1 Chapter 1

It's gone.

Blood drained from her face as Lorelei looked at the blank document in horror. Panicking, she sat on the chair and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "It's alright, we can retrieve it for sure," she murmured to herself.

Lorelei started to navigate her laptop with quivering hands. She tried to retrieve the file or whatever that can be saved, but nothing happened. Her blood started to boil and she could feel her anger building up inside her, making her face heated. Her eyes are now watery because of frustration which probably smeared her mascara by now. It dawned on her that the past three months she spent looking for resources, writing, and dealing with her mean partner for their term paper had become useless.

Her partner, Jace, was just standing in front of her, watching her on the verge of getting insane.

Lorelei had never been this furious her whole life. She was never the type to lose her cool over academics, but this is just too much. Sure, she had her fair share of misfortunes, but her chances of graduating are on the line this time. She clenched her fists and turned to Jace with rage in her teary eyes. She closed the distance between them as she advanced at him and grabbed him by his collar.

"Are you crazy?!" shouted Lorelei in her sharp, high-pitched voice.

Jace couldn't help but cover his ears. 'This woman must have been a dolphin in her past life,' he thought. He knows he is in no position to have such funny thoughts seeing the girl is already trembling with anger, but he can't help it. He looked at her with annoyance and a hint of amusement as he slowly tried to pull her hand grabbing his collar but Lorelei won't budge at all. Instead, she pulled it even closer.

He sighed. "You said we should just go on separate ways, so here, I am giving you the freedom to start YOUR term paper again."

"I didn't mean it like that, you dumbass!" she yelled. Her cheeks are now flushed because of anger. It felt like she's going to burst anytime soon. How the hell can she start her term paper again when it's already due in two days?! This man right here must be the very spawn of satan, thought Lorelei.

"Hey, the two of you, stop it already!" Her friend, Amari, tried to pull her away from Jace. She had no choice but to let go of his collar and let Amari pull her to her side.

Amari whispered in the smallest voice she can, "You do know that he's literally the smartest person in the room, right?"

Lorelei grimaced and looked at her with disbelief. "Are you really my friend?!" she whispered back.

Okay, maybe Amari is right. Lorelei is well aware that he isn't a dumbass, and yes he is the smartest one here. She hated that fact, but she hated herself even more because she couldn't even deny it. But what could she say in that situation except that? All her hard work for three fucking months had just gone to waste because of that jerk.

He scoffed and said with a tone obviously challenging her, "Wow. You're calling me dumbass now, huh?" He raised a brow and leaned on the table.

Lorelei pulled herself out of Amari's grip and took a step closer at him, refusing to back down at him. "Fine, you're not a dumbass then. You're just an ass!" She grabbed her things and just stormed out of the room.

She was walking aimlessly without a destination in mind. As she was about to exit the school grounds, it started to pour heavily. Lorelei jumped as lightning struck, and the booming of thunder came right after.

Lorelei groaned and pulled her own hair in frustration. "What a good day to be alive!" she screamed, of course, sarcastically.

She was already drenched in rainwater but Lorelei just continued walking with heavy steps until she found a bench to sit on. She just sat there, bawling her eyes out as if she and the sky are one that time.

She looked down at her hands and noticed a crack in her nails. It must have been from all the grabbing and clenching of her fists earlier. "Oh god, I just had these done yesterday. That salon's charge was more expensive than the usual," she said to herself.

"I fucking hate you, Jace Lee!" she screamed her heart out as she looked up to the sky.

Her college life, Lorelei decided, couldn't get any worse. Her makeup is now ruined and her newly manicured nails are broken as well. Worse, she has a douchebag as a partner in her most hated subject, and now their term paper is completely gone because that asshole deleted it.

Just how in the world did her life become like this?

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