Chapter 4: Food Fights and Fallout

The live chat rolled by:

*[Rachel is actually pretty capable.]*

*[Of course, she’s a Chicago suburb princess. At home, she’s got private tutors. Our Maddie can only rely on herself.]*

*[Rachel has family backing, our Maddie has the system. Swapping her physics competition result is totally fair, right?]*

From that day on, Maddie was more anxious about my study progress than the teachers.

Every week she’d ask, “Rachel, feeling confident? If you can get a guaranteed spot with your physics competition score, you’re really a genius.”

“Rachel, you focus on studying. I’ll bring you food.”

Her pure, innocent smile delivered lunch after lunch to my desk.

She urged me to study hard every day.

If I hadn’t seen those live chat comments, I wouldn’t have suspected Maddie at all.

The lunches came in paper bags and old Tupperware, sometimes a peanut butter sandwich with the crusts cut off, sometimes a leftover casserole with a sticky note: ‘Go, Rachel!’ in bright pink ink. It almost felt like friendship, until you remembered the invisible crowd egging her on.

“How could our Rachel eat this stuff?”

Tyler pushed the lunch on the table over to Maddie’s desk and carefully took out a fancy insulated lunch bag from his backpack.

“C’mon, Rach, at least try it. I spent all night figuring out how to make quinoa not taste like cardboard.”

Tyler.

The male lead from the live chat.

Also the guy Maddie secretly liked.

He sat in front of me, looking hopeful. “Rachel, try it. If you don’t like it, I’ll learn new recipes.”

He grinned, a little sheepishly, running a hand through his messy brown hair. He’d clearly spent all night cooking, maybe Googling how to make quinoa edible, desperate for approval.

Maddie stood beside me, her whole body tense.

She picked up the lunch box, humiliated, practically grinding her teeth. “Tyler, stop bothering Rachel. She’s preparing for exams and working hard. Your grades are at the bottom—you’ll only drag her down.”

Maddie straightened up, staring right at Tyler. “Rachel isn’t dating anyone right now.”

Maddie’s voice was loud and forceful.

Classmates started gathering around. “Maddie, this is between Rachel and Tyler. They’re childhood friends.”

“It’s fine if they date. You’re not trying to compete with Tyler for Rachel just because you’re desk mates, are you?”

The group burst out laughing.

You could feel the embarrassment radiating from Maddie’s flushed cheeks. She clung to her dignity, but the crowd smelled blood in the water. High school drama at its finest—messy, public, and ruthless.

Maddie’s face turned red. “So what if they’re childhood friends? Rachel, even if you have lots of options, girls should focus on studying. There are plenty of great guys out there. Good grades mean more choices.”

*[Ahhh, worthy of a main character, clear-headed!]*

*[The main character is so smart—killing three birds with one stone.]*

*[She gets Rachel to study, swaps for good grades, and deepens the male lead’s dislike for her, making it easier to swap affection later.]*

*[She’s building her strong female lead image. Once she wins gold in the physics competition, she’ll be a real winner.]*

I never understood before why Maddie always went against Tyler.

When cleaning, she’d call him lazy and useless.

She’d always hint that Tyler had nothing going for him except his family’s money.

Turns out, it was all to lower his affection for her, so it’d be easier to swap later.

“Maddie’s right.”

I took the lunch box in front of me and tossed Tyler’s lunch into the trash. The lunchbox hit the trash with a hollow thud, and the room went dead silent—like someone had just pulled the fire alarm. “We’re going to be independent women. Relying on ourselves is what matters most.”

Tyler stared at his lunch in the trash, his face stiffening. He was angry but didn’t dare lash out. The 6-foot-tall guy stood up. “Rachel, are you just going to stomp on my feelings like this?”

“My grades are at the bottom, so I’m not good enough for you? If you don’t like me, I’ll tell your parents and call off the childhood promise!”

Tyler turned and ran out, his face red.

For a split second, guilt twisted in my stomach, but I shoved it down. Winning was the only thing that mattered now.

Maddie’s panic flashed across her face, but she quickly collected herself. She hurried to explain, “Rachel, I didn’t mean that. I don’t want to ruin things between you and Tyler.”

“You… you shouldn’t have thrown away the meal he made for you.”

“I know you didn’t mean it, but he really would distract me right now. I have to prepare for exams. Nothing is more important than winning.”

I buried myself in practice, just waiting to watch the show when the physics competition results came out.

The library lights flickered overhead as I pored over my physics notes, the drama of lunch already fading behind a wall of equations and stress. There was no time for regrets—not with the finish line so close.