Accidentally Yours

HIS NEW TARGET

Chapter 4: His New Target

I was still staring at the wall, silently willing my face to stop burning, when Ellie and Samantha finally reappeared with drinks in hand.

"Okay, that was insane," Ellie said, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You do realize that, right? You just told off Alex Morrison in front of half the freshman class."

I hadn't fully processed what had happened yet. My hands were still trembling, though not from fear anymore. It felt more like the aftermath of adrenaline with nowhere left to go.

"I didn't plan any of that," I admitted.

"Could've fooled me." Samantha looked almost impressed. "You didn't even flinch."

"I was flinching on the inside."

Ellie laughed, but the sound barely registered over the pounding music still vibrating through the room.

"Can we leave?" I asked, rubbing my temples. "I think I've used up my social battery for the night."

To my surprise, Ellie didn't argue.

We slipped out through one of the side exits and began the walk back to the dorm, the noise of the party gradually fading behind us. We'd barely reached the gate when my phone started vibrating in my pocket. At first, I ignored it, assuming it was Diana, but the notifications kept coming until curiosity finally got the better of me.

I pulled out my phone.

Campus Hub (89 new messages).

A knot tightened in my stomach as I opened the chat.

"Did anyone else see that? The new girl actually shut Alex Morrison down."

"She called him "Mr. Douchebag" to his face and walked away like it was nothing"

.

"I've never seen anyone talk to him like that before.

Not saying I'd do it, but I respect it."

Mixed in with the admiration were less encouraging predictions.

"She's brave, but Alex isn't the kind of person who forgets stuff like that."

"Someone should warn her while she still has time."

Further down, the tone shifted into something sharper.

"Who does she think she is? She's been here for THREE DAYS."

"People really transfer in and think they can just disrespect Alex like that lol."

"Wonder how she'd feel if someone talked to HER like that."

"Not it, but I give her a week before she regrets this."

I locked my phone and shoved it back into my pocket, oddly unsettled by all the attention.

"See?" Ellie said, peering over my shoulder.

"Campus royalty, dethroned in three days. You're basically a legend now."

"I don't want to be a legend," I muttered. "I want to survive my classes.

"

Samantha laughed softly.

"Too late for that. Around here, you're officially the girl who humbled Alex Morrison, and people don't forget things like that."

By the time we reached our room, exhaustion had finally begun to settle in. I dropped onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"Great," I said. "Exactly the reputation I was hoping to build on day three."

Ellie fell onto her own mattress with a grin.

"Could be worse. You could've been the girl who cried over him in the cafeteria."

"That's... surprisingly comforting."

Despite the anxiety twisting in my stomach, some small and unfamiliar part of me didn't regret what had happened. Nobody had ever looked genuinely caught off guard by anything I'd said before, and the memory of Alex's expression lingered stubbornly in my mind.

I closed my eyes and replayed the conversation for what had to be the tenth time that night. It wasn't anger I'd seen on his face before his attention shifted elsewhere, and it hadn't exactly been amusement either.

It had looked more like recalculation.

As though he'd expected the conversation to go one way and was still trying to understand why it hadn't.

Whatever it meant, I had the distinct feeling that this wasn't over.

Alex's POV

The party continued around me as though nothing had happened.

The music still pounded through the speakers, people still laughed too loudly at jokes that weren't funny, and girls still found excuses to wander over to my table.

For some reason, none of it held my attention anymore.

I stayed exactly where she'd left me, replaying the conversation in my head for far longer than I cared to admit.

"Dude."

Jimmy dropped into the chair across from me and studied my face.

"You good?"

"Fine."

He frowned. "You're standing very still for someone who's supposedly fine."

I ignored him and reached for my drink.

Across the table, Brian leaned back in his chair, looking far too entertained by the situation.

"So, are we going to talk about the freshman, or...?"

"No."

Brian grinned. "Interesting strategy, considering she called you Mr. Douchebag in front of half the campus."

"I heard her the first time."

Lilian leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand.

"You know what's funny?" she asked. "You didn't even have a comeback."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Are we done?"

"Definitely not," Brian replied. "The great Alex Morrison gets insulted by a freshman on her third day here and suddenly forgets how words work. That's historic."

Jimmy laughed under his breath.

"Honestly, I'm just impressed she survived the conversation."

I set my glass down a little harder than necessary.

"Do all of you have somewhere else to be?"

Brian lifted his hands in surrender.

"Relax. We're just enjoying the moment."

I leaned back in my chair and let my gaze drift across the room, though I wasn't really looking at anything.

Normally, people blurred together.

Faces, names, conversations — most of them disappeared from my memory within hours.

She didn't.

It wasn't because she'd embarrassed me. People had said worse over the years, and I'd stopped caring a long time ago. It wasn't even because she'd walked away in the middle of a conversation, although nobody ever did that either.

It was the look on her face before she left.

There had been no excitement at being noticed, no desperate attempt to impress me, and, by the end of it, not even fear. She had looked at me as though I were nothing more than an overrated story she'd finally seen through.

I couldn't remember the last time anyone had looked at me like that.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Jimmy asked.

"Don't you have someone else to annoy?"

"Not nearly as entertaining."

I shook my head, earning a laugh from the table.

Eventually, I pushed away from my chair and headed upstairs to my room, grateful for the sudden quiet that replaced the music downstairs.

Dropping onto my bed, I stared at the ceiling, but sleep refused to come.

I pulled out my phone instead, scrolling without really looking at anything, until my thumb stopped on its own.

Campus Hub.

I could still see the thread if I wanted to. Read what people were saying about her. About me.

I didn't open it.

Instead I set the phone face-down on my chest and closed my eyes, and for reasons I chose not to examine, I found myself hoping tomorrow gave me a reason to run into her again.