The Ruined Bride of Velvet Nights by Brick Moving Ant

Chapter 15

Transferring to AP classes senior year was basically asking for side eye from the other students.

On my first day, Mrs. Bennett went out of her way to introduce me properly: “Phoebe Johnson is a member of our state academic decathlon team who brought home national gold last year. Kind of a big deal.”

“She wasn’t in AP before due to scheduling conflicts, but her test scores are off the charts. Don’t let the new kid status fool you–she’ll probably end up tutoring half of you before midterms.”

The AP class had no academic deadweight, and I watched their initial skepticism transform into grudging respect

“Sid Loxley also just transferred in. There’s an empty seat next to him. You’re both decathlon nerds, so maybe you can keep each other sharp.”

My eyes widened in surprise.

Sid sat in the back row by the window, looking effortlessly put–together, offering me a genuine smile. “Saved you a seat,” he said quietly.

Having my former underclassman suddenly become my peer felt unexpectedly disorienting.

“We’re in the same grade now… you don’t have to be so formal with me.”

Sid looked at me thoughtfully, something unreadable in his expression.

he smiled–a moment so perfectly

Phoebe it

heart did this weird little stutter

away, suddenly fascinated

Calculus and Stanford essays are what

41.0%

hapter is

else is just background noise.

at school was giving me the

whole bathroom incident seemed to have evaporated from

server. I quickly found why in a pinned

openly identified himself:

Johnson. She came to school with a 103° fever to drop off competition materials for

from her high fever, she accidentally entered the wrong bathroom and collapsed alone in a stall, requiring medical intervention. She was found after third period and

the hospital

harassment and defamation

redacted hospital

blurred out, showing only

dehydration.