By Monday morning, the photo had already done its damage.

Roxie felt it the second she walked through the front doors. The air in the hallway felt different, thicker somehow, like everyone had been waiting for her to appear. Heads turned as she passed. Conversations dropped in volume. A group of sophomores near the trophy case openly stared before one of them elbowed the other and whispered something that made them both laugh.

Roxie kept her chin up and her expression blank.

She had spent years perfecting this face. The one that said she didn’t care what anyone thought. The one that made people think twice before speaking to her.

Today, it wasn’t working.

Her locker was covered in sticky notes.

Some were harmless, glittery hearts with Roxie + Zac scrawled across them in pink pen. Others were worse. One said Captain finally got dicked down in messy handwriting. Someone had even printed out the actual photo and taped it to her locker with the words New cheer uniform? written across the bottom in red marker.

Roxie’s stomach twisted.

She didn’t give the hallway the satisfaction of seeing it.

One by one, she ripped the notes off her locker and crushed them into a tight ball. Her hands stayed steady, which was good, because everyone was watching for the part where she cracked.

She shoved everything into her bag and slammed her locker shut hard enough to make the nearest freshman jump.

Behind her, Kendall’s voice drifted over the noise, sweet and loud enough to carry.

"The way she just sat there," Kendall said to the two girls beside her. "Like, okay. We get it. You’re thirsty."

One of the girls laughed. "I’d be so humiliated I wouldn’t even come to school today."

"Stop it," Kendall fake gasped, pressing a hand to her chest. "Some people just can’t help themselves when it comes to attention."

Roxie turned around slowly.

Kendall’s smile froze for half a second before she forced it back into place. The two girls beside her suddenly became very interested in their phones.

Roxie tilted her head, keeping her voice light. "You’ve mentioned Prescott three times in two minutes, Kendall. I’m starting to feel like I should give you some privacy."

Kendall’s jaw tightened.

"Oh wait." Roxie widened her eyes, matching Kendall’s fake gasp with one of her own. "Prescott never gave you attention. That must be really annoying for you."

The girl beside Kendall covered her mouth to hide a laugh. Kendall’s face sharpened, but she didn’t have a comeback ready fast enough.

Roxie walked away before Kendall could recover.

She had almost reached the end of the hallway when the football players got loud near the athletic lockers. A few of them were still damp from morning weights. One guy had his phone out, showing something to the others while they laughed.

Zac stood in the middle of them, backpack slung over one shoulder, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. His jaw was tight. His hair was messy.

"Bro, look at this one," a player said, holding up his phone. "The caption is actually insane."

Zac barely glanced at it. "I saw it."

Another guy leaned over his shoulder and sang badly, "Captain and Captain sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

Zac shoved him back hard enough that he stumbled. "Shut the fuck up."

The guy laughed. "Nah, Captain’s blushing again. Look at his ears."

Roxie kept walking.

She didn’t need to hear any more of this.

But Zac saw her.

Their eyes met across the hallway. He still looked annoyed, but the second he registered her face, something in his expression shifted. The corner of his mouth twitched like he was fighting a smile.

Roxie looked away first and walked faster.

She was not doing this with him today.

Unfortunately, Zac Prescott didn’t seem to care what she wanted.

He caught up to her like following girls through crowded hallways was something he did every Monday morning.

Roxie didn’t slow down. "No."

"I didn’t say anything," Zac said, falling into step beside her.

"Go away. You’re making it worse."

"I’m going to chemistry."

"You were literally with your football cult two seconds ago."

"And now I’m going to chemistry."

Roxie tightened her grip on her notebook. One of his steps covered almost two of hers. She refused to speed up. Running from Zac Prescott in front of half the hallway would be social suicide.

A couple of girls by the trophy case smiled at them like this was some kind of romantic hallway moment. One of them even pressed a hand to her chest and whispered something to her friend.

God, they were turning into entertainment for these people.

Roxie had worked too hard for this.

Years of walking past gossip like she did not hear it. Years of making people regret saying things too loud. Years of keeping her face blank until they got bored and found someone easier.

One stupid bus ride, and suddenly everyone acted like she and Zac Prescott were the main characters of someone else’s drama.

She entered Mr. Callahan’s room first.

It smelled like cleaning spray and old sinks. The periodic table near the board was peeling at one corner. Zac went to the back row with the football boys while Roxie took her usual seat near the window and pulled out her notebook like everything was normal.

The bell rang, but Mr. Callahan was still outside, so the room got louder. Someone played a video on their phone. A girl fixed her lip gloss in her compact mirror. Two boys argued over a calculator sitting right between them.

Then a chair scraped behind her.

The back row went quiet first.

Roxie kept her eyes on her notebook.

A football player said, "Yo, where are you going?"

Another one laughed. "Nah, he really left."

Roxie closed her eyes for half a second.

She already knew those footsteps were coming closer even before Zac dropped into the empty seat beside her. By the time he put his notebook on the table, the whispers had already started behind them.

Roxie stared straight ahead. "Move."

Zac put his notebook down. "No."

"Someone’s sitting there."

"I don’t see anyone."

She finally turned her head. "That’s because you’re in the way."

His mouth pulled into a grin. "Just let me be."

"I’m going to kill you."

A girl behind them laughed into her sleeve.

Roxie turned to glare at her, and the girl immediately looked down at her paper.

Mr. Callahan walked in with a mug in one hand and papers under his arm. He stopped when he saw Zac beside Roxie, then looked from Zac to Roxie and back again. A slow smile spread across his face.

"Well," he said, putting his mug on the desk. "That makes this easy."

The class stirred before he even explained.

Roxie sat straighter.

Beside her, Zac stopped tapping his pencil.

Mr. Callahan held up the papers. "We’re starting the first unit lab today. Assigned partners for the next few weeks."

Several people groaned.

"Prescott and Jones."

The room broke.

"CHEMISTRY!" someone shouted from the back.

Roxie’s hand shot up. "Mr. Callahan, respectfully, no."

"Zip it," Mr. Callahan said without looking impressed.

She sat back with a huff and shot Zac a glare.

Mr. Callahan turned to the back row. "One more comment and everyone gets a quiz."

That shut them up fast.

Roxie stared at the lab packet he placed in front of her like it had personally offended her.

This school was actually a joke.

Zac leaned a little closer. "So we’re stuck."

Roxie kept her eyes on the packet. "I’d rather stick my foot in your throat."

He chuckled under his breath. "You talk a lot for someone who wants me quiet."

Roxie turned to him slowly. "You bring out the worst in people."

"Pretty sure that was Kendall."

Her pen stopped for half a second.

Zac saw it. His eyes flicked to her hand before he looked back at her, mouth already starting to curve like he knew exactly what he was doing.

Roxie kept her eyes on the packet. "Don’t talk about Kendall."

"Why?"

"Because she’ll hear her name from three rooms away and somehow make it about herself."

Zac gave a quiet laugh.

Then he looked at her a little too closely, mouth twitching like he already knew he was being annoying. "She’s pretty."

Roxie wrote her name at the top of the packet without looking at him. "Congratulations."

Zac stayed quiet for a second, probably waiting for her to get irritated or jealous.

Roxie kept writing.

Kendall being pretty had nothing to do with her. What mattered was that Kendall was currently trying to destroy her reputation over a photo she didn’t even ask for. What mattered was that people were already treating her like she had done something dirty instead of something stupid.

The rest of class dragged.

By the time the bell rang, Roxie had written down exactly three answers and imagined throwing her pen at Zac twice.

Angela stopped beside their table before Roxie could escape.

"Sorry to bother you two lovebirds," she said.

Roxie looked up. "Don’t call us that."

Zac leaned back, amused. "She can call me that."

"No, she can’t."

Angela’s eyes moved between them, and the corner of her mouth twitched like she was trying not to smile. "Coach Miller said you need to go to his office during break."

Roxie’s hand paused on her bag.

Coach Miller didn’t call people to his office for fun. The last time that happened, Kendall had cried over a routine argument and somehow made herself the victim even though she was the one who almost dropped a flyer.

"Why?" Roxie asked.

Angela glanced at Zac, then lowered her voice. "I saw Kendall talking to him early this morning."

The classroom kept moving around them. Bags zipped. Chairs scraped. Someone in the back laughed too loudly.

Roxie barely heard any of it.

She walked out of the room before anyone could ask another question.

She needed five minutes without Zac beside her, Kendall’s name in her ear, or half the class watching her like she was about to give them another show.

Because if she stayed there, she was going to say something stupid.

And this time, she might actually deserve the office call.