Chapter 1: Couple’s Profile Chaos

Lucas Bradley—the campus heartthrob, the guy who hadn’t changed his profile pic since freshman year—finally switched it up. I swear, it was like the whole campus group chat exploded. My friends spammed me with screenshots, and I was so shook I had to post a TikTok, half-joking, asking if this was a couple’s profile moment. My notifications blew up, but the wildest comment came from Carter, the school’s notorious bad boy. He just wrote, “Yeah, it is.”

Honestly? That answer just bugged me. Like, really? So, obviously, I went on a deep dive, found a mirrored version of the pic, and DMed Carter again—just to make sure I wasn’t missing something. Carter shot back, “Seriously? It’s the same damn thing!”

So Lucas swaps out his old profile for this moody sunset silhouette, and I mean, come on—couple’s profile vibes, right? That dreamy, artsy shot that always has a matching half somewhere.

But I couldn’t be sure, so I did what anyone would do—don’t judge me—I posted about it on TikTok. Again.

Some rando with a Pikachu avatar was the first to reply, “Yep.”

And that was that. My heart just tanked. But I still had to ask, “Really? So where’s the other half?”

Pikachu guy answered, “Yeah, I’ve seen it. But where am I supposed to find it?”

A little later, someone else chimed in, “I couldn’t find the other half online, so maybe not.”

Okay, I couldn’t help myself. I started digging through social media, looking for clues.

I found a handful of similar shots and shot one over to Pikachu guy. “Can you tell if this is a couple’s profile?”

He snapped: “What the hell!” Whoa, chill.

I blinked at my screen. Why the sudden attitude?

I typed, “What’s wrong?”

He replied, “Aren’t these the same? Look close—what’s different?”

I squinted at the photos, then answered, “They’re not exactly the same, right? One’s flipped. I just wanted to know if this one’s a couple’s profile too.”

“So you do know it’s flipped?”

“Yeah, so is it a couple’s profile or not?”

He went quiet for a minute. Then: “…”

Later that night, I got a new friend request on Messenger. The note said they were from TikTok.

I accepted, then sent a single question mark.

He replied, “Hey, it’s Pikachu from TikTok—the couple’s profile convo.”

Oh, so it was him—the Pikachu guy.

But…

“How’d you get my Messenger?”

“…Isn’t it in your TikTok bio?”

I checked. Oh, right. It was. Ugh, I felt so dumb.

He messaged again: “I thought about it later and seriously suspect you’re messing with me.”

Wait—me? Messing with him?

“Would any normal person ask such dumb questions?”

I bristled. ‘Dumb questions’? I was totally serious! Why would he think I was playing around?

A weird feeling crept in—maybe he’d gotten the wrong idea about me.

So I asked him to meet up in person.

At first, he was pretty suspicious, convinced I was trying to prank him or something.

I had to swear up and down that I had zero bad intentions. Finally, he agreed.

I just wanted to clear the air. We went to the same campus, after all. It’d be weird if he kept thinking I was some kind of troll.

But… one minute after we met, he literally bolted.

I hadn’t even had a sip of my coffee before he just up and ran—right in front of me, not even pretending to make an excuse.

I sat there, completely stunned.

Honestly, after learning he was the infamous school bad boy, I thought I’d be the one running. But he beat me to it.

Guys, I just don’t get it.

I sat there, dumbfounded, then pulled out a compact mirror, checking my reflection. Was I really that terrifying?

But I’d just been voted prettiest in my department this year. By most standards, I was considered pretty cute, right?

After that, Carter totally ghosted me for a week.

No texts. No likes. No nothing. Like he’d turned into a ghost account.

No apology, no explanation. Nada.

I got so frustrated, I deleted him.

And then, just to top it off, he stormed up and blocked me—like, literally blocked me, standing in front of me—outside the dorm…

Wait, what?

Carter yanked me over to a quiet corner, head down, eyes blazing, looking half-angry, half-hurt.

Honestly, I wasn’t even mad. So what was his problem?

I stared at him, confused. He let go and waved his phone in my face, demanding, “Why’d you delete me?”

Seriously?

I crossed my arms, rolling my eyes. “You just dipped that day without a word, not even a text. Why keep a dead contact in my phone?”

“Okay, I shouldn’t have left, but…”

Carter hesitated, then opened our Messenger chat. “But I sent you a ton of explanations and apologies, and you never replied. Today, I tried to message you and realized you’d deleted me.”

I was totally lost. I checked the chat. Sure enough, it was all him, talking to himself. Not a single reply from me.

But… I started to wonder.

Carter’s expression stiffened as he looked at me, disbelief written all over his face. “Did you block me ages ago?”

“Yeah.”

Back then, I figured, why beat myself up when I could just block him? No wonder I never got any messages.

“Then add me back.”

“So why did you run off that day?”

Seeing I wasn’t letting it go, Carter thought for a moment. “My uncle’s brother-in-law got hit by a car. Had to rush out.”

Wow. That poor guy really had it rough.

I asked, genuinely concerned, “Is your uncle’s brother-in-law okay now?”

Carter’s mouth twitched. He stared at me for a few seconds, then choked out, “Can we not talk about him? Just add me back as a friend, okay?”

I pouted, “No. I’ll say my piece and go. No need to add you back.”

Carter raised an eyebrow, with that annoying smirk. “Really not adding me?”

It wasn’t a question, not really a challenge either—just this weird, stubborn tone. I stood my ground. “No.”

Because, honestly, I wasn’t sure he was a good guy.

Carter shrugged. “Then keep going.”

“I just wanted to explain that I never messed with you. I really wanted to know if that other picture was a couple’s profile.”

“Autumn.”

Carter suddenly called my name.

I answered automatically, “Yeah?”

“I believe you.”

Since he said that, I figured we were done here. I turned to go, but he stopped me.

This time, I raised an eyebrow at him, a little wary.

“The guy using that profile—is it Lucas Bradley?”

Lucas Bradley. The campus golden boy. My long-time crush.

I nodded.

“You like him?”

I nodded again, feeling my cheeks heat up.

He fell silent, tongue pressed to his cheek, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

“Anything else you want to ask? If not, I’ll go.”

He called after me again.

“Autumn.”

“You just want to know if he has a girlfriend, right?”

“Lucky for you, I kind of know him.”

“Ask me nicely, and maybe I’ll tell you.”