Page 13 of Kings of the Campus

“The library?” Jace reminds her.

“The café?” Alec adds. “We know that wasn’t just platonic chit-chat. You were flirting with us, getting us to let our guards down around you. How long before you were messing around with all three of us?”

Tessa’s eyes flicker in recognition. “It’s not like I’m dating any of you,” she mumbles, though her cheeks are tinged pink.“But whatever. You’re going to try to destroy your newfound reputation over some lame attempts at flirting?”

“It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” I counter. “You’re manipulating us, using us to get close enough to find your next big story.”

“Whatever,” Tessa says. “I can’t reason with you guys. You want to go, let’s go. If you think I’m easily intimidated into backing off, you’re dead wrong. You want to get to me, get under my skin, you’re going to have to step up your game.”

Her lip curls into a smirk and she tosses her hair as she stalks off, head held high.

The three of us turn to face each other, eyes narrow.

“It’s game on,” I say, clenching my hands into fists.

8

JACE

Tessa Collins is relentless.

It’s like she took our little stunt at the carnival as a personal challenge, and now, she’s everywhere. I’m not even sure how she does it, but every time we turn around, there she is. In the library, at the student union, even at the gym—always watching, always scheming. I thought after the carnival, after we rattled her a bit, she’d back off. But no. Instead, she hit back harder, showing up at every Sigma event like it’s her mission to keep us in check.

I can’t help but grudgingly admire her tenacity, but it’s getting under my skin. None of us signed up for a game of cat and mouse with the girl who’s practically made a career out of dogging our every move.

“She’s becoming a real problem,” I mutter as I push open the door to the frat house, finding Alec and Devin already in the living room. Alec’s got that look on his face—the one that says he’s been thinking too hard about something, and Devin’s pacing like he’s ready to tear his hair out in frustration.

“She’s not just a problem,” Alec says, leaning back in his chair. “She’s everywhere. She’s keeping tabs on everything wedo. We need to figure out how to get her to back off before she pulls something that gets us in serious trouble.”

Devin scowls, arms crossed over his chest. “It’s like she’s daring us. Trying to prove she’s smarter than us, as though we’re just a bunch of idiots.”

I flop onto the couch, rubbing my temples. “She’s playing the long game, and I hate to say it, but right now, she’s winning. We’ve gotta get ahead of her before she takes things to the next level.”

Silence falls over the room for a beat as we all let that thought settle in. It’s not just about saving face anymore. Tessa’s starting to push buttons that could bring the whole fraternity down if we’re not careful.

We’re trying to tread a careful line right now, between letting ourselves give in to the desire to harass her into stopping and keeping ourselves in check to stay out of trouble with the dean’s office.

“We need another meeting,” I finally say, breaking the silence. “We’ve gotta figure out what we’re gonna do before she gets the upper hand.”

Alec nods. “Yeah. Let’s get the guys together. This is about more than just some personal grudge. She’s turning this into a war, and we need a battle plan.”

And for the first time, I realize just how deep we’ve gotten ourselves into this mess with Tessa. We underestimated her once. That’s a mistake we won’t make again.

The mood in the room is tense as we sit around the big oak table in the back of the frat house. Alec’s got his serious face on, Devin’s fidgeting, and Matteo looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here. Julian leans back in his chair, twirling a pen between his fingers like he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Alright, let’s get this started,” Alec says, his tone clipped. “We’ve got a problem, and we need to deal with it. Tessa Collinsis on our backs harder than ever. She’s showing up everywhere, getting in our business, and we need to get her to back off before she does real damage.”

“Is that why we were taking all those photos of her at the carnival?” Matteo asks, scrunching his nose.

I shift in my seat, feeling the weight of the situation settling in. “Yeah, about that…” I start, glancing at him and Julian. “The reason we had you guys take all those pictures was our attempt to get her to back off. We thought if we made her look bad enough on social media, she’d be too embarrassed to show her face around Sigma Theta ever again.”

Devin lets out a sharp breath, shaking his head. “But instead, it’s like we lit a fire under her. She’s doubled down. She’s everywhere now, pushing even harder.”

Matteo winces, clearly uncomfortable. “Look, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about taking those pictures in the first place,” he mutters. “I don’t know if this is the right way to handle things.”

Alec shrugs, his expression unreadable. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. But it’s backfiring. She’s relentless, and if she gets wind of us pulling stunts like that, she’s gonna come at us even harder.”

Devin rubs his chin, his mind obviously racing. “We can’t afford to let this spiral out of control. Tessa’s got too much of a platform. She could do another podcast episode about the carnival stunt, turn it into another hit piece, and we’d be screwed.”

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