9 - Two Can Play This Game

Nova's POV

The hallway felt different the next morning.

People turned when I walked in. Not the usual glances, the ones that said new girl, interesting, what's her story. These were sharper. Quicker. Eyes that slid away the moment I met them.

I made it to my first class without anyone speaking to me. The second class was the same. By third period, I'd counted seventeen people who looked at me and then whispered to the person next to them.

Something was wrong.

I found Priya in the east corridor during the break between classes. She was at her locker, stacking books with mechanical precision. She didn't look up when I approached.

"Well," she said. "Seems to me like your glory days are slowly coming to an end."

I opened my mouth to respond. Nothing came out.

She was right. I'd ignored her for three weeks. The first person who'd been kind to me on my first day, and I'd treated her like she didn't exist. All because of the plan. All because being seen with a scholarship student would compromise the persona I'd built.

It hadn't mattered anyway. Harper had found other ways to destroy me.

"Priya," I said. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"For ignoring you. For acting like you were invisible. For all of it."

She shut her locker and turned to face me. Her expression was careful, closed off.

"You're only here because your reputation is in danger," she said. "Why don't you go back to hanging out with the mean girls?"

"I never wanted to hang out with them."

"Then why did you?"

I didn't have an answer that wouldn't sound insane.

Priya started walking. I followed.

"You know," she said, not looking at me, "I really thought we were going to be such good friends. Most people ignore me on their first day. But you didn't. I thought we had some sort of connection. You even asked about my books. I really thought..."

She stopped walking. Her voice had gone tight.

"I'm sorry," I said again. "Believe me. I'm really sorry."

She didn't say anything.

"This is bigger than you know," I said. "And I can't tell you everything yet. But you have to trust me."

"Trust you?"

"Nerd to nerd."

She stared at me. "What does that even mean?"

I looked around the hallway. Empty. Everyone was in class.

"Come with me."

I took her to the girls' locker room. Checked every stall. Empty. I turned to face her.

"I need to show you something."

"Show me what?"

I reached up and pulled out my contact lenses. One, then the other. I blinked a few times, adjusting to the blur. Then I looked at her.

Priya's eyes widened.

"So you wear glasses," she said. "That doesn't mean anything."

"My parents aren't rich. I'm here on scholarship too."

She went very still.

"Okay," she said slowly. "That's something."

"Yeah." I put the contacts back in. "But you can't tell anyone."

"Obviously." She shook her head. "But they'll find out sooner or later. There's already a rumor going around."

"What rumor?"

She hesitated.

"About you getting expelled from your last school. For having indecent relationships with male teachers."

The words hit me like a slap.

"What?"

"Everyone's talking about it. That's why people are staring."

I thought about the hallway. The quick glances. The whispers.

"That's what that was," I said. "That's what all of that was."

"Of course I know it's not true." Priya crossed her arms. "And I could take a wild guess who's behind it."

Harper. Harper and her perfect smile and her quiet machine of destruction.

"The question is," Priya continued, "what did you do to piss her off? If you want to survive at this school, the best thing you can do is avoid her completely."

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Three weeks of work. Three weeks of borrowed clothes and double shifts and sleeping in a hideaway. Three weeks of pretending to be someone I wasn't.

And now this.

"Two can play this game," I said.

Priya frowned. "What game?"

I smiled at my reflection. It wasn't a nice smile.

____________

Lunch came too fast.

I'd barely sat down when Harper and her minions appeared. They moved through the cafeteria like a wave, clearing a path without asking anyone to move. People just parted.

"Nova." Harper's voice was bright and friendly. Loud enough for everyone to hear. "I heard the most ridiculous thing this morning."

She sat down across from me. Her friends arranged themselves around her like a royal guard.

"Something about you and a teacher at your old school. Honestly, I didn't believe it for a second. I mean, look at you. You're so elegant. So refined. You'd never do something like that."

Her smile was wide and perfect.

"Would you?"

The cafeteria had gone quiet. Everyone was watching.

I thought about Priya. I thought about the video on Harper's phone and the three days I had left to decide my future.

"You're right," I said, matching her volume. "It is ridiculous. But you know what's also ridiculous?"

Harper's smile flickered.

"Believing everything you hear. I heard something interesting myself."

Harper went very still. The smile was gone.

“But of course, I don't believe everything I hear.”

I picked up my tray and walked straight to Priya's table without looking back.

I sat down across from her. The cafeteria noise slowly returned. Priya was staring at me.

"Did you just—"

"Let's eat," I said.

_____________

That evening, I planned everything.

I sat in the hideaway behind the gym with a notebook and a pen. Priya's question kept echoing in my head. What did you do to piss her off?

I hadn't done anything. That was the problem. I'd been careful. Methodical. I'd worn the right clothes and sat at the right tables and said the right things. None of it had protected me.

Harper had declared war. She'd done it quietly, the same way she'd done it to Lily. The same way she'd done it to that girl two years ago, the one nobody talked about. She'd built a rumor and let it spread.

I could fight back or I could run.

I wasn't running.

The plan came together slowly. I wrote down every detail. The timing. The location. The exact words I would use.

The red lipstick was in my bag. I'd bought it last week, a bright crimson that cost more than I should have spent. I'd told myself it was for the persona. For the image. For the wealthy transfer student who wore designer clothes and expensive makeup.

That was a lie, I'd bought it for this moment.

I waited until the school was empty. Dark. Silent. The janitors had finished their rounds. The last teacher had left an hour ago. I slipped through the side door and made my way to the east wing.

Harper's locker was in the middle of the row.

I pulled out the lipstick. Unscrewed the cap.

And I wrote.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.

The letters were bold and red and impossible to miss. I worked quickly, my hand steady. I was just putting the curve on the R when I heard voices.

Two of them. Male. Getting closer.

I dropped the lipstick.

It hit the floor with a soft clatter that sounded like an explosion. I froze. The voices were right around the corner. I couldn't run. The hallway was too long, too open. They'd see me.

I sprinted in the other direction.

A hand grabbed my arm.

I was yanked sideways. The door of the janitor's closet swung open and shut in the same breath. I was pressed against a hard chest, a hand clamped over my mouth, the door clicking shut behind us.

The voices passed. They were laughing about something. I heard footsteps fade. Then silence.

The hand stayed over my mouth.

I couldn't see anything. The closet was pitch black. I could only feel the warmth of the body behind me. The smell of soap and winter air.