School was its usual clusterfuck of teenage drama and academic purgatory wrapped in fluorescent lights and fake smiles. I coasted through it like a Formula 1 car in a go-kart race. Enhanced intelligence will do that. Every lecture felt like déjà vu from fourth grade, and let’s be honest—most of my teachers were just older versions of the kids they were teaching. Slightly better hygiene. Slightly worse patience.
God bless tenure. And low standards.
Note to self: never let them know you’ve already mentally rewritten the curriculum.
The only thorn in my otherwise pristine day? Lea. Death-glaring me like she’d just watched a documentary called "How to Kill Your Ex-Crush in 5 Easy Steps". And judging by the murder countdown in her eyes, she was somewhere between Step 4 and orange jumpsuit.
Still, I wasn’t sweating her. Bitter feelings and bad eyeliner were the least of my concerns.
She sat across every shared classroom like I was a bloodstain she couldn’t scrub off her soul. The kind of look that says, "You’ve got five minutes to apologize or die screaming."
Cute. If I wasn’t immune to guilt and too busy playing 4D chess with reality, maybe I’d care.
Lunch rolled in like a Netflix filler scene. Madison and I sat together, open secret now. No more pretending. We were a thing—much to the cafeteria’s collective confusion and my own private amusement. She introduced me to her little group chat squad: Ashley Kim (queen of side-eyes and contour), Emma Rodriguez (chaotic energy in a crop top), and Mia Santos—who, and I’m being brutally honest here, wasn’t playing in the same aesthetic league.
Thick, awkward, kind of cute if you squinted, but compared to the other two? Background character energy. Ashley and Emma were hot enough to get invited to Dubai. Mia was... not.
Then came the plot twist.
Mia and Tommy clicked instantly. Like, sitcom-level meet-cute vibes over some coding project. Suddenly, my ride-or-die food-obsessed bestie was speaking fluent JavaScript and laughing like he’d found a soulmate in a slightly oversized hoodie.
Then Mia opened her mouth, and Tommy transformed from snack gremlin to Silicon Valley intern.
"Holy shit, you know Python?" he gasped, borderline blushing.
"Know it?" Mia flipped her hair. "Please. I was coding apps before puberty."
And boom. Nerd-magnet status achieved. They, locked in like two socially awkward puzzle pieces. It wasn’t just flirting—it was binary seduction.
Tommy had finally found a girl who spoke fluent algorithm, and Mia finally found someone who didn’t blink when she mentioned backend architecture.
It was disgustingly adorable. And kinda terrifying.
Yeah, I was happy for my Tommy. Mr. Doritos-for-breakfast suddenly turned into a blushing Google engineer the second she brought up Python scripts.
Size really does find size.
God bless us nerds.
"So, Peter," Emma asked, all sass and zero chill, "Madison told us she wanted to test your... equipment before deciding to date you."
Cue Madison choking on her water like someone had just read her browser history aloud.
"Emma, what the hell!"
"What?" Emma shrugged, grinning like the devil in lip gloss. "You literally said you were curious about the quiet nerd’s dick game."
Ashley jumped in, smirking. "Honestly, we were all a little curious. You made him sound like some kinda forbidden USB stick."
Table went silent. Real silent. Madison regrouped faster than I expected.
"Okay fine, I was curious," she admitted, brushing her hair behind her ear. "But I wasn’t gonna tell you guys anything even if it sucked."
"But it didn’t suck," Emma added, wiggling her brows like a cartoon perv.
"Emma, I swear to God," Madison groaned, trying not to laugh and failing hard.

The house was cute. Two stories. Minimalist vibes. White trim, some tasteful landscaping. It screamed middle-class success story, not secret millionaire like Madison’s estate. But it worked. Clean. Structured. Like Mrs. Rodriguez herself.
Madison blinked. "Wait, is that—" Madison tilted her head. "She listens to country?"
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