While Damien was still linked into the system interface, Aria Lane stepped into the classroom.

  The moment she crossed the threshold, Ethan Blake stopped glaring at Damien and lit up like a Christmas tree.

  He practically jogged toward her, grinning like a game show host who just hit the jackpot.

  And for some ungodly reason, Ethan had shaved off his medium-length hair and gone full buzz cut.

  It was… not working.

  That kind of hairstyle only suited guys with sharp features and solid bone structure.

  Ethan? Not even close.

  His face was already painfully average, and the new cut only emphasized every awkward contour of his jaw and the asymmetry in his cheekbones.

  Combined with that wide, overconfident grin—he looked like someone who’d just escaped a mental ward and was excited about algebra.

  But clearly, he had no idea. Ignorance was bliss, after all.

  “Aria, hey! You’re here!” Ethan beamed. “There’s still a bit of time before homeroom. I’ve got some questions from the homework—can I get your help?”

  “Sure,” Aria replied, polite and composed.

  As the academic vice president—and a genuinely kind person—she rarely refused anyone who sincerely asked for study help.

  “Awesome! Let’s head to your desk. I’ll carry your bag,” Ethan offered enthusiastically.

  “That’s really not necessary,” Aria said, waving him off.

  “If it weren’t for you tutoring me, my grades would still be bottom of the barrel. Helping out with small stuff is the least I can do.”

  “You were always capable,” Aria said with humility. “I just explained what the teachers already covered. If you paid attention in class, you’d be fine.”

  “No, no—it’s definitely because of you. And, uh… you’re really pretty. It’s easy to focus when you’re the one teaching.”

  That last line made a faint blush rise on Aria’s cheeks.

  Ethan, noticing the reaction, tried to reach for her backpack—no doubt aiming for some casual hand contact.

  But Aria shifted her weight instinctively and dodged without thinking.

  From across the room, Damien watched the whole thing unfold.

  Thick skin really is a cheat code at this age...

  Ethan Blake was walking proof.

  Of course, Damien knew the truth behind the guy’s sudden academic improvement. It wasn’t effort, it wasn’t tutoring—

  It was X-Ray Vision. Straight-up cheating.

  Last week’s surprise exam? A total fraud. He’d probably scanned the answer sheets from his seat.

  All this "study time" with Aria? Just a smokescreen for his very obvious romantic ambitions.

  And Damien wasn’t about to let that slide.

  Just as Ethan was about to drop into the seat next to Aria—her usual deskmate's chair—Damien strolled over casually, a workbook in hand.

  “Aria,” he said, “did you finish the math problem Ms. Thatcher assigned yesterday?”

  “I did,” Aria nodded. “But I’m not sure if my answers are right.”

  “I gave it a shot too, but I’m not totally confident. Want to compare?”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Sure!” she said, her eyes lighting up a bit.

  Ethan blinked. “Uh… I was here first, you know.”

  “It’ll just take a minute,” Aria said without looking at him, already shifting her focus to Damien.

  The problem in question was hard. A bonus-level challenge well beyond normal curriculum. In the entire class, maybe two people had even tried solving it—Damien and Aria.

  So when Damien brought it up, it was like speaking her language. Her interest sharpened immediately.

  Ethan stood to the side, shoulders stiff, face blank.

  Because as the two top students dove into mathematical theory and compared logic trees, Ethan—cheater that he was—couldn’t understand a single word.

  To him, it might as well have been a foreign language.

  Damien caught his expression from the corner of his eye and smiled inwardly.

  This is called having chemistry.

  A sharp-dressed, sharp-witted guy chatting one-on-one with the most beautiful girl in school. Both of them smiling, exchanging ideas, occasionally leaning in to point at formulas—

  From a distance? It looked like a flirt session.

  From up close? Still looked like a flirt session, only nerdier.

  And Aria?

  She was completely engaged. Enthralled by the conversation. Ethan may as well have ceased to exist.

  Damien made sure to extend the discussion, diving deeper and deeper into logic branches and theory proofs.

  By the time the morning bell rang, Aria was smiling, curious, and completely focused on him.

  Ethan, meanwhile, stood there like a third wheel made of cardboard.

  ———

  “Damien,” Ethan said sharply, stepping forward with a raised voice. “You came over here with a workbook and acted like you wanted to compare notes—but let’s be honest. You didn’t care about the math. You just wanted to get close to Aria. You’re a total hypocrite!”

  The words rang out loud and clear, slicing through the conversation like a poorly aimed dagger.

  Damien turned toward him with an amused expression.

  Really? This guy’s tutoring her under the thinnest excuse to flirt—but if I talk to her about an actual math problem, I’m a hypocrite?

  The double standard is insane.

  Before Damien could respond, Aria frowned slightly.

  “You’re misunderstanding Damien,” she said. “He’s focused on his studies. He even told his friends to stop teasing me and calling me… that name. He made it very clear he wasn’t chasing anyone.”

  Ethan’s face twitched.

  “I’m not misunderstanding anything,” he snapped. “He couldn’t stand seeing you help me study, so he sent his goons to jump me after school. He even said you were his property and told me to stay away from you!”

  Aria’s eyes widened, her gaze shifting to Damien in shock.

  Damien met her eyes calmly. “That wasn’t my order. Colt and the others acted on their own.”

  And even if it had been him? That would’ve still been his answer.

  Because he was the villain in this story. And villains didn’t play fair—they played smart.

  “If you’re a real man,” Ethan pushed, “own up to what you did.”

  He was trying to bait him. Make Aria distrust him. Create distance.

  But Damien didn’t bite.

  Instead, he pivoted.

  “Interesting,” he said casually. “You conveniently skipped the part where you walked away without a single scratch—while those three looked like they’d been hit by a truck.”

  “That’s because I’m strong,” Ethan scoffed. “Those three? Weaklings. They didn’t stand a chance.”

  There it was.

  Ethan straightened up proudly, soaking in his imagined spotlight. He’d grown up rough, skipping class and getting into fights. He knew how to throw a punch—and wasn’t shy about it.

  But Damien had other plans.

  He waved toward the classroom. “Colt. Come here.”

  Colt jogged over, his cap pulled low over his bruised face.

  “Take off the hat. Show Aria what Ethan did.”

  Colt hesitated for half a second, then caught on. With a pitiful look, he peeled off his cap, revealing his black eye, split lip, and purple swelling.

  Aria flinched.

  She’d noticed something looked off earlier, but now that she saw the damage in full, her expression tightened.

  “H-How did this happen?” she asked quietly.

  Colt rubbed the side of his face and looked down. “It’s nothing. I actually got off easy. Mick and Reed… they look way worse. And even when we begged him to stop, he just kept going. Like he was enjoying it.”

  His voice cracked on the last line, and for a moment, it looked like he might cry.

  “You got what you deserved,” Ethan said coldly. No apology. No remorse. Just heat behind his eyes.

  Damien tilted his head. “Even if it was self-defense, there are limits. You went too far.”

  “They didn’t end up in casts,” Ethan said with a smirk. “Honestly, they should thank me for holding back.”

  He said it like it was a badge of honor.

  But Aria’s expression only darkened.

  Most girls didn’t like violence.

  And Aria, elegant and composed as she was, had never liked conflict. She looked visibly uncomfortable now—something Ethan was too caught up in his own bravado to notice.

  But Damien noticed.

  He always noticed.

  And that subtle shift?

  It made him smile ever so slightly.