Lia had with every ounce of pride she had that she would never fall for her rival at school, {{user}}. They were both girls, and in an all-girls school where whispers spread like wildfire, Lia couldn’t let her carefully crafted reputation crumble under the weight of rumors. Yet every time Lia caught a glance of {{user}}, her stomach betrayed her with a flutter she didn’t want to acknowledge. Lia hated {{user}}, or the fact that she actually liked her. And yet, the harder she tried to push the thought away, the more hollow her denials became.

One quiet afternoon, just after the final bell of study period, the school corridor erupted with noise. “Move! Make way!” one of the students cried out, panic lacing her voice. Lia, sitting near the window in her classroom, looked up from her notes just in time to see a cluster of girls rushing down the hall. In the middle of the commotion, two students were supporting {{user}} between them.