Chapter Two: Red Flags & Rivalries
1070 Words
It had been three days since Luca walked her home, and Emery hadn’t stopped thinking about it.
About him.
The way he stepped in without hesitation. The steady confidence in his voice. The way he said her name like he already knew it—like he’d known it for a while. Like maybe, just maybe, he’d been paying attention all along.
It didn’t make sense.
Guys like Luca didn’t notice girls like her. She wasn’t glamorous. She didn’t party or flirt or wear cropped sweaters to class. She was too focused on keeping her scholarship, too busy working shifts and tutoring to waste time on drama.
But somehow, drama had found her anyway.
“Luca Caldwell walked you home?” Natalie whispered, eyes wide as they sat across from each other in the campus dining hall.
Emery poked at her granola. “Don’t make it a thing.”
“Oh, babe. It’s already a thing. Do you know how many girls on this campus would kill for his attention?”
“Then maybe they can have it,” Emery muttered. “He probably just didn’t want trouble on his record. Hockey players have to stay clean, right?”
Natalie raised an eyebrow. “You think he was being noble for the sake of his NCAA eligibility? Girl, he offered to walk you home. That’s not rule-following. That’s interest.”
Emery rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t deny the part of her that wanted to believe it. That maybe Luca had seen something in her worth protecting. Worth chasing.
She didn’t get the chance to think much longer, because the entire energy in the dining hall shifted.
The kind of shift that only happened when someone important walked in.
Luca.
He wore a grey Henley, sleeves pushed up over his forearms, a duffel slung casually over one shoulder. His eyes scanned the room—and landed directly on her.
He nodded once.
It was nothing. A tiny gesture.
And yet her heart jumped.
“You are so screwed,” Natalie whispered, barely containing a grin.
⸻
Later that afternoon, Emery ran into him again—this time at the student union café.
He was sitting at a back table, one leg stretched out, scrolling on his phone. A coffee cup sat in front of him, mostly untouched. She had no idea why she approached him. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was something else.
“Stalking me now?” she teased as she walked past.
He looked up, caught off guard for a moment—then smiled. “Takes one to know one.”
“I work here,” she said, gesturing to the apron tied around her waist.
“Sure you do.”
“You think I just dress like this for fun?”
“I think you’re full of surprises, Emery Blake.”
She hesitated. “You really do know my name.”
“I told you,” he said, standing to face her. “I’ve seen you.”
A beat passed between them.
Then, before she could think of anything clever to say, another voice sliced through the moment.
“Well, isn’t this… adorable.”
Emery turned—and immediately regretted it.
Brielle Montgomery.
She was stunning in the way only money could buy. Glossy dark hair, designer bag swinging from one arm, a fitted sweater that probably cost more than Emery’s entire tuition. She walked like she owned the room—and the people in it.
And she was staring at Emery like she was something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.
“I didn’t know we were lowering admissions standards these days,” Brielle said sweetly. “Is this ‘bring your charity case to coffee’ week?”
Luca’s jaw clenched. “Brielle, don’t.”
“I’m just saying,” she purred, tilting her head. “It’s cute. You pretending to care about some girl you’ll forget in a month.”
Emery felt her face flush, but she stood straighter.
“You don’t know me,” she said calmly. “So don’t pretend you do.”
Brielle arched an eyebrow, then turned to Luca.
“She doesn’t get it, does she?” she said with a soft laugh. “Where you come from. What you’re expected to be. But she will. When you’re done playing hero.”
Luca stepped forward. “We’re done here.”
Brielle smiled. “Sure. But don’t forget who was there first. And who always will be.”
With that, she sauntered out, heels clicking against the tile, leaving silence in her wake.
Emery stood frozen. “Who was that?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he sat back down, eyes fixed on the cup in front of him.
“Brielle,” he said eventually. “We… used to be a thing.”
“How recent is used to be?”
He looked up. “Before you.”
“There is no me,” Emery said. “We’ve barely spoken.”
“There’s going to be.”
The certainty in his voice made her stomach twist in ways she wasn’t ready for.
“I don’t do games, Luca.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then tell me the truth. Why now? Why me?”
He ran a hand through his hair, voice low.
“Because I’ve been watching you since freshman year. Because you’re the only girl on this campus who makes me forget how fake everything is. Because every time I see you, I wish I was someone better—someone who could deserve you.”
Silence stretched between them.
“I don’t need you to be perfect,” Emery said quietly. “But I do need the truth.”
He looked at her—really looked at her. And something shifted.
“I’ll give you that,” he said. “Every time. No matter how messy it is.”
And somehow, she believed him.
⸻
But later that night, in a dorm across campus, Brielle stood in front of her mirror, dialing a number she hadn’t called in months.
“He’s slipping,” she said when the voice on the other end answered. “She’s getting under his skin.”
A pause.
“No,” she said with a cold smile. “I’m not going to lose him to some nobody from Pine Ridge. We do what we always do.”
Another pause.
“Destroy her.”
- Writer
