Accidentally Yours

JUST THE BEGINNING

Chapter 5: Just the Beginning

The next morning, getting ready for class felt almost normal, if I ignored the tight, unfamiliar feeling still sitting in my chest. Somewhere between brushing my hair and searching for my notebook, I had managed to convince myself that everything would blow over by sunrise and that, by the end of the week, nobody would even remember what had happened at the party.

The moment we stepped outside the dorm, I realized how wrong I'd been.

Students glanced at me as we crossed the courtyard, their conversations lowering into whispers whenever I walked past. A few openly stared before looking away, while one girl actually pointed at me and then pretended she hadn't the second our eyes met.

“Why is everyone looking at me?” I muttered.

Samantha followed my gaze, equally confused. “No idea.”

Beside us, Ellie had already stopped walking. She was staring at her phone, her expression changing so quickly that my stomach tightened before she even spoke.

“Okay,” she said slowly, “you're basically famous now.”

A knot formed in my chest.

“What happened?”

Without a word, she turned her screen toward me.

It was a video from the party, filmed from somewhere in the crowd. The clip started just as Alex had walked over and ended with me calling him Mr. Douchebag before disappearing into the sea of students.

The caption read:

POV: The new girl finally said what we've all been thinking. 💀🔥

6.3K views.

The comments were multiplying by the second.

She really called him Mr. Douchebag to his face and just walked away.

Alex looked like he forgot how to talk for a minute.

Someone give this girl a medal.

Mixed in with the praise was something colder.

Cute that she thinks this makes her special.

Wonder how long that confidence lasts once his fan club gets involved.

I locked the phone before I could read anything else.

“So that's why everyone's staring,” I said quietly.

Ellie shrugged. “Honestly, you should be proud. You did something nobody else here has managed to do.”

“I don't want to be proud,” I replied. “I'd actually prefer to disappear for the rest of the semester.”

Samantha laughed and squeezed my shoulder.

“Give it a few days. Campus gossip moves fast. By next week, everyone will be obsessed with somebody else.”

I wanted to believe her, but every whisper during the walk to class felt directed at me.

.....

Lectures helped, at least for a while.

There was something comforting about crowded classrooms, handwritten notes, and professors who cared more about attendance sheets than campus drama. Between syllabuses and assignments, the video slowly drifted to the back of my mind.

That peace lasted exactly until the end of my last class.

“Miss Fernandez, could you stay behind for a moment?”

Miss Kelli's voice cut through the sound of students packing their bags. Ellie immediately shot me a questioning look, but I could only shrug.

The classroom emptied around us while I followed Miss Kelli down the hallway to her office, my thoughts already racing through every possible disaster.

She gestured for me to sit before reaching for her phone.

The video filled the screen.

Again.

“I'd like to hear your side of what happened,” she said.

I sat up straighter.

“He approached me first. I wasn't trying to start anything. I was standing by myself, and he decided I'd been staring at him.”

She listened quietly, giving nothing away.

“For what it's worth,” she said after a moment, folding her hands on the desk, “I don't doubt that version of events. Unfortunately, the video has already reached several members of the faculty.”

My stomach sank.

“Your name is spreading remarkably fast for someone who's only been here for three days.”

Heat crept up my neck.

“I understand.”

“This isn't a disciplinary meeting,” she added, noticing my expression. “If it were, we wouldn't be having it this politely.”

For the first time since I had walked in, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

“My only advice is to be careful about the kind of attention you're attracting. Some attention is far more difficult to walk away from than people realize.”

I wasn't entirely sure whether she meant the video or the person in it.

Before I could ask, she nodded toward the door.

“You're free to go.”

Alex was leaning against the wall outside her office.

For a moment, I considered turning around and finding another exit.

Unfortunately, he had already seen me.

Neither of us spoke right away. Then that same slow smirk appeared on his face, irritating me almost instantly.

“You recovered faster than I expected.”

I crossed my arms.

“Disappointed?”

“Maybe.”

For a few seconds, I simply stared at him, trying and failing to understand why someone who clearly had better things to do kept appearing wherever I happened to be.

“Most people eventually get tired of being insufferable,” I said.

“And yet you keep talking to me.”

I took a step closer.

“No,” I corrected. “You keep talking to me.”

Something flickered across his expression—brief enough that I almost missed it.

“Whatever this is,” I continued, gesturing between us, “I'm not interested in finding out what it's supposed to be.”

“This?”

“You made a scene at that party, and somehow everyone acts like that's normal. Maybe they're impressed.”

I shook my head.

“I'm not.”

The hallway had grown strangely quiet, and although nobody openly stared, I could feel people slowing down around us, pretending not to listen.

I moved past him, then stopped long enough to glance back over my shoulder.

“And if you think that video is something I should be embarrassed about, you're going to be disappointed.”

I held his gaze for another second.

“It wasn't me people were laughing at.”

This time, I didn't wait for an answer.

I walked away without looking back, even though something told me he still hadn't moved.

Alex's POV

I watched her disappear around the corner and found myself wondering, for what had to be the hundredth time, why she managed to get under my skin so easily.

“Dude.”

Jimmy fell into step beside me, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“You've been standing outside that office for ten minutes.”

“I wasn't waiting.”

“Sure.”

We started down the hallway, Jimmy glancing at me every few seconds like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

“You're thinking about her.”

“Don't be ridiculous.”

“I'm serious. Three days, three run-ins. That's a lot of coincidences for someone who supposedly doesn't care.”

I didn't answer, mostly because I had no interest in giving him the satisfaction.

The truth was, it wasn't the video bothering me.

It wasn't even the nickname, which probably should have annoyed me a lot more than it did.

It was the fact that she looked at me like I was a mildly disappointing rumor she'd already confirmed.

"Whatever you're planning," Jimmy said after a moment, "leave her alone."

I ignored that too.

I pulled out my phone, thumb hovering over the Campus Hub thread before I locked the screen again without opening it.

Some things weren't worth reading twice.

I put the phone away and kept walking, aware of exactly how long it had been since anyone had made me want to check twice at all..