When my online gaming boyfriend found out I scored a 1590 on the SATs, he dumped me. "With grades like that, going into a STEM major? She’s probably a literal ogre." He snickered, mocking my looks to his frat brothers, forgetting his mic was still hot. A second later, our teammate lifted his rifle and gunned him down. "Talk trash to a junior from my department, consider yourself unlucky." Fast forward to the start of the semester. I stared at the 6-foot-2, drop-dead gorgeous guy standing in front of me, completely speechless. Bro, with a face like that, calling someone else a scumbag... isn't that a bit hypocritical? After the SAT scores were released, I pulled an all-nighter gaming. My parents were too busy calling every relative we knew to brag, so they left me alone. By the time morning rolled around and I got a call from Mason, my voice was completely hoarse. He cut straight to the chase: "Riley, let's break up." Mason and I had met randomly in an online lobby. He was a painfully average player but had a lot of money—a total pay-to-win whale. Plus, he was a smooth talker. The night after the SATs, he asked me out, and we made it official. I didn't expect it to crash and burn in less than a month. "Okay," I agreed, not bothering to cling to him. We hadn't even met IRL yet. I just treated it like my Tamagotchi had died. Mason seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "We can still game together, right?" I said sure. Right after we finished a match, Mason changed his profile picture. I didn't think much of it and was about to log off. Suddenly, an unfamiliar, teasing voice came through the headset: "Yo, Mason, what's with the new PFP? You break up?" Mason's mic was still open. Before I could warn him, I heard him scoff: "Obviously! Do you know she scored a 1590 on her SATs? And she's going to Stanford for Computer Science!" "With grades like that, doing a STEM major? She's probably a literal ogre. If I didn't dump her before we met IRL, I'd probably die of fright." The other guys in our squad went dead silent. Mason sounded confused: "Hey, why aren't you guys moving—" Bang! Bang! Bang! The God-tier player on our squad suddenly fired three consecutive shots, blowing Mason's head off in-game. Mason instantly raged: "Are you insane?! Why the hell did you team-kill me—" His voice abruptly cut off. He finally realized his mic had been hot the whole time. A lazy, nonchalant voice drifted through the headset. "Talk trash to a junior from my department, consider yourself unlucky." Wait, what??? This teammate almost never used voice chat, but his skills were absolutely insane. In my head, he was always the cold, untouchable pro. Who would have thought the first time he ever spoke, it would be to defend me? Right then, my phone started buzzing like crazy. It was my best friend, Chloe. I exited the lobby and picked up, instantly bombarded by her frantic screaming. "Riley Evans! You! Are a literal god!" "You got a 1590! You're valedictorian! You have to carry me through life now, ahhhhh!" I pulled the phone away from my ear. "Stop yelling. Your girl just got dumped." Chloe: "?" I gave her the rundown of what just happened. "He probably thought I was ugly." Chloe was furious: "??? Is he clinically insane? If the Prom Queen of West High is an ogre, what the hell are the rest of us?!" "Whatever." I didn't want to waste energy on him. Thinking back to what that God-tier teammate had said, I sent him a private message: "Hey, senior? Thanks for today! Can I get your number? I'll treat you to food when the semester starts!" A minute later, the aloof senior blessed me with a single word: "Sure." Getting publicly executed by a teammate completely destroyed Mason's ego, and he rage-quit the lobby immediately. But that night, Mason sent me a message. "Log on. Let's run it again." It seemed he was determined to win his pride back. Talk about a bruised ego. I glanced at his new teammate. "This gamer tag looks familiar." A lazy voice drifted through my headset: "He's a paid pro-carry." I jumped slightly, rubbing my ear in surprise. This guy... we had played together for so long, and he barely ever typed a word. But ever since he stood up for me, he seemed too lazy to type and just exclusively used voice comms. I wasn't quite used to it yet. Looking at the expensive new gear Mason had equipped, I felt a bit nervous. "Can we win?" He was dead set on making a comeback, spending real cash to buy a victory. The senior asked lazily, "Do you want to beat him?" I didn't hesitate: "Duh!" So what if he's a trust fund whale? I heard a low chuckle. "Alright." Nine minutes later, Mason and his expensive pro-carry both got sniped in the head. Mason screamed an obscenity over the mic and instantly logged off. I sat in deep thought for a long time before finally texting the senior: "Senior, if I go to Stanford for CS, will I become as cracked at this game as you?" "...Not necessarily." The senior graciously typed a few extra words for me. "Depends on your raw talent." Ah. I understood. "Well, I'm covering your breakfast for a month!" He went back to his aloof self and didn't reply. After the scores were finalized, my life became a blur. Doing college prep interviews, picking dorms, getting my driver's license... I was so busy I barely touched the game for over a month. Out of nowhere, Mason messaged me. "Riley, we had an amicable breakup. You don't have to literally quit the game just to avoid me, you know." Me: ??? What kind of delusional nonsense was he typing? When I finally logged into my neglected account, I realized the rumors were already flying. Several of my regular squadmates instantly spammed me. "Riley! You're finally back!" "It's just a breakup! It's not the end of the world!" "Guys like Mason who only care about looks are shallow anyway! Good riddance!" I was totally lost. "No, I've just been super busy lately." But no matter how much I explained, nobody believed me. After a few minutes of confusion, I finally figured out why—Mason had a new girlfriend. "That low-level account he's carrying around is his new girl. I heard her PFP is actually her, a broadcast journalism major." I spectated them for a bit and cringed. She was painfully bad. Even with his pay-to-win items, it was agonizing to watch. Hats off to Mason for having the patience to peacefully coax and carry her. To bleach my eyes, I grouped up with the senior. Sometimes he seemed incredibly busy, and other times he seemed like he had nothing but free time. I was very blunt about my needs: "Senior, my eyes are bleeding. Mind flexing some plays to cleanse my vision?" Five minutes later, we loaded into a match and absolutely decimated the enemy team. I felt so much better. I was perfectly satisfied, but right as I was about to log off, that deep, lazy voice echoed in my ears again. "Looks like you really liked him." I thought I was hallucinating. "What?" He elaborated, "They all said you cried so hard you lost your voice the day he dumped you." Me: "..." "But now he's got someone new, and they look pretty happy. You should let it go. Crying over a jerk like that isn't worth it." Me: "..." This was absurd. I kept my face deadpan. "Why would I be hung up on him? Stanford has a massive ratio of guys to girls in the CS department. You think I'll have a shortage of options?" Senior: "..." Realizing that might have sounded a bit arrogant, I corrected myself: "Actually, let's not be too greedy. I just want the most handsome one!" The line was quiet for a long moment before a low chuckle broke the silence. "You've got some high ambitions." Late August rolled around, and I dragged my suitcase onto campus for freshman move-in day. The California sun was relentless. There wasn't a single breeze. I pulled my baseball cap lower and kept walking. Stanford was great and all, but the campus was so massive I felt like I was walking halfway to my grave. Suddenly, a guy jogged over from nearby. "Hey, freshman? Are you an English major?" I looked up, and he froze for a second, his ears rapidly turning red. "Thanks, but I'm in the Computer Science department. Do you know where their check-in booths are?" His eyes widened in shock. It took me asking a second time for him to snap out of it. "Oh! Just go straight down this path and take a left at the end. That suitcase looks heavy, want me to walk you there?" I politely declined and kept walking until I finally found the spot. A few guys were slouched lazily in folding chairs under the canopy. When they saw me stop, one of them let out a low whistle. "Hey, freshman, you looking for Liam too? Tough luck, he just stepped out to the advisor's office. Come back later." Liam? Who? "No." I handed over my ID. "I'm here to check in." The guys slouched under the tent all whipped their heads around in absolute shock. "Holy shit?!" As soon as I got settled into my dorm, I got a text from Chloe. "Rileyyyy I miss you so much waaaaah! Thinking about not seeing you every day is breaking my heart!" "Chloe, just to remind you, your college is literally across the bay." "I don't care, I don't care!" Chloe whined. "Do you know you made the Campus Confessions Instagram page on your literally first day?! Now I have a million more people trying to steal my gorgeous bestie!" Me: "...Campus Confessions?" I tapped the link she sent, and sure enough, someone had taken a candid photo of me and posted it. Emmm... At the time, I was dragging my suitcase, sweating like a dog under the sun. I didn't even notice anyone taking a picture. "BRO! Are the freshmen really this gorgeous this year!?" "If I call her the Campus Queen, nobody can object, right? What major? English?" "Drop the Insta handle! I am begging!" "Give up, guys, she's a CS major! How the hell did those nerds get so lucky! FML!" "??? No way? The CS department already has Liam Wright, how did they pull someone of this tier too? They get the absolute hottest guy AND girl on campus? Where is the justice?" Liam Wright? That must be the Liam those guys mentioned at the booth. Seems like he's pretty popular. Oh right, I almost forgot to text my senior. "Senior, I checked into campus!" A little while later, he replied: "Was busy earlier, didn't see this. You arrived?" "Yep! You go do your thing, my roommates just got here, we're gonna go grab food." A few minutes later, he sent a short list. "These spots near the West Gate are pretty good." Man, having a 'local' is the best! So convenient. My roommates were all in different majors, but they were super nice. After introducing ourselves, we headed out. We had just sat down at a restaurant when Mason randomly sent me a photo. My heart jumped. —It was the exact candid photo from the Campus Confessions page!
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