By lunchtime, Sophie Tang had become a campus scandal.
Not because she had done anything.
That was the irritating part.
She had simply been walking past a confession with an ice cream.
Now there were videos everywhere.
“LUCAS REED FINALLY CONFESSES.”
“CAMPUS GOD HAS BEEN SECRETLY IN LOVE FOR A YEAR.”
And Sophie’s personal favorite:
“WHO IS THE ICE-CREAM GIRL WHO STOLE LUCAS REED’S HEART?”
She stared at the screen.
“I have a name.”
Her best friend, Emma, was sitting across from her in the cafeteria, watching the video for perhaps the twentieth time.
“You also have eight thousand new followers.”
“I don’t want them.”
“Too late.”
Emma enlarged a frame.
It showed Sophie pointing a melting ice cream at Lucas while looking ready to murder him.
“You’re adorable.”
“I look homicidal.”
“Same thing.”
Across the cafeteria, several girls were staring.
Some curious.
Some amused.
A few definitely hostile.
And in the center of all that attention sat Lucas.
Completely relaxed.
Eating Sophie’s fries.
She slapped his hand.
“Stop.”
“You weren’t eating them.”
“They’re still mine.”
Lucas obediently returned the fry.
Then stole another one when she looked away.
Sophie narrowed her eyes.
“Why are you here?”
“We always eat together on Tuesdays.”
“That was before you publicly destroyed my peaceful college life.”
Lucas considered that.
“I could sit somewhere else.”
“Good.”
He stood.
Sophie stared.
He actually started walking away.
For some reason, that irritated her even more.
“Lucas.”
He stopped.
“What?”
She sighed.
“Sit down.”
A tiny smile appeared.
Sophie immediately pointed at him.
“Don’t smile like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you won something.”
“I didn’t.”
He sat again.
Then added:
“Not yet.”
Emma nearly choked on her drink.
Sophie kicked him under the table.
The problem was that Lucas didn’t suddenly become different after confessing.
He was still Lucas.
He still waited outside her morning lecture because their next buildings were in the same direction.
He still bought two drinks without asking because he knew which one she liked.
He still sent ridiculous messages.
Have you eaten?
Bring an umbrella.
Professor Allen moved the deadline.
Things Sophie had always treated as random kindness now felt dangerously intentional.
On Thursday, she finally asked:
“Why me?”
They were walking back from class.
Lucas looked genuinely confused.
“What?”
“You could date almost anyone here.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Sophie stopped.
Lucas stopped too.
She folded her arms.
“One year, Lucas.”
“Approximately.”
“You spent approximately one year liking me. Why?”
Lucas was silent for a moment.
Then he looked toward the library steps.
“Do you remember freshman year when I injured my ankle?”
She frowned.
“Barely.”
“Everyone kept asking whether I would recover before the championship.”
Sophie remembered.
Lucas had been surrounded by teammates, coaches, admirers.
“And?”
“You asked whether I could still get upstairs to Professor Miller’s exam.”
She blinked.
“That’s it?”
“No.”
His expression softened.
“You carried my backpack because I couldn’t use the crutches properly.”
“You had three textbooks in there. I almost died.”
“You complained the whole way.”
“Because your backpack weighed seventy pounds.”
“And then you left.”
Sophie stared at him.
Lucas shrugged.
“You didn’t take pictures. You didn’t post anything. You didn’t stay around hoping I’d owe you something.”
His voice became quieter.
“You treated me like a normal person when almost nobody else did.”
For once Sophie had no sarcastic response.
Lucas noticed.
“Are you sick?”
She immediately hit his arm with her notebook.
“There. Better.”
“Much.”
But campus gossip wasn’t finished with them.
Madison Cole certainly wasn’t.
Two days later, Sophie opened her phone and found an anonymous post spreading through the university forum.
It claimed Sophie had deliberately pursued Lucas for months.
That she had pretended to be Madison’s friend to learn her plans.
That she had appeared at the confession on purpose.
There were screenshots.
Messages supposedly from Sophie.
Lucas says he doesn’t like Madison.
I’m just waiting until she embarrasses herself.
Sophie stared at them.
“They’re fake.”
Emma examined the screenshots.
“Obviously.”
“They don’t even sound like me.”
Emma nodded.
“You use fewer punctuation marks when you’re evil.”
“Thank you.”
But thousands of students didn’t know that.
By afternoon, Sophie was receiving comments.
Gold digger.
Attention seeker.
Fake friend.
Lucas discovered the post during basketball practice.
Twenty minutes later, Sophie received a message.
Where are you?
She ignored it.
Another arrived.
Sophie.
Then:
Please don’t handle this alone.
That made her stop.
Not I’ll fix it.
Not don’t worry.
Just—
Don’t handle this alone.
She told him where she was.
Lucas arrived at the library ten minutes later.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Sophie frowned.
“You didn’t post it.”
“No, but you’re dealing with this because of me.”
“Probably.”
He winced.
“That was brutally honest.”
“You like me because I’m honest, remember?”
“Unfortunately.”
Sophie almost smiled.
Then Lucas placed his phone on the table.
“I know who made the screenshots.”
Her smile disappeared.
“How?”
“The account used a picture from our athletics banquet as its profile banner.”
“So?”
“That photograph was never posted publicly.”
Sophie understood.
Only a small student committee had received it.
Madison was on that committee.
But when Lucas confronted her the next morning, something unexpected happened.
Madison didn’t deny posting the rumor.
She denied creating it.
“I reposted it,” she admitted, embarrassed. “I was angry.”
Lucas’s expression hardened.
“But I didn’t make those messages.”
“Then who did?”
Madison looked toward Sophie.
“There’s someone who kept telling me you two were secretly together.”
Sophie frowned.
“Who?”
Madison hesitated.
Then gave them a name.
Ryan Tang.
Sophie stared.
“My brother?”
Her older brother.
Lucas’s friend.
The person who had introduced them two years earlier.
That evening, Sophie cornered Ryan in his apartment.
“Explain.”
Ryan looked at Lucas.
“You told her?”
“Madison did.”
Ryan groaned.
Sophie held up the fake screenshots.
“Why?”
“I didn’t make those.”
“Then what did you do?”
Ryan sat down.
Apparently, months earlier, he had discovered Lucas liked Sophie.
And hated the idea.
Not because Lucas was a bad person.
Because Ryan knew exactly how much attention followed him.
“I told Madison that Lucas was interested in someone else,” Ryan admitted. “I thought she would back off.”
Sophie stared.
“You used me?”
“I never gave your name.”
“But somebody did.”
Ryan looked at Lucas.
Lucas looked suddenly uncomfortable.
Sophie caught it immediately.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Lucas.”
He sighed.
“There’s one other person who knew.”
“Who?”
“My roommate.”
Ten minutes later, they were standing outside Noah Bennett’s room.
Noah opened the door.
Saw all three of them.
And immediately said:
“I can explain.”
That was generally what guilty people said.
The story came out quickly.
Noah had told his girlfriend.
His girlfriend told Madison’s roommate.
Somebody exaggerated.
Then somebody created screenshots.
Nobody had planned a massive rumor.
It was simply gossip multiplying until Sophie became a villain in a story she hadn’t known existed.
The next day, Lucas posted exactly one message.
No dramatic declaration.
No attack.
Just:
“Sophie didn’t pursue me. She didn’t know how I felt until I said it publicly. Whatever problem anyone has with that belongs to me, not her.”
Then Madison publicly admitted the screenshots were false.
By evening, the drama was dying.
A week later, Sophie found Lucas sitting alone on the athletic field.
She dropped into the seat beside him.
“I made a decision.”
Lucas immediately looked nervous.
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It probably is.”
She handed him an ice cream.
The same flavor she had been eating the day everything started.
Lucas stared at it.
“Should I be worried?”
“Yes.”
He took it anyway.
Sophie looked toward the field.
“I still think dating popular people is problematic.”
“Reasonable.”
“And you have too many admirers.”
“I can’t really fire them.”
“And you’re annoying.”
“Very.”
“And your confession was possibly the worst confession in university history.”
Lucas nodded.
“I’ve accepted that.”
She finally looked at him.
“But…”
Lucas stopped eating.
Sophie almost laughed at how serious he suddenly became.
“I think I might like you too.”
He stared.
For once, Lucas Reed—the boy who always had an answer—said absolutely nothing.
Sophie raised an eyebrow.
“That’s it?”
“What?”
“No embarrassing public statement?”
“I’m processing.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
Then Lucas asked carefully:
“So… can I take you out?”
Sophie pretended to consider it.
“One date.”
His grin appeared instantly.
“One.”
“If it’s terrible, we return to being friends.”
“Understood.”
“And no telling the entire campus.”
“Absolutely.”
From somewhere behind the bleachers came a scream.
“HE SAID YES!”
Sophie slowly turned.
Emma, Ryan, Noah and several teammates were hiding terribly behind the railing.
Phones immediately disappeared.
Lucas covered his face.
“I didn’t invite them.”
Sophie stood.
Lucas looked alarmed.
“Where are you going?”
“To kill my brother.”
Ryan started running.
Sophie ran after him.
Everyone burst out laughing.
Lucas remained there for a second, watching her disappear across the field.
Then he looked at the half-melted ice cream in his hand.
A year ago, he had thought liking Sophie Tang was probably hopeless.
A week ago, he had accidentally told half the university.
And now he finally had one date.
For Lucas, that was enough.
At least until Sophie shouted from across the field:
“LUCAS!”
He stood immediately.
“What?”
She pointed at him.
“Friday. Seven. Don’t be late.”
His smile returned.
“I won’t.”
And this time, when the students around them started cheering, Sophie didn’t run away.
She just shook her head, laughed…
and let everyone see that she was smiling too.
