Chapter 5: The Forum Erupts

"Big news! Huge news! The campus heartthrob just got dumped!"

My roommate Aubrey shrieked, clutching her phone.

"The school forum’s blowing up! There’s even a video of him drunk and crying."

She shoved her screen in my face. Her nails were painted neon pink, trembling with excitement. A headline blared in all caps: CAMPUS KING MELTDOWN—THE TEARS OF CALEN JENNINGS.

Following her lead, I opened the forum. Sure enough, a video of Caleb Jennings drunk and sobbing was trending at the top.

"She said she liked Li Bai, so I trained hard and became the top Li Bai in the country. I treated her so well—why’d she break up with me?"

In the video, his roommate tried to comfort him.

"She’s no good, she’s terrible."

"She’s always busy, never has time for me. If she’s not busy, she says she’s got no time. Even loving me, she just squeezes it in when she can."

"She’s no good, she’s terrible."

"She didn’t say anything, just told me it was over and deleted me right away. I don’t even know what I did wrong. Didn’t even get a chance to explain."

"She’s no good, she’s terrible."

"Is it because my voice isn’t nice? Or my skills aren’t good enough? She broke up so decisively, not a hint of hesitation."

"She’s no good, she’s terrible."

...

The video cut off there.

Caleb Jennings was crying like a 200-pound baby—completely different from his usual cold, aloof self.

All the comments were full of sympathy for him, and everyone was dying to know who had the guts to dump the campus heartthrob. Someone had already posted a crying Michael Jordan meme under the video.

I watched the video over and over, up and down, back and forth.

A wild idea popped into my head: Could my online boyfriend really have been Caleb Jennings?

Then what about his little brother?

Should I confess?

My stomach twisted into knots. I scrolled through the comments, reading wild theories and GIFs of crying kittens. The whole school was obsessed, but nobody knew the truth—except maybe me. I bit my lip, wondering if I should DM him, or just change my name and transfer schools.