Chapter 3

They were the graceful Natalie, the cold and stunning Valerie, and Annie, the adorable freshman who used to follow me around campus while calling me her favorite upperclassman.

They were shielding Blake, who stood in the center, and looked at me like I was garbage.

Natalie pushed her wire-rimmed glasses up her nose, her tone heavy with disappointment. "Mack, how did I never see how awful you really are? You're harassing Professor Beaumont and trying to frame Blake on top of it!"

Valerie let out a sharp laugh, twisting a hair tie between her fingers. "Country boys will always be country boys. No matter how clean you dress, you can't cover up the cheapness underneath."

Annie took a visible step back, her face twisted in revulsion, as if standing too close to me might be contagious. "Mack, stay away from Blake from now on. Don't drag us into your disgusting little games."

Blake hid behind them, biting his lip like a wounded puppy. "Don't say that about him. He only did it because he's jealous of me..."

"Blake, you don't need to defend him. Someone like that doesn't deserve your sympathy."

The three of them took turns tearing me apart until there was nothing left.

[This is amazing! All three female leads are going full protective mode!]

[This confrontation scene is legendary. I can't handle it!]

Students passing by pointed and whispered, their eyes full of contempt and mockery.

"I heard Professor Beaumont failed him. Serves him right."

"He's always acting like some noble genius, but it turns out he was trying to sleep with his professor behind everyone's back."

"Blake's so much better. He's good-looking and has a great personality. No wonder every girl on campus is crazy about him."

I stood in the middle of the crowd, listening to these twisted accusations. The whole thing suddenly felt beyond absurd.

Good-looking? Great personality?

I looked coldly at Blake, propped up like royalty at the center of his adoring circle. There he stood, wearing a limited-edition suit Helena had bought him, a luxury watch Natalie had given him, and a pair of rare sneakers Valerie had snagged for him.

Yet once all that packaging was stripped, what was left?

I turned and pushed my way out of the crowd without a single word of protest because something had just clicked.

I did not go back to the dorm. Instead, I tucked myself behind a pillar in the corner of the cafeteria and watched Blake from a distance. He was sitting with Annie, eating together. Annie gazed at him with pure adoration, even cutting his food for him.

Meanwhile, Blake sat there with his mouth wide open, smacking his lips as he chewed. The noise was so loud that I could hear it all the way from where I was standing.

Between bites, he mumbled through a mouthful of food, "This tastes like crap, worse than the crawdads from the drainage ditch back home. It's totally disgusting."

Annie did not find him rude in the slightest. Instead, she cooed sympathetically, "The cafeteria food is just terrible. Poor baby. I'll take you out for something nice tonight."

Blake rolled his eyes, then wiped his greasy fingers straight across the front of Annie's expensive dress. "That's more like it."

My stomach turned as I watched the whole thing. This was the 'pure-hearted, naturally brilliant' golden boy they all worshipped?

He was foul-mouthed with zero manners, chewed with his mouth open, and did not have even basic hygiene to speak of.

What exactly made every one of these girls, girls who had been around wealthy, polished men their entire lives, fall head over heels for him?

Right on cue, another wave of comments streamed across my vision.

[Our baby Blake is just keeping it real. So adorable!]

[Exactly. He's way better than that fake Mack Sheldon. That's how a real man eats!]

[Thank the system for this. As long as Mack keeps up his perfect gentleman act and goes after women, 100% of the affection those women develop for Mack gets converted into blind devotion to Blake!]

[Yep. The harder Mack tries, the more perfect Blake looks in every female lead's eyes. He could pick his toenails in front of them and they'd call it art!]

I stared at those comments, and the air froze in my chest. I finally believed it. This system could truly steal every woman I worked so hard to win over and hand her straight to Blake.