เรื่องสั้นแนว Tragic Love Campus และนิยาย Campus Beauty ในฉาก Face Slapping

At the National High School Football All-Star Game, my boyfriend Evan had just been named MVP. Sophia, the cheer captain, immediately posted on Instagram. Caption: "Guess who got a little something from the champion himself~" The photo turned out to be a pair of Evan's worn underwear! Scrawled across them in lipstick were the words: "For my dearest Sophia." She held them up with her long acrylic nails, pouting for the selfie. The internet exploded. "Why does she have his underwear?" "Isn't it obvious? They're totally together." "Sitting here waiting for the official couple photo." Within seconds, a close-up of the two of them cheek-to-cheek surfaced in the comments. Congratulations and teasing flooded the feed. I gripped my phone, a chill spreading through my entire body. Evan had promised to go public about us ages ago but kept putting it off, saying he needed to prove himself first. He'd been stalling ever since. Now here I was, his actual girlfriend, and I didn't even get an invite to his victory party. I took a deep breath and called him. "Explain." On the other end, Evan's voice was lazy, almost amused. "The fans grabbed everything off me. Jersey, pads, all of it. Sophia insisted on keeping something as a souvenir, so I gave her the underwear. No big deal." "The Instagram post is just riding the hype. Don't be so uptight about it." Then Sophia's voice chimed in. "Yeah, honey, Evan and I are like brothers! I've seen everything on him already. It's just a pair of boxers, so don't be so petty." I listened to their increasingly flirtatious banter through the speaker, then slowly pulled off my engagement ring and tossed it aside. "Fine," I said to Evan. "I'll be the bigger person. Why don't you skip the 'girl bro' thing and just make her your girlfriend? I'm tired of watching this act."

On the night before the college entrance exam, my boyfriend misdialed and called my number to confess his feelings to the school beauty. "Adele, you promised that if I willingly skipped the exam for you, you'd be my girlfriend. "That idiot Sadie already gave up her university early admission spot for me. Tomorrow, I'll be standing right outside the testing center with a massive bouquet of flowers waiting for you. I'm going to prove to you once and for all that my heart is yours!" In the background, a rowdy chorus of his friends cheered him on. "Trading a top scorer for the prettiest girl in school. You're a legend, Mark!" "When you two officially get together, you better throw a party!" "A match made in heaven!" Mark told them to quiet down, then anxiously asked into the phone, "Adele, are you happy?" I gripped my phone, unable to utter a single word. Because I wasn't Adele, I was the "idiot Sadie" he was talking about. Mark was my high school sweetheart, the very same boy who, just ten minutes ago, had texted me encouraging words to do well on the college entrance exam tomorrow so we could go to the same college together. After hanging up, I sat in the quiet for a long time. Then, I opened my contacts and called my guidance counselor. "Mr. Simpson, that early admission spot? I'm taking it back."

It has been seven years since I shadowed Eula Ross like a fawning puppy. Under my dedicated tutoring, she successfully became a top student. But after the SATs scores were released, she casually dropped a single line at a class reunion. “Why don’t you apply for a community college with me? I have to go be with Luke Stetson.” All these years, I have been at her beck and call while granting her every wish. To make her happy, I even humbled myself to the point of slapping myself in front of everyone. Everyone said I was her shadow that she could never shake off. They bet that I would be stuck with Eula for the rest of my life. Right then, our classmates were standing by. They waited to see how me, the valedictorian, would humbly agree. For the first time ever, my expression was cold as I flat-out refused her. “Screw that! You’re the one with a screw loose. I’m not.”