Chapter Five

Marcus Halverine had always liked routines.

Morning practice. Classes. Attention. Winning.

Life made sense when things followed a pattern.

And recently, his favorite part of that pattern had nothing to do with football.

It was tutorial time.

He would never admit it out loud — not to his teammates, not to his coach, not even to himself — but Marcus now planned his entire week around the two-hour engineering tutorial he shared with Kelsey Vale.

At first, it had been obligation. A project requirement. Academic survival.

Now?

It was the only place where he felt oddly… calm.

He arrived early every session, pretending to review notes while secretly watching the door. Every time it opened, his chest tightened slightly before relaxing when she finally walked in, usually late, hair messy, backpack half-zipped like she had run across campus.

And every single time, she acted like his presence barely mattered.

Which somehow made him want her attention more.

“Move,” she would say, nudging his leg aside so she could sit.

No greeting. No smile.

But she always sat next to him.

Marcus started noticing small things about her. The way she chewed the end of her pen when thinking. The quiet hum she made when solving problems. The tiny wrinkle between her brows whenever he got an answer wrong.

Their conversations slowly changed too.

Less fighting.

More… talking.

Not deep conversations. Just light ones.

She complained about professors. He complained about rehab exercises. She mocked his handwriting. He teased her obsession with mechanical diagrams.

It felt easy.

Too easy.

And Marcus realized something terrifying.

He looked forward to it. One afternoon, while Kelsey worked through a problem, her phone buzzed on the table.

She glanced at it. And smiled. Not her sarcastic smirk. Not her victory grin when she proved him wrong.

A soft smile. Warm. Private. Real. Marcus felt something unpleasant twist in his chest.

Who made her smile like that? She quickly typed a reply, still smiling slightly.

Marcus stared at the notebook in front of him but couldn’t read a single word.

Jealousy was unfamiliar territory. Usually, he was the reason other guys felt insecure.

Now he hated whoever existed on that screen.

“Hey,” he said suddenly.

She looked up. “What?”

“Let’s focus on the reason we’re here.”

The words came out sharper than intended.

Her eyebrow lifted slowly.

“Oh? Mr. Discipline?” she teased. “Since when?”

Marcus shrugged, trying to look unaffected. “Just saying.”

In reality, he wished — desperately — that it was his messages she was smiling at.

They worked in silence for a moment before he spoke again, casually, like the question didn’t matter.

“Uh… are you on Snapchat?”

Kelsey blinked. “Yes.”

His heart picked up speed. Progress.

“Okay,” he said, leaning back like it was no big deal. “What’s your handle? I’ll add you.”

For two seconds, she stared at him.

Then she laughed.

Not a small laugh.

A full, uncontrollable laugh.

Marcus frowned. “What’s funny?”

“A lot, Marcus,” she said between laughs. “That was actually a good joke.”

“It wasn’t a joke.”

She wiped imaginary tears from her eyes. “You literally just told me to focus. So let’s do that.”

She turned back to her notebook, conversation closed.

Marcus sat there, stunned.

He, Marcus Halverine, had just been rejected over Snapchat.

Snapchat.

He stared at her, half offended, half fascinated.

Nobody treated him like this.

And somehow, he liked that she did.

---

The next week only made things worse.

His feelings grew stronger without permission.

He started noticing her everywhere — even when she wasn’t around. A girl with similar hair across campus would make him look twice. Someone laughing like her made him turn instinctively.

Rehab was improving too. His arm felt stronger, his leg steadier. Coach even hinted he might return sooner than expected.

Normally, that would have been all Marcus cared about.

But now, football felt strangely secondary to whether Kelsey would walk through that tutorial door.

Monday came.

Marcus arrived early.

He waited.

Students filled the room.

Kelsey didn’t come.

He frowned but shrugged it off. Maybe she was late.

She wasn’t.

---

Wednesday.

Still no Kelsey.

Marcus checked the hallway twice during break, pretending he needed water.

Nothing.

He texted Jared during practice.

Marcus: You seen Vale today?
Jared: The engineering girl? Nah.

A small unease settled in his stomach.

Friday.

Her seat remained empty. Marcus couldn’t focus at all.

By the end of the session, he finally asked the tutor casually, “Is Kelsey… sick or something?”

The tutor adjusted his glasses. “She hasn’t submitted this week’s work either. That’s unusual for her.”

Unusual.

That word stayed with him.

Because Kelsey Vale didn’t skip responsibilities. The unease followed him home.

And then he noticed something else.

The kitchen felt quieter. Too quiet.

Usually, the smell of food drifted through the mansion by evening — evidence that her mother was working downstairs.

But for days now, there had been takeout boxes instead.

Marcus stopped one of the house staff.

“Where’s Mrs. Vale?” he asked.

The woman hesitated. “She… hasn’t come in this week, sir.”

His stomach dropped slightly.

“She’s sick?”

“I don’t know.”

Marcus nodded slowly, but something felt wrong.

Four days.

No tutorials.

No work.

No answers.

He pulled out his phone that night and opened I*******m, staring at the burner account he still used to follow her.

Her profile hadn’t updated.

No stories.

No posts.

Nothing.

Kelsey Vale — the girl who always had something to say — had completely disappeared.

Marcus leaned back against his headboard, unease turning into real worry.

He told himself he was just concerned about a project partner.

Nothing more.

But deep down, he knew that wasn’t true anymore.

Because the thought kept repeating in his head:

What if something happened to her?