Chapter 2

UCLA was huge. Way bigger than it looked on the campus tour video. I was completely lost, my backpack feeling heavier with every wrong turn. Matthew was supposed to meet me, but his text said he was running late, stuck in traffic. Typical.

I checked the map on my phone again, trying to figure out how to get to the freshman dorms from the main quad. It felt hopeless. I was never good with directions.

I looked up, scanning the crowd of students for someone who didn't look like they were in a rush. My eyes landed on a girl with bright, confident eyes, leaning against a stone pillar and sketching in a notebook. She looked approachable.

"Excuse me," I said, my voice coming out quieter than I intended. "Sorry to bother you, but could you point me to the freshman dorms? I'm a little lost."

She looked up from her sketchbook, a small, friendly smile on her face.

"No bother at all. You're heading in the complete opposite direction," she said, her voice warm. "You want to go that way, past the library, and take the big set of stairs down. You can't miss it."

She pointed, giving me a clear landmark.

"Oh. Thanks. I appreciate it."

"No problem. First day?"

"Yeah. Is it that obvious?"

She laughed. "A little. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. I'm Stella, by the way. Sophomore, Fine Arts."

"Ethan. Economics."

"Nice to meet you, Ethan. Good luck with your first day."

She went back to her sketchbook, and I walked away, feeling a little less overwhelmed. Stella. She seemed nice.

Later that day, in her spacious dorm room, Nicole Jenkins was raving to her best friend.

"Stella, you have to meet this guy. Matthew's friend. He's a Valorant god. He coached us this morning and we absolutely destroyed them. He knew everything they were going to do before they did it."

Stella Gordon, the same girl who had given me directions, looked up from her tablet, intrigued. "Really? What's his tag?"

"It's 'Stardust'," Nicole said, pulling up her phone. "I'll send you his Discord."

A moment later, a notification popped up on Stella's screen. A Discord tag. She tapped it and sent a friend request.

I was back in my own cramped dorm room, trying to organize my textbooks, when my phone buzzed. A Discord friend request from "Nyx." The same ID from this morning's game. I accepted it.

A message appeared almost instantly.

"Hey, Stardust. This is Nyx. Nicole told me you're a coach."

I typed back, keeping it professional. "I do some coaching, yes."

"She said you were good. I'm looking for a regular coach. What are your rates?"

Her directness surprised me.

"I usually do $50 an hour."

"Okay," she replied. "But I want you to be my exclusive coach. I'll pay you a retainer. How does $2000 a month sound? Just to be on call for me and my friends a few nights a week."

I stared at the message. Two thousand dollars. A month. That was more than I made in two months of random coaching gigs. It was enough to cover my mom's medication and start paying down the debt. It was a game-changer.

My hesitation lasted only a second.

"Okay," I typed. "I can do that."

"Great. Let's start tonight. My friends and I will be on around 9."

Before I could even reply, a notification from my payment app popped up.

"Nyx has sent you $1000."

The message attached read: "For the first two weeks. Let's see how it goes."

I stared at the screen, stunned. Who just sends a stranger a thousand dollars?

"Thank you," I typed, the words feeling inadequate.

"Don't thank me," she replied. "Just be as good as Nicole said you are."