Chapter 4Rejecting The Heroine Loyalty Test

Emma froze, her face instantly souring into undisguised disgust.

Dennis, however, went bright red, ducking his head like a dorky teenager who had just been handed a homecoming date with the prom queen.

The floating chat immediately threw a collective fit.

How could he say that?! He’s ripping Emma's heart to shreds!

She’s literally suffocating inside, and she still has to pretend she's okay!

No girl can handle being shoved into another guy's arms by the person she loves! How could she ever downgrade from Travis to a desperate loser like Dennis?

I tuned out the nonsense, keeping my eyes fixed coldly on Brittany.

"Dennis went to great lengths to defend your honor just now," I said casually. "Sounds like he genuinely appreciates your inner beauty."

"Why don't you two make it official? Sounds like a match made in heaven."

A flicker of raw calculation flared in Brittany’s eyes.

She hadn't been the one chatting with me all summer anyway; she had only agreed to act as the ugly duckling for Emma’s twisted loyalty test. If she could walk away from this disaster with Dennis—who was clean-shaven, dressed decently, and had a working car—it was still a massive personal win.

Dennis, however, went white as a sheet. His hands flailed in frantic denial.

"Whoa, whoa, Travis! What kind of sick joke is that? You two spent the whole summer building a connection, and now you’re trying to dump her on me?"

"I don't mess with another bro's girl!"

Catching the eager glint in Brittany’s eyes as she leaned toward him, Dennis's panic spiked into pure terror.

Whatever sleazy little calculation he had running through his head vanished. He didn't even have the composure left to flatter Emma. Mumbling something about needing to register his parking pass at campus safety, he spun around and bolted through the cafe doors like a shoplifter.

I used the confusion to walk straight out the door.

Thinking back on the whole encounter, I felt nothing but intense nausea. I had come to college looking for a clean slate and maybe an attractive, uncomplicated girlfriend, not to be cornered by two narcissists and an opportunist in a public cafe.

Unfortunately, the headache was just beginning.

The second I got back to the dorm, I blocked Emma’s Discord, her number, and her Instagram.

Finding herself completely locked out, Emma ran straight back to Dennis. Dennis didn't want to get pulled into the crosshairs again, but he was too desperate for Emma's attention to say no.

That very evening, Dennis cornered me in the common room, insisting on treating me to a burger off-campus to "clear the air"—conveniently failing to mention that Emma and Brittany were already waiting at the diner booth.

Thanks to the spoiler alerts scrolling across my vision, I already knew every detail of their little ambush.

Fed up with the games, I shattered the peace right there in the suite.

"A burger? There are four guys in this suite, Dennis. Why are you begging only me to go?"

"Cut the crap. Don't act like I don't see what you're doing. If you have a crush on Emma, grow a spine and ask her out yourself."

"Stop using me as your wingman, and stop trying to chain me to that unwashed freak just to make yourself look like a savior. Don't you make yourself sick?"

Our other two suitemates, Ryan and Marcus, paused their game of FIFA and gave Dennis deeply suspicious looks.

Since moving in, I had covered the late-night DoorDash orders, brought an 85-inch OLED for the living room, and never acted like a snob. They naturally sided with me.

"Wait, Dennis, what the hell?" Marcus frowned. "Travis is literally a catch. Why are you trying to force him onto a girl he clearly doesn't want?"

Dennis’s face burned, but he dug his heels in.

"I’m just trying to make sure people do the right thing! Character matters!"

"Besides, Travis talked to her every day this summer. Dropping her the second they meet in person makes him a total user!"

I leveled him with a dead-eyed stare.

"Dennis, if her character is so damn pure, go marry her yourself. Keep her name out of your mouth around me, and don't ever put me in the same sentence as that creature again."

Dennis opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Of course he wasn't going to touch Brittany. He found her just as physically repulsive as anyone else would.

I had zero intention of sharing a living space with a parasite who would compromise my safety for a girl's validation. First thing the next morning, I called my family's real estate manager, packed my bags, and moved straight into a luxury penthouse two blocks from campus.

Outside of mandatory lectures, Dennis couldn't track my movements.

Emma, on the other hand, grew completely frantic.

She got my class schedule from Dennis and began staking out the campus perimeter, waiting near the humanities building every single afternoon.

After three weeks of persistent surveillance, she finally cornered me outside the lecture hall.

Her plan had been to pull me aside, stage an emotional intervention, and get me to admit I had felt a spark for Brittany—at which point she would dramatically reveal her true identity, grant her forgiveness, and let us start fresh.

The moment she stepped out from the pillars, however, her eyes locked onto the woman walking beside me.

Her face twisted into a mask of pure, unhinged fury.

"Travis! You're cheating on me!"