Chapter 3: The First Session

The library smelled faintly of old books and coffee, a smell that usually calmed Lila. Today, it did nothing.

Her hands were shaking slightly as she pushed open the heavy wooden door.

Ethan Ryder was already there. Sitting at one of the long tables, his hockey bag at his feet, jersey sleeves rolled up, hair still damp from last night’s game. He looked… completely normal. Except, of course, for the fact that he was Ethan Ryder. The campus golden boy.

He glanced up as she entered.

“Hey,” he said casually. “You made it.”

Lila nodded, fumbling with the strap of her bag.

“Yeah… I’m here.”

Ethan’s gaze swept over her quickly, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

“You ready to get started?”

Her stomach twisted. “Uh… yeah.” She set her notebook and laptop down and took a deep breath.

For a moment, they just sat there, the library quiet except for the distant murmur of other students.

Then Ethan leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest.

“So… where do we start?”

Lila opened her laptop, trying to focus. She pointed at the screen.

“This is the section on algorithms Professor Carter said you’re struggling with.”

Ethan leaned in, his dark hair brushing the side of her notebook. Lila’s chest fluttered.

“Right,” he said, glancing at the code. “I don’t get why this loop keeps running forever.”

She explained patiently, tracing the steps in the code. Ethan listened carefully, asking questions at just the right moments.

And then, suddenly…

A familiar voice interrupted.

“Ethan Ryder!”

Both of them turned sharply.

Vanessa Hart stood at the end of the row, hands on her hips. Her perfectly polished nails glinted in the fluorescent library light.

“You didn’t think I’d just let you sneak off to the library without me knowing, did you?” Vanessa asked. Her tone was sweet, but her eyes were sharp, dangerous.

Ethan groaned softly.

“Vanessa, what”

“You’re tutoring him?” Vanessa said, walking closer. She leaned on the table next to Ethan, glancing at Lila with a tight-lipped smile.

“Yes,” Ethan said firmly. “It’s just… tutoring.”

Vanessa’s gaze flicked to Lila.

“I hope you know,” Vanessa said, voice low enough for only Lila to hear, “I never like someone getting too close to my boyfriend.”

Lila felt her face go hot. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Vanessa smirked, then stood upright again.

“I’ll be watching,” she said, voice louder now so the surrounding students could hear. “Don’t make me regret giving you a chance.”

Before anyone could respond, she turned and left, her heels clicking against the library floor like a countdown timer.

Ethan ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated.

“Ignore her,” he muttered.

Lila bit her lip. “I… I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” he said bluntly, eyes locking on hers. “She’s intense. Don’t let her scare you.”

“I’m not scared,” Lila said, though her chest still felt tight.

They returned to the laptop, but the tension lingered.

Hours passed in a blur of coding, problem-solving, and quiet explanations. For every question Lila answered, Ethan absorbed it carefully, nodding thoughtfully.

By the end of the session, she was exhausted but satisfied.

Ethan leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms.

“You’re… good at this,” he said finally, smiling faintly. “I might actually pass the class now.”

Lila blushed. “I-I’m glad I could help.”

Ethan leaned closer, his eyes sparkling with something she couldn’t quite identify.

“I didn’t realize tutoring could be… fun,” he admitted.

Lila opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly…

A loud thump echoed behind them.

Both of them looked up.

Vanessa had returned. She slammed a book on the table next to Ethan. Her eyes were blazing.

“Oops,” she said sweetly, voice dripping with fake innocence. “Did I interrupt something?”

The other students nearby glanced over, sensing the tension.

Ethan’s jaw tightened.

“Vanessa”

But Vanessa cut him off.

“I just wanted to remind my boyfriend,” she said slowly, “that tutoring sessions like this… are really… personal.”

Lila froze.

Her chest tightened.

Ethan shot her a quick glance, as if to warn her.

Vanessa’s smirk grew.

“And personal can be… complicated,” she whispered, leaning close to Lila.

Then, without another word, she spun on her heel and walked away, leaving the notebook on the table slightly tilted, and a heavy sense of dread lingering in the air.

Ethan exhaled slowly and ran a hand through his hair.

“She’s going to make this interesting,” he muttered.

Lila stared at the notebook in front of her, then up at Ethan.

“Interesting?” she repeated weakly.

“Yeah,” he said, a faint grin tugging at his lips. “And I have a feeling this semester is going to be… anything but boring.”

Lila glanced at her notebook. Somewhere between algorithms, loops, and code, she realized something terrifying.

Vanessa wasn’t just watching Ethan.

She was watching her.

The library was quiet again, but the air between Lila and Ethan felt charged.

Lila tried to focus on the laptop screen, but her hands trembled slightly. Every time she looked at him, she had to remind herself: Focus on the coding, not the crush.

Ethan, meanwhile, didn’t seem distracted. He was serious, nodding thoughtfully as Lila explained a particularly tricky algorithm.

“You see,” she said, pointing at a loop on the screen, “the problem is here. You’re not updating the counter correctly, so it keeps running indefinitely.”

He leaned in closer. “Ah… so I need to increment it before the condition check, not after?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed, a little too loudly. Her heart fluttered at how his eyes sparkled when he realized it.

Ethan grinned. “You make this look easy.”

Lila’s cheeks burned. “It… it is easy once you understand it.”

A pause.

Then he asked softly, almost casually, “Do you… tutor often?”

She blinked. “Uh… no. Not really. I usually just help friends sometimes.”

He leaned back, folding his arms across his chest. “Well, you’re a natural.”

Heat rushed to her face. She wanted to look anywhere but at him.

But before she could recover, a shadow fell over the table.

Vanessa.

Again.

This time, she didn’t announce herself with a soft, polite tone. She marched straight to their table, her heels echoing sharply against the floor.

“I thought I’d drop by to see how my boyfriend’s tutoring session is going,” she said, voice loud enough for nearby students to notice.

Ethan’s jaw tightened. “Vanessa… it’s just tutoring.”

Vanessa tilted her head, smiling sweetly but dangerously. “Tutoring, right. Of course. I just wanted to make sure you’re paying attention to your tutor.”

She leaned close to Lila, her perfume overwhelming. Lila could feel her breath, faintly tinged with vanilla and something sharp.

“You wouldn’t want to make a mistake in front of me, would you?” Vanessa whispered.

Lila’s hands shook. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Ethan gave Vanessa a warning glance. “That’s enough. She’s helping me with schoolwork.”

Vanessa smirked. “Oh, I’m sure she is. But you know…” Her eyes flicked to Lila, “sometimes tutoring can get… personal.”

Ethan’s fists clenched slightly under the table.

Lila felt like she was about to disappear into the floor.

Then Vanessa straightened, letting out a mock sigh. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you two… alone… for now.”

She turned and left, but not before throwing one last glance at Lila.

I’ll be watching.

The words seemed to linger in the air, heavier than ever.

Ethan exhaled slowly, leaning back in his chair.

“She’s… relentless,” he muttered.

Lila swallowed, trying to steady her racing heart. “I… I can handle it,” she said, but her voice didn’t sound convincing even to her own ears.

Ethan’s gaze softened slightly. “You don’t have to. I’ve got your back.”

For a moment, their eyes met. Lila’s chest skipped a beat.

Then he stood up, gathering his bag.

“I guess that’s enough for today,” he said. “We’ll pick this up tomorrow.”

Lila nodded, too flustered to speak.

As she packed her things, she noticed something on the table in her notebook. She flipped it open, half expecting Ethan’s note from earlier.

Instead, she found a new line written at the top of the page:

“Don’t let her get to you. You’ve got this. Ethan”

Her hands trembled.

Ethan had written it… for her.

And just like that, Lila realized two things:

1. Ethan Ryder wasn’t just a popular hockey star.

2. He was already starting to notice her.

Then, suddenly, a shadow passed across the table again.

Vanessa.

She hadn’t left the library after all.

Her green eyes locked on Lila, a silent promise of war.

Lila realized, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, that this tutoring session wasn’t going to be just about school.

It was going to be a battlefield.