Chapter 1

The moment I walked into the classroom, the boy in my class — five-two, a hundred and fifty pounds — lifted his face at me.

"I told them you're chasing me, and nobody believes it. Go on, tell them yourself!"

Inside my head I was screaming What is wrong with you, but what came out of my mouth was, "I've been after you for half a year now. When are you finally going to say yes?"

My face pulled itself into a fawning simper, like some lovesick idiot.

The whole class stared at me, stunned.

"Is the class beauty still half-asleep today?"

"No way. She's probably just messing with us. Dry humor, right?"

Sweat broke out all over me.

What I'd just said wasn't what I wanted to say at all.

But the second I opened my mouth, the words just came out…

…

In front of me, Ferdinand Whitney looked thoroughly pleased with himself, jiggling his leg and glancing around at the others.

"See that? Would I lie to you?"

"Your precious goddess is nothing but my little simp."

Rage shot straight up through the top of my skull. I clenched my fist, dying to slam it into his face.

But the instant that thought formed, my arm locked up and wouldn't move.

I went completely blank.

He could control my body too?

Then I was in real danger.

The students around me broke into rounds of laughter.

But it was aimed at Ferdinand.

"The class beauty's roasting you, man. You can't even tell she's being sarcastic?"

"Not that I'm looking down on short fat guys, but seriously, your confidence is a little out of control."

Ferdinand tipped his chin up and pointed it at me.

"Crystal Fox, are you being sarcastic with me?"

Before I could react, my hands were already reaching out on their own to link through his grimy, dirt-streaked arm.

The stench of his sweat hit me full in the face, my stomach heaving, but the smile on my face was pure adoration.

"How could I ever be sarcastic with you? They're just jealous."

"I think you're more charming than the four biggest stars out there."

The whole class turned to look at me in unison, all of them frozen.

Adrian Henson, the class president, was the first to come to.

"Crystal, are you serious?"

Vivien Dickerson, the academic officer, came over and tugged at me. "What's going on? Is he threatening you with something?"

I wanted to explain, but my body wrenched free of Vivien and my brow furrowed in irritation.

"Can you people stop thinking so highly of yourselves?"

"Ferdinand's worth ten of you self-important types."

Vivien wore the look of someone whose good intentions had been fed to a dog.

"OK. Respect and best wishes."

Ferdinand smugly hawked a wad of spit onto the floor.

Adrian grabbed him.

"What are you doing? How many times have we said no spitting on the floor!"

Ferdinand pointed at me, contempt all over his face.

"Crystal will clean it up for me. What's the rush?"

The words were barely out before I'd pulled a tissue from my bag, crouched down, and started wiping it up.

My classmates looked at me like I was a lunatic.

I wanted to cry from the humiliation, but my eyes only stung for a second before the tears retreated on their own.

The warning bell rang.

I sat back down in my seat, thinking this whole absurd nightmare could finally pause.

But from the back row, Ferdinand called out to me.

"Crystal, if you want me to accept your feelings, go buy me a breakfast sandwich from Sunrise!"

Vivien glared at him. "Didn't you hear the bell? Class is about to start!"

But I was already up and moving. "Sure. And when I bring it back, you have to make me your girlfriend, okay?"

That bagel and deli wasn't far from school, but the line was always long.

I shuffled forward with the queue like a machine, my mind a tangle.

My phone buzzed. A message from Ferdinand.

【Good little dog. You'll keep being this obedient from now on.】

I typed back: 【You piece of trash, what did you do to me?】

It sent.

So Ferdinand could control what I said and what I did, but not what I typed.

I was so worked up my whole body was shaking. I quickly opened the class group chat.

【Ferdinand's controlling me somehow. No matter what I say or do, none of it is real. I'm not doing any of it by choice!】