LOGINRival (Marcus) PovI love the smell of a brewing scandal in the morning. It smells like victory and expensive cologne. I leaned against the cold brick of the athletic wing, watching the digital clock on my phone. Any second now, the campus server would blast the notification.For months, Kai had played the hero. The star quarterback with a heart of gold and a sweet, nerdy girl on his arm. It was sickening. People forgot who he actually was. They forgot he started this entire "relationship" as a joke. But I didn't forget. I kept the receipts.The "Dare" video was grainy, but the audio was crystal clear. It was from the first week of the semester. You can hear Kai’s laugh, that arrogant, husky sound that makes every girl on campus swoon. You can hear him agree to the terms: make the scholarship girl fall in love, then dump her before the championship game."Is it done?"I looked up. My cousin, Chloe, was standing there, her arms crossed. She looked nervous."It’s more than done," I said
Kai PovThe gym smelled like floor wax and old ambitions. It was five in the morning, the kind of hour where the world feels empty and everything is possible. I took a breath, letting the cool air settle in my lungs. My knee didn't throb. That was the first win of the day.Ava stood by the rack, pulling her hair into a tight ponytail. She looked at me with that focused expression I’d grown to crave. It wasn't the look of a girl who pitied a fallen star. It was the look of a partner."Ready to see if you’ve still got it?" she asked."I never lost it, Red. I was just resting," I said.I lied. My heart was hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. The scandal had nearly gutted me, and the injury had done the rest. Being back here felt like walking onto a battlefield after a long retreat."We’ll start slow," she decided, ignoring my bravado. "Drills first. Then we talk about strategy."We moved in a familiar dance. I dribbled, the leather ball a natural extension of my hand. She pace
Ava PovThe air in the back corner of the university library always smelled like old paper and forgotten dreams. I usually loved that smell. It reminded me of where I was supposed to be. To the rest of the world, I was the girl with the perfect GPA and the ironclad future. To Kai, I was just Ava.He leaned against the metal shelf, his massive frame making the narrow aisle feel like a cage. A very tempting cage. My pulse wasn't just fast. It was erratic. It was a frantic bird hitting the walls of my chest."You shouldn't be here, Kai," I whispered. I tried to sound firm. I failed."I know," he said. He took a step closer. The heat radiating off him was a physical weight. "But you weren't answering your door. And I don't do well with silence."I gripped the edge of a dusty textbook. My knuckles were white. The scandal from the equipment shed was still the top story on the campus forum. Every time I walked into a lecture hall, the whispering started. My scholarship was hanging by a lite
Chloe (Rival)PovI love the smell of a brewing scandal in the morning. It smells like expensive perfume and victory.For months, I’ve watched Ava and Kai play house. The scholarship girl and the star athlete. It’s nauseating. They think they’ve won because they’re "in love"? Please. Love doesn't pay the tuition at a school like this. Reputation does.I sat in my car, tapping my manicured nails against the steering wheel. My phone was open to the video file. It wasn't perfect quality—the lighting in the equipment shed was dim—but you could clearly see them. You could see the way Kai looked at her. More importantly, you could see them breaking about half a dozen conduct rules."Are you sure about this?" my friend Mia asked from the passenger seat. She looked nervous. Typical."Am I sure?" I laughed. The sound was sharp, even to my own ears. "Ava is a charity case. She’s one ‘F’ away from packing her bags. And Kai? He’s the face of this university. If he’s caught with her, especially aft
Kai PovThe headlights of the black sedan burned into my retinas. I knew that car. I knew the way the engine purred like a predator in the dark. It wasn’t just any campus security or a random parent’s vehicle. It was a ghost from a life I tried to bury under stadium lights and cheap beer.Ava’s hand trembled in mine. I squeezed it, hoping to anchor her, but I was the one drifting."Kai? You know who that is?" she whispered. Her voice was small. It broke my heart."Unfortunately," I said.The door opened. A man stepped out, his suit costing more than my entire scholarship. Julian Thorne. My father. The man who told me I was a disappointment before I even hit puberty. He wasn't alone. Dean Miller stood beside him, looking smug."Quite the performance, Kai," Julian said. His voice was smooth ice. "I see you haven't changed. Still dragging people down into the mud with you.""What are you doing here?" I asked. My throat felt like it was filled with glass."Your father called me personally
Ava PovI stared at the blinking cursor on my laptop screen. The official response to the administration was due in three hours. My scholarship, my degree, and my entire reputation sat on the edge of a cliff. One wrong sentence and I’d lose everything I worked for.So why was I thinking about the way Kai’s hand felt against my neck?I’m supposed to be the smart one. The girl with the plan. But right now, the plan felt like a cage. My room was too quiet. The air felt thick, like it was waiting for a storm to break. I closed the laptop. My fingers were shaking, and I couldn't pretend to care about "academic conduct" anymore.What was I actually protecting?The school wanted me to say Kai pressured me. They wanted a story where the good girl was a victim of the bad boy athlete. It was a clean narrative. It saved my career and ruined his. By the way, the administration loves a scapegoat, and Kai was the perfect target.I stood up and paced the small square of my dorm room. My heart hammer







