Chapter 1

The second week of the semester began with a nightmare. A candid photo of me went viral on the campus forum. The caption read: “Sienna’s desperate attempt to stalk the school golden boy, Stellan.”

Overnight, I became the school’s favorite joke―the ultimate “simp.” No one knew that back in middle school, we were deskmates. Back then, he was the failing student at the back of the class, and I was the one tutoring him every day after school.

On the very last page of my textbook, he had once scribbled a sentence. “Sienna, you are the only light in my dark youth.” For three years, he carried that textbook with him. And me? I never felt the need to explain myself to anyone.

Chapter 1 The Photo

The photo hit the campus forum just as I was stepping out of the cafeteria. I was carefully balancing a plastic bowl of spicy ramen.

My phone buzzed violently in my pocket. My roommate, Maisie, sent a link followed by three words: “LOOK AT THIS!!!!”

I clicked it. It was a pinned post on the campus forum with a viral headline. “SHOCKER: Junior Sienna corners Stellan at the gate! Desperate girl won’t leave our golden boy alone!”

The image was a snap taken at dusk. The sunset painted everyone’s faces in a dark, golden hue. In the photo, I was tilting my head, looking in a specific direction.

About ten yards away, Stellan was standing there. The photographer was clever with the angles. My expression looked like a longing smile, while Stellan’s back looked cold and distant.

The sparse crowd between us made it look like I was gazing at him with pathetic devotion. The poster, an anonymous user named “Little Gossip,” wrote a three-hundred-word essay about my supposed obsession.

“Sienna has been stalking Stellan for ages,” the post claimed. “She waits for him at the gate, sits near him in the cafeteria, and even hangs around the gym during his practice. Someone heard her tell a friend she’d do ‘anything’ to get him.”

In just two hours, the post hit thirty thousand views. The comments were even worse. The top one said, “She looks decent, but I didn’t know she was such a thirsty stalker. Simps always end up with nothing.”

My ramen went cold. I didn’t eat a single bite.

When I got back to the dorm, the girls in the hallway stopped talking. They glanced at me out of the corners of their eyes, like I was some rare exhibit that had escaped from the zoo.

Maisie was standing at our door, looking frantic. “Sienna, you need to check the forum! Who is targeting you? You don’t even know Stellan, do you?”

“We went to middle school together,” I said quietly.

Maisie froze, her jaw dropping.

I didn't elaborate. I sat on my bed and read the entire thread from start to finish. I didn't cry, and I wasn't even angry.

My chest just felt tight. It wasn't the tightness of being wronged. It was the feeling of someone digging up your most precious memory and trashing it for likes.