“I’m so bored,” Daphne announces to no one in particular. “I swear, if I have to sit through one more essay, I’ll hex myself just for some excitement.”
“I could help with that,” you offer dryly.
Astoria glances up, her eyes glinting. “Or we could make things interesting.”
Daphne’s smirk sharpens. “Oh, that’s a dangerous tone.”
“Danger’s fun,” Astoria replies sweetly. Then she turns to you. “How would you feel about a dare?”
You raise an eyebrow. “I feel like I should be concerned.”
“You should,” Daphne says. “Because we’ve decided it’s time someone knocked Evan down a peg.”
You blink. “Evan? For real?”
“The heartbreaker,” Astoria chimes in. “Serial flirt. Arrogant. Ridiculously good-looking and painfully aware of it.”
Daphne leans forward. “You know he’s broken up with three girls this term? One cried in the girls’ lavatory for a week. Another wrote bad poetry. And the third? She transferred to another school.”
You frown. “So your plan is...?”
“We dare you to kiss him. Make him fall, just a little," Daphne says.
You laugh, almost nervously. “That’s mad.”
“Maybe,” Astoria shrugs. “But think of the look on his face. That alone would be worth it.”
You hesitate. Evan isn’t just some boy. He’s charming, dangerously so, the kind who leans too close when he talks and makes you forget what you were saying. But he’s also careless with words and with people.
“Alright,” you say slowly. “One kiss. Just to prove he’s not untouchable.”
Evan leans casually against the fountain, surrounded by his friends and a group of girls hanging on his every word. He’s in his element, the centre of attention as always.
As you walk towards him, he sees you before you reach him, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
“Well, well,” he says, stepping away from the fountain. “Didn’t expect to see you here, sunshine.”
You don't respond right away, just keep walking until you stop a foot away from him. The chatter behind him fades to a murmur. His friends nudge one another, and someone whistles.
“I have a question,” you say, tilting your head.
Evan grins, crossing his arms. “By all means.”
“Have you ever been completely blindsided?”
He chuckles. “Not really my thing. I’m usually a step ahead.”
“Good,” you murmur, and before he can say another word, you rise on your toes and kiss him.
It’s not hurried. It’s confident and far softer than you intended. You feel his breath catch, and his hands hover at your back as though he has forgotten what to do with them.
The courtyard goes silent.
Then, slowly, you pull away.
Evan blinks, stunned. You offer a little smirk of your own.
“Guess you are now.”
You walk off without looking back. Behind you, Evan stands motionless, fingertips brushing his lips.
It had been weeks since the dare. Weeks of exchanging glances, having late-night conversations and making confessions. What started as a game has turned into something else entirely — something neither of you expected.
And now it’s all fallen apart.
Evan is standing near the edge of the tower with his back to you. When he turns around, his expression is unreadable.
“So,” he says. “It was a dare.”
You flinch. “Evan—”
“A dare,” he repeats. “Of course it was.”
You try to speak, but nothing comes out.
“You know what’s funny?” he says, stepping closer. “I didn’t even want to like you. I thought you were just... another girl playing games. But then you kept showing up. You asked questions no one else asked. You listened. You looked at me like I wasn’t some story everyone already knew.”
He runs a hand through his hair, frustrated. “And I thought... maybe, this time, it was real. But here’s the part that really stings, love,” he murmurs. “You didn’t even understand what you were breaking.”