Chapter 1The Comments Say He Loves Me

The force of the yank against the back of my uniform shirt made the strap of my bra snap back against my skin, the sharp sting almost making me cry out.

“Pink today, huh?”

Jaxson Riley’s voice, thick with a lazy sort of amusement, drifted from the desk behind me.

Trevor, his shadow, immediately chimed in. “Jax is really dedicated, man. Checking your bra color every day!”

A wave of suppressed, snickering laughter washed over the nearby desks.

I gripped the pen in my hand, my back ramrod straight.

Suddenly, a torrent of text flashed across my vision:

【OMG Jax is so smooth! Bad Boy exterior but totally a softie!】

【What is this, a high school sweet romance trope?! He teases you because he loooves you~】

【Girl, turn around and look! I bet his ears are bright red!】

I closed my eyes.

These bizarre "Comments," this digital Overlay, had started appearing about a month ago, and only I could see them.

They consistently packaged Jaxson’s petty cruelty as “awkward affection” and romanticized straight-up harassment as “flirty banter.”

Sweetness my ass.

* * *

The dismissal bell rang. I whirled around. Jaxson was leaning back in his chair, watching me with a smirk that didn’t quite reach his eyes. His ear tips, sure enough, were faintly flushed.

The Overlay went ballistic:

【Red! Red! His ears are red! Told you!】

【Pure-hearted School Bully x Cold Academic Girl—I could ship this forever!】

【Stop being so cold, lead female! He likes you!】

“Jaxson Riley,” I said, my voice perfectly level. “Touch me again, and I’m reporting you to the Dean’s office for sexual harassment.”

The classroom fell instantly silent.

The smirk froze on Jaxson’s face. Trevor was the first to jump up. “Skylar Sloane, are you crazy? Jax was just messing with you, can’t you tell?”

“‘Messing with me’ by yanking my underwear strap?” I stood up, looking down at Jaxson. “Why don’t you go home and yank your own father’s briefs off, and see if he can ‘joke around’ with you so calmly?”

The Overlay exploded:

【OMG the female lead is savage… but I’m kinda into it?】

【Don’t be like that, Jax just doesn't know how to express himself!】

【Isn’t this how all campus novels start? The male lead bullies the girl because he cares!】

Jaxson shoved his chair back and stood up. He was a head taller than me, and his shadow fell over me. “Skylar Sloane, say that again?”

“I said,” I enunciated slowly, “that your behavior constitutes sexual harassment. Do you need me to pull up the penal code and give you a lesson?”

The Geometry teacher hadn’t left yet and looked over at the commotion. “What’s all the noise? Jaxson, get back to your seat.”

Jaxson glared at me, a vicious fire in his eyes, before storming out and slamming the door.

As Trevor chased after him, he tossed a parting shot. “Skylar, you are seriously ungrateful.”

The Comments were awash in regret:

【Oh no, the female lead is making her path too narrow.】

【Ugh, Jax finally showed special interest in someone.】

【Am I the only one who thinks the male lead’s actions were kind of over the line? Waiting for the ‘chasing the wife to the crematorium’ arc~】

I sat back down. Hannah, my desk mate, whispered, “Skylar, why provoke him? Jaxson’s family…”

“His family is rich and powerful, so he gets to harass anyone he wants?” I finished her sentence. “Does that mean the law is just a suggestion?”

Hannah didn’t reply, but her eyes held a pitying expression that screamed, You are so naive.

I knew all about Jaxson’s background. His father was a prominent member of the Board of Trustees, and his mother was a well-known local entrepreneur.

That’s why he swaggered through the halls. Teachers turned a blind eye; classmates either sucked up to him or hid.

Except for me—the transfer student who didn’t understand the “rules.”