Page 11 of Kings of the Campus

“No worries,” Matteo says. “I’ll talk to Val and see if she can get Tessa to ease up on us. I’m sure she’ll be reasonable.”

Jace hangs around while I pack my bag and Devin continues to work on something on his tablet, just the three of us now.

“You guys good?” I ask, curious.

“I gotta tell you something,” Devin says, glancing around as he lowers his voice. “I don’t think Tessa is hanging around because of the scandal anymore.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Jace says quickly. “I think it’s because of…”

“It’s because of me,” Devin and Jace say at the same time. The two of them exchange wide-eyed glances and their brows furrow.

“Because of you?” Devin asks, sounding confused.

“I think she might have a little crush on me,” Jace says, a smirk rising from the corners of his lips.

“Uh, doubt it,” Devin says, rolling his eyes. “You think every girl has a crush on you. I think she’s hanging around because of me. We made out at the last party.”

“What the hell?” I ask, shock running through me. “You made out with the enemy?”

“First of all, she’s not the enemy,” Devin argues, pink coloring his cheeks. “Secondly, yeah, she and I got caught up in a game of spin the bottle and one thing led to another.”

“One make-out session hardly qualifies,” Jace argues back. “We had a connection the other day at the library. I’m sure that she came to the party to see me again. That kiss was probably a pity kiss, dude.”

I groan, annoyed at both of them for losing sight of things so easily. “You have to be kidding me,” I say, breathing out slowly. “We’ve been so stupid. I feel like I had a connection with her at the campus café the other day, but now I know what’s going on here. I think she’s messing with us,” I say, jaw tightening.

“Fuck,” Jace breathes out, running a hand through his hair. “It’s obvious now. She’s going after all three of us, trying to get close, trying to get us to let our guard down.”

Devin’s face falls as he clenches the pen in his fist tightly. “I can’t believe she’d play us like this. She’s probably trying to get us all wrapped around her finger so she can use us to get a better story.”

Annoyance fills me as I lean against the wall. “What are we going to do about it?” I ask. “We can’t let her get away with it.”

“Let’s make sure she knows that we’re not so easily manipulated,” Jace says, a feral grin on his face. “We need to put that little minx in her place, show her that we’re not going to fall for her tricks.”

I feel a rush of pride at knowing that Jace has my back on this. “We need to make a plan to get back at her,” I tell them. “Let’s take a few days to figure things out and decide how we’re going to approach this, agreed?”

“Definitely,” Devin says, nodding. “No matter what she thinks, we’re not going to fall for that cutesy schtick she’s got going on.”

We part ways, resolved to steer clear of Tessa for now so she can’t sink her claws any deeper into us. I don’t know what she has planned but I’m not going to let her ruin everything we’ve worked so hard to build back up, not if I have anything to say about it.

Tessa Collins better watch her back.

7

DEVIN

After the meeting, I find myself wandering around campus with a growing sense of frustration. I can’t seem to stop the hurt that’s risen after finding out Tessa’s been playing all three of us.

It feels like she’s been weaving this web, wrapping each of us up in her charm while keeping her intentions hidden. It was one thing when it was just the two of us playing a dangerous game but knowing that she’s been flirting with Jace and Alec too? That stings more than I care to admit.

I’ve spent the last few days stewing over it, letting my irritation fester until it’s practically bubbling over. But I’m not the kind of guy who just sits back and lets things happen. Alec wants us to come up with a plan to get back at her, so I’ve been brainstorming nonstop, trying to come up with a way to get her to feel just as humiliated as she’s made me feel.

As I pace my room, ideas start to form. We’re just going to have to turn the tables on her, make her so uncomfortable around the Sigmas that she won’t ever want to go near any of us ever again. We can’t just kick her out of the next party, but we can make it clear she’s not welcome.

I grab my phone and start typing out a plan in my Notes app. With the charity carnival coming up, that’s the perfect chance to put her on the spot, to make her look like the biggest fool since Boo Boo the Fool. We’ll invite her to come, maybe even offer her a chance at a story for her podcast, just playing up how friendly and cooperative we can be.

Then, we’ll use our social media to make her look bad. Maybe get people to post unflattering or silly pictures of her, or catch her in awkward moments. She’ll be the laughingstock, and she’ll never want to come back to another Sigma Theta event ever again. It’s perfect.

Granted, it’s not exactly the most honorable plan, but desperate times call for desperate measures. If Tessa thinks she can mess with us and get away with it, she’s got another thing coming.

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