Chapter 1

The second day after a new student Raven transferred in, my picture appeared on our school's campus gossip forum.

[Question: Is this girl dating Chase—the Ace student in our grade? Why is she always hanging around him? Such a thirst trap.]

Under public scrutiny, someone even wrote the word "slut" on my desk.

I couldn't find who did it.

Only found that the new transfer student stared at me, smirking with satisfaction.

"Get the message? Your seat is mine, and so is Chase."

---

I suddenly broke into tears by my seat. "Raven, even if you like Chase, you can't slander me like this."

"I don't know what kind of relationship you have with him, but if you really want this seat that badly, I'll give it up."

"Is that good enough for you?!"

Class hadn't started yet, but several students had already arrived.

Everyone looked over at us.

Raven's face flushed red. "What are you talking about?! Chase and I have been best friends since childhood. You're the one who took my seat..."

Her words trailed off abruptly as she realized what she'd done.

Before Raven arrived, everyone in Class 3A had been assigned seats based on test scores, except Raven.

On her first day, during her self-introduction, she boldly announced to the class:

"I'm Raven Knight, and Chase Donovan and I grew up together."

Her gaze fell directly on me—who was sitting beside Chase.

"So, you sitting there right now? That should be my seat."

At that moment, Chase had looked at her with an amused smile.

"Ravie, you're being ridiculous."

According to our academic ranking, there was absolutely no reason why I should give up my seat.

So I had smiled and responded:

"Does this seat have your name on it or something?"

Raven's expression instantly turned ugly.

As luck would have it, our counselor wasn't at school that day.

The next teacher smoothed things over by telling Raven:

"Just find an empty seat for now. We'll sort this out when your counselor returns."

Raven had glared at me then. Her face full of contempt.

"Fine. You've got guts."

I thought the incident was over, but the next morning on my way to school, a classmate suddenly grabbed my arm.

"Aria, you're trending on campus gossip forum! Go check it out!"

Confused, I opened my phone. Sure enough, a post featuring my photo had skyrocketed to the top.

[Is this girl dating the #1 student? Why is she always hovering around him? Such a thirst trap!]

The photo showed Chase and me working together in our math study group.

Both of us had our heads down, focusing on problem-solving techniques.

But the poster's wording was deliberately suggestive.

[Hovering.]

Comments flooded in below:

[Wait, isn't Aria Baker supposed to be the ice queen of junior year? Always acting all high and mighty, but turns out she's just trying to get with the top student?!]

[No wonder she rejects everyone who sends her notes. Looks like she's aiming for the summit of the pyramid. Time to give up, guys.]

[Chase isn't dating anyone. He's said himself that senior year is crunch time and he can't afford distractions.]

[Oh, so she's throwing herself at him and getting nowhere... awkward~]

Anonymous users were having a field day discussing me on the forum.

When I walked into the classroom, I immediately noticed the black mark added to my desk—a large, crude "SLUT" written in permanent marker.

Not many students had arrived yet. Looking around, I only saw Raven staring at me.

She raised her eyebrows with a smirk. "Well, look who's famous now, Miss Celebrity."

Her eyes dropped to my defaced desk as she blew a watermelon-scented bubble with her gum.

"Who wrote that? Nice handwriting."

She made a show of looking around the classroom, then leaned in close to whisper:

"Get the message? That seat is mine. And Chase? He's mine too."

So I broke down crying in front of everyone.

Just before our counselor walked in, Raven's face turned bright red.

"What are you making up now?!"

Chapter 2

As a model student, this was my first time being called to the teacher's office for causing a disruption.

Our counselor frowned. "We have cameras in the classroom. Since both of you deny writing it, we'll check the footage, find out who did it, make them pay for the damage."

Perhaps neither of us girls showed any concern about the desk itself.

So the teacher paused, then added, "And they'll receive a formal disciplinary warning."

At those words, Raven looked up. "Teacher…"

Her voice was interrupted by a knock on the office door.

Chase Donovan walked in, composed and dignified. "It was me, Ms. Davis. I wrote it."

The office fell silent for three seconds.

Chase volunteered an explanation.

"I spilled my water this morning and accidentally got my textbook wet. The ink transferred to Aria's desk."

Complete nonsense—so absurd he couldn't even make it sound convincing.

Ms. Davis's expression froze.

Yet Chase approached me. "Aria, I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

Raven gazed up at him, her eyes full of delight.

So this was the privilege of being childhood friends?

I smiled.

"Since Chase is being so sincere, why don't you tutor me to make up for it?"

As Chase nodded in agreement, I caught Raven's furious glare from the corner of my eye.

There was no point in mentioning the security footage anymore.

When the top student claims responsibility, the cameras can conveniently malfunction or lose power—it's a privilege always granted to those at the top.

As we walked back, Raven's chest heaved with anger. "Chase, you have to tutor me too."

The boy stopped walking. He reached out to pat her head, but before he could respond, I cut in:

"Chase, since this tutoring is your apology, it should focus on my coursework, right?"

He paused, slightly taken aback.

Raven stomped her foot in frustration. "No way! You're not tutoring her!"

I smiled, not bothering to listen to the rest of their conversation.

Walking away, I texted Chase:

[Taking the blame for someone else? Your pretty face won't be enough.]

After a while, a notification sound pinged.

[I'll tutor you properly.]

A few seconds later, two more messages came through:

[Only you.]

[Promise.]

Smart people just think differently.

In five minutes, Chase had somehow managed to placate Raven.

When they returned, she had completely shut up. All the posts on forum had been deleted.

She shot me a major eye-roll, but still had to haul herself back to her assigned seat without making a scene.

Chase placed a pack of wet wipes on my desk.

"Sorry about that. Here, clean it off."

The pink packaging contained wipes with a fresh strawberry scent.

I opened my textbook. "When do we start?"

Smart people catch on quickly.

He only needed a second to process.

"Every weekend."

"Ok."

Today was Wednesday.

I calculated the days—just two more to go—Thursday and Friday.

Raven, seemingly determined to assert her "childhood friend" status, brought Chase breakfast from the old street market every morning, then place it on his desk, right in front of me, her face flushed.

"Your stomach's sensitive. Make sure you eat it all."

The sandwich from the market. They smelled delicious.

Taking note, I secretly pulled out breakfast from my bag at the library on Saturday.

"I brought this for you. Eat up."

Chase looked startled.

I said: "If your stomach is sensitive, you definitely need breakfast."

I pushed it toward him.

"Hurry before someone sees us."

He held the pastry I'd left over from last night, his face turning suspiciously red.

---

Smart people approach problems differently than others.

After studying all morning, I offered Chase the leftover milk from Saturday.

"Thanks for tutoring me. Returning the favor—this will help build your strength."

He suddenly stared directly at me.

"That day, I wasn't trying to help Raven."

"She's young and impulsive, and she can't stand anyone taking what she thinks is hers."

"I promised her parents I'd look after her..."

I interrupted him. "How were those sandwiches from the old street market?"

He froze.

I twisted open the milk bottle, casually saying: "Too bad my route to school doesn't pass by there. I've never tried those sandwiches."

A breeze blew through the library window.

The boy's long fingers pressed down on papers that had begun to flutter.

"I'll bring you some tomorrow."

"Returning the favor."

Chapter 3

When school resumed on Monday, the childhood friends arrived together as usual.

Raven's eyes were sparkling with joy.

She looked extremely happy.

Until Chase walked straight to my desk, he placed a neatly packaged breakfast in front of me.

The smile instantly froze on her face.

"Chase, isn't that the breakfast you bought for me?"

He frowned.

"I never said that."

Young girls share a common trait: expectations.

Raven naturally expected that the things she did for Chase daily would be reciprocated—specifically for her.

So when he simply stated the facts, Raven glanced at him, then at me.

She snapped irritably, "So you were late because your stomach hurt, but you still made time to buy her breakfast?!"

When she didn't get the response she wanted from Chase, she stormed back to her seat, slamming things around like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

Chase furrowed his brow.

"I didn't do anything to upset her..."

I sighed and pushed the breakfast back to Chase's desk.

"Why don't you give this to her instead? Raven seems like she really wants it."

Chase hesitated.

But the next second, Raven's defiant voice came from behind us.

"Who cares about some stupid breakfast!"

Her eyes were red. She looked absolutely pitiful.

Chase's frown deepened. "No need. I bought it specifically for you."

In the next second,behind us, 'someone' slammed a book down with tremendous force.

At the same time, I calmly tore open the brown paper wrapping.

Bacon egg cheese sandwich—it's really delicious.

Unfortunately, my seatmate kept rushing to the bathroom.

It killed my appetite. I had to tuck the sandwich into my desk.

"Are you feeling alright, Chase?"

His face was pale. "Seems like I ate something bad. It started last night."

I stuffed the remaining sandwich into his hands.

"Then you should eat these. You need energy."

My relationship with Chase definitely hadn't progressed to the point of sharing breakfast.

Still, he frowned slightly before placing them in his desk.

Behind us, 'someone' was flipping notebook pages with a more dramatic loudness.

Chase and Raven usually walked home together.

But Monday evening, Raven must have been busy with something, because as soon as the final bell rang, she darted ahead of Chase and left school first.

That night, a new post appeared on forum:

[Didn't someone say the top student wasn't dating the ice queen? Why did I just see them sharing breakfast? Got pics—look, it's the same packaging, right?]

Another anonymous post.

This time the photo even added a flattering filter for me—it compared the packaging in both Chase's and my hands.

In the comments section, people speculated about when we'd gotten together. With our similar academic standings, would we apply to the same university?

Then another anonymous user jumped in. Their IP address looked familiar.

[They're NOT together. Chase has his childhood friend. Aria, do you really think she's good enough for him?!]

The internet remembers everything.

And Westridge High students have even better memories.

Soon, someone quickly replied: [Hey, this IP looks familiar. Weren't you the one who posted about Aria before?]

[Looks like someone's triggered because their crush likes Aria.]

[Honest question: why do you care if they're together or not? We're just here for the tea, but you seem personally invested, hmm?]

[Chase's childhood friend...]

Before being completely exposed, this "anonymity" deleted their reply.

For three straight days, Raven behaved herself. Apart from not speaking to Chase, she was surprisingly well-behaved.

Until another bombshell dropped on forum.

[Exposing Aria Baker's Real Background]

High school students face immense academic pressure, but they'll always make time for juicy gossip.

The post went viral immediately. It "revealed" that I was an illegitimate daughter from a wealthy family.

The post claimed with absolute certainty:

[Her mom was a homewrecker who slept with a married man. That's why they were exiled to our little town. Like mother, like daughter—she's got those homewrecker genes. Just look how easily she stole someone else's childhood sweetheart. Why's she even bothering with school? Shouldn't she be learning tricks from her mom instead?]

My mind went blank. My body moved faster than my thoughts.

I grabbed Raven by her uniform and demanded, "Was it you? It was you again, wasn't it?!"

She smirked.

"What's wrong? Upset that your true identity's been exposed? Embarrassed now?"

Anger surged through me like wildfire.

SLAP!!

Before I realized what I was doing, my palm had already connected hard with her face.

"Ahhhhhh!!" Raven screamed.

A crowd of students quickly pulled us apart.

We were separated into two groups.

Chase also came over, looking first at Raven with concern. "Raven? What happened?"

Her eyes flashed with anger.

"She hit me first! She actually hit me! Did you see that, Chase? Her mom's a homewrecker and so is she! Are you really going to hang around with someone like this?"

"She has no moral character, and you're aiming for a top university."

"She's deliberately getting close to you and will ruin your future!"

Chase froze, instinctively looking at me.