stupid way to think, but oh well. If I wrote a story about a kid like that, used the right words, descriptions, and illustrations, you’d probably believe me.And that was the point. Reading was meant to feel like that. Easy. Cool. One of the rare opportunities you’d have in life to escape the harsh corners of reality.Now that I gave it some thought, maybe that was one of the reasons I couldn’t stand Staten Island.Everywhere you turned, there was a gruesome reminder that you’d never escape reality.Not when the mother two blocks away just lost her child. Or when the landlord upstairs kept making moves to force your aunt to pay rent. Or when you watched your mom die one night before you were meant to die.Reality. Reality. Reality. It was like the earth kept screaming the word
MASON“Huh,” she finally broke the silence after what felt like hours of waiting. “I want to say I’m surprised, but I’m really not.”“Great.” I adjusted my posture on the leather seat. “We can get straight to the point then.”“We both know it’s not that simple.” She leaned back against the door and it shut with a light click. “Straightforward, but not simple.”The purple-haired newlywed strutted toward the large round table with a patient air, then tossed a folder toward me before she’d even neared my seat.It landed with a soft thud, and emboldened on the cover page was the headline:**[Partnership Proposal.]**“Now, what on earth would an investor like yourself be doing all the way here? Sticking his nose into Lang Corp business?” Sabrina said.“The same thing you and your husband did when you bought shares at Northline,” I easily answered. “Can a businessman not choose to spread his wings as he likes?”Neither shock nor confusion flickered across her face. She wasn’t surprised I kn
MASONI wasn’t a fan of stress balls.The idea of them alone was ridiculous to me. Venting your frustration on a lifeless rubber shape in hopes of clearing your mind.Definitely looked as stupid as it sounded.Yet here I was, tossing one toward the ceiling and waiting for it to fall back into my hands every couple of seconds.In my defense, this wasn’t exactly frustration.I still didn’t have a word for it, but I wouldn’t call it frustration.I tossed the ball toward the high ceiling again, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kayla standing by the dining room.The whole messy-hair-and-pajamas look was new for her, but oh well. I’d noticed a lot of “new” stuff since we came to New York.“Gonna keep staring at me? The view can’t be that nice.”“Trust me. It isn’t,” she grumbled as the ball landed in my palms again, only for me to toss it up once more.“I see. You’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking, huh?”“If what you’re thinking is that we’ve overstayed our welcome in New Yo







