Chapter 1: The Villain Reveal

When I cut in front of the broke kid’s seat just to mess with him, the system’s voice pinged in my ear: he was the villain.

For a split second, I froze, my heart jolting like I’d just grabbed a live wire. Every trace of mischief vanished. The cafeteria lights buzzed overhead, and the air thickened, as if the universe was holding its breath, waiting for my next move.

After that, I stopped teasing him.

I’d spot Marcus across the quad, hunched over a notebook or leaning against a battered locker, and instantly change direction—ducking behind a vending machine, or pretending to study the campus bulletin board like my life depended on it. Self-preservation had never felt so dramatic—or so necessary. My palms would sweat and my heart would hammer every time I spotted his dark silhouette by the lockers.

Whenever I saw him, I made sure to steer clear from afar, keeping a careful distance.

It became a game—Marcus-avoidance, level expert. Even my friends noticed. “Hey, weren’t you always giving that guy a hard time?” they’d whisper. I’d just shrug, redirecting the conversation to the latest gossip or the sad excuse for fries in the cafeteria.

But the way he watched me kept getting weirder…

Sometimes I’d catch him staring from across the parking lot, his gaze flat, but with something—maybe amusement, maybe annoyance—flickering at the corners of his mouth. It was enough to make me double-check every shadowy hallway, half-expecting him to step out of the darkness.

Then one day, I caught him gripping the edge of the system’s console, muttering, “Why doesn’t she mess with me anymore? Did you freaking tell her who I am?”

I ducked behind a row of library stacks, my mind racing. Had I heard rumors about Marcus before? Wasn’t there a story about a fight behind the gym—someone said he’d snapped, but nobody saw what happened after? My pulse climbed, panic prickling under my skin as I realized I might be dealing with something far more dangerous than a campus rumor.

For a moment, it felt like the plot had split wide open, and I was peeking behind the curtain at something I was never meant to see.