Chapter 3: The Main Girl Arrives

“Then tell me, what would it take for you to accept it?” I challenged, trying not to sound nervous.

Carter looked up from his seat, locking eyes with me. He spoke slowly, his voice low and steady: “I’ll only accept one you write by hand.”

Fine, Carter Hayes. You want a 3,000-word handwritten love letter? You’re more savage than I am!

My smile almost cracked. With the last bit of my composure, I tried to play it cool: “This is fate, you know. You can’t block destiny.”

He laughed, staring at me like he was holding back some secret. Then he stood, leaned in, and whispered right in my ear:

“Savannah, do you really not see who I like? Or are you just pretending?”

I backed up so fast I nearly tripped, plopping down in the nearest chair, totally stunned. “Li—like who…?”

And then it hit me—I’d just been confessed to by Carter Hayes? Seriously?

If this had happened before, a confession wouldn’t have fazed me. I mean, the boys who liked me could’ve circled the football field twice.

But Carter? He’s supposed to be the main guy. Would the main guy… actually fall for the villain?

My brain was a tangled mess. The more I tried to sort it out, the more scrambled it got.

So I went with the classic play dumb move: “Then accept the letter, and I’ll believe you—that you li—like me.”

Carter rubbed his forehead, looking both amused and annoyed. “Savannah, you…”

“Prove it!” I shot back, not letting up.

I watched as Carter, looking helpless, finally took the letter from me.

“Big sis, you just love bossing me around.”

He let out a soft sigh right in my ear, then laughed again. “But hey, who says I’m not willing to be bossed around by you?”

Oh my god! How did I never notice how nice Carter’s voice was before? It was clear and mellow, but when he dropped it low just for me, it was almost magnetic. That ‘big sis’ line tugged at something in my chest, making me dizzy.

After school, I was practically humming as I went to find Lauren. Just as I reached her homeroom, she came running out, throwing her arms around me, bouncing with excitement. “It’s done! Task complete!”

I pulled her into a quiet corner. “Lauren, now will you finally tell me what you meant about the ending falling apart?”

Lauren took a deep breath and started explaining:

“You know, Carter isn’t the only main character. Where there’s a main guy, there’s gotta be a main girl, but the real story hasn’t started yet. The main girl, Jamie Ryan, hasn’t even shown up.”

“The original plot’s simple: Jamie transfers in, becomes Carter’s lab partner, they fall for each other, decide to apply to the same college, and end up together.” She rolled her eyes, like it was the most cliché thing ever.

“And you, as the mean-girl side character, try to make things hard for Jamie, but you just end up pushing them closer.”

“But the story broke. Carter didn’t fall for anyone, and then—something happened!”

My heart squeezed tight. “Carter dies?”

“Yeah,” Lauren whispered. “That’s why the system brought me here—to replace the main girl and win over the guy, to fix the plot.”

I was still reeling. Carter was obviously the main guy—why would he die?

“Wait, the system’s calling me.”

Lauren stepped aside, phone in hand, then soon came back. “Just now, when I mentioned the main girl, she’ll show up next week.”

I didn’t care when the main girl would show up. I grabbed Lauren, my voice shaking:

“If the task fails, Carter will still die, right?”

Lauren thought for a second, then nodded, face serious.

I made up my mind instantly. “Alright, whatever the next tasks are, I’ll help you do them!”

Finally, the day came when Jamie Ryan showed up. She stood at the front of the class, quiet and delicate, her hair in a low ponytail, introducing herself in a soft voice.

Lauren said Jamie had it rough. Her parents died, she grew up with her uncle, always tiptoeing around everyone’s moods. She’d been bullied at her old school, and her uncle, wanting to keep the peace, transferred her here.

Sure enough, Jamie got assigned as Carter’s lab partner. She had great grades, and she and Carter had similar backgrounds—plenty to bond over.

And just like that, Carter and I went back to being strangers. Distant. Like that confession and those moments never even happened. Maybe I’d dreamed it all.

Eventually, I started letting it go. I mean, I’m just the mean-girl villain, right? How could I expect the main guy to like me once the real main girl showed up?

Most afternoons, I’d hang around with Lauren, helping her keep tabs on Jamie—her biggest competition for Carter.

But one day, I saw Jamie getting dragged into an alley by some girl with bleached hair. When I saw Jamie get yanked by the hair and slammed into the wall, I just ran in—no thinking, just pure instinct.

The girl took a drag from her cigarette, blowing smoke rings as she sized me up. “You bring backup, princess?”

She kicked Jamie hard in the shin.

I’d done taekwondo since I was a kid—taking her down would’ve been a breeze. But then the girl stood up, whistled, and suddenly a whole crew of tough-looking guys showed up at the end of the alley. All big, all mean, and definitely not easy to take on.

She hooked her arm around one of the guys, showing off. I stepped back, putting myself between Jamie and them, and whispered for her to call the cops. I didn’t forget to put on my mean-girl act and bluffed, “Do you even know who I am?”

But honestly, at that point, it didn’t matter who I was.

Someone grabbed my arm and yanked me hard. “Look what we got here. Let’s have some fun tonight!”

The alley was so narrow, barely any sky overhead. I struggled, panic rising, when suddenly a cold flash caught my eye. The buzzcut guy pulled a knife, grinning, spouting trash talk as he came closer.

Cold sweat prickled down my back. My head pounded, ears ringing, and I could barely breathe. It felt like a nightmare I’d lived before…

But before the guy could even touch my jacket, someone kicked him hard into the wall.

I looked up, stunned, and met Carter’s eyes—blazing, fierce, nothing like I’d ever seen before.

That moment shattered everything I thought I knew. Carter, the straight-A model student, was actually fighting. And he fought like he had some deep, personal grudge against these punks.

I’d known Carter for years, but looking back now, I realized I never really understood him.

I once asked Lauren what kind of person Carter was. She told me, “Calm and reserved—his maturity probably comes from experience.” Then she added, “So I always imagined, if he ever lost control for someone, wouldn’t that be extra hot?”

I glanced at Jamie, curled up in the corner. Maybe the person who could make him lose control had finally shown up.

…