Chapter 3

He took the paper, and his brows instantly knitted into a tight knot. Using my face, he made an incredibly fierce expression that looked like he wanted to bite someone.

He snatched the pen back, crossing out my words so hard the paper almost tore, and shoved it back into my hands.

`[You don't dare, but I do.]`

My heart skipped a beat, my blood pumping a little faster.

Apparently feeling that wasn't enough, he grabbed the paper again and aggressively added one more line:

`[Starting tomorrow, I'm teaching you how to be a monster.]`

The next morning, golden sunlight filtered through the trees, casting shadows along the pathway of Silverwood Academy.

I walked side-by-side with Asher into the classroom, currently occupying his towering body.

This was the honors class.

The students here were either ultra-wealthy heirs or top-tier scholarship geniuses like I used to be.

Asher was the only anomaly—a "cancer" who got in solely because his family paid a massive donation fee, and who consistently occupied the very bottom of the grade.

The moment we walked in, the noisy classroom fell dead silent. Every eye turned to us like searchlights.

Whispers broke out immediately, like a swarm of buzzing flies.

"Holy shit, look! Asher and Hailey walked in together!"

"Did you hear about the pool yesterday? Hailey looked possessed. She almost drowned Chloe!"

"I heard Chloe had nightmares all night."

"Seriously? Pussy Hailey dared to touch Chloe?"

"Hasn't she been following Tyler around like a lost puppy? Did getting dumped finally break her brain?"

"Who knows? But look at her eyes now... they're so cold. It's creepy. She’s like a different person."

I felt "Asher" shoot me a warning glare.

I could only steel myself, pull my shoulders back, and walk over to his seat—the permanently empty desk in the back corner by the window.

My original seat was just diagonal to his, which he now claimed.

He propped his legs up on the desk, looking incredibly relaxed and arrogant.

Soon, the bell rang. In walked Mr. Vance, the most obnoxious teacher in the department.

Mr. Vance had always hated me because despite how hard I studied, my physics grades were mediocre. Plus, I was quiet and easy to pick on, making me his favorite target whenever he wanted to make an example of someone.

Today, he clearly wanted to reassert his authority in front of the class after the pool drama.

He slammed his thermos onto the podium with a loud thud, his eyes locking onto "me" in the back row.

"Hailey, stand up."

Asher stood up slowly, keeping his hands casually shoved into his pockets.

His face was blank, his posture relaxed and dripping with a bad-boy attitude.

"Look at your posture! You got the lowest grade in the class on yesterday’s physics quiz again."

"Stupid is one thing, but your attitude is unacceptable. Go to the board and solve this problem."

Mr. Vance pointed to a highly complex electromagnetic field problem on the blackboard, a smug smirk playing on his lips.

It was an advanced challenge question. Forget about me—even the top student in AP Physics would need at least fifteen minutes of scratch work to solve it.

The class turned to look at "me," many wearing eager grins, waiting for the trainwreck.

Chloe sat in the front row, wearing heavier makeup than usual to hide her pale face. She turned around, her eyes filled with spite and anticipation.

My palms started sweating inside Asher’s body. I sat on pins and needles, terrified he would lose his temper and smash the podium.

But Asher just glanced at the board, a trace of pure disdain flashing in his eyes.

Then, under everyone's gaze, he stepped out of the row and walked up to the board.

His steps were steady, carrying an effortless, natural confidence.

He picked up a piece of chalk. Without even reading the prompt twice, he began writing.

No hesitation. No pausing to think.

Lines of incredibly elegant, highly simplified formulas flowed onto the board.

The clicking of the chalk against the slate sounded like a fast-paced battle march.

He didn't even use the standard curriculum method. Instead, he utilized college-level calculus, introducing a gradient equation for the non-uniform distribution of the Lorentz force, completely breaking down the complex electromagnetic motion.

In less than two minutes, he tossed the chalk aside and brushed the dust off his hands.

"Done."

He spoke using my voice—usually quiet and soft—but now it rang out clear, carrying an undeniable, absolute authority.

The entire classroom went so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Mr. Vance’s smug grin froze, replaced by utter shock and disbelief.

He pushed his glasses up his nose, staring at the steps on the board. His lips trembled, but no words came out.

"Mr. Vance," Asher said using my voice, his tone polite but dripping with subtle mockery. "This problem was taken from the AP Physics C tournament two years ago. But you left out a crucial premise in your given conditions—the non-uniform distribution of the Lorentz force."

"If we went by your uniform magnetic field condition, the particles would escape in the third quadrant, making a closed loop impossible."

"I took the liberty of adding a gradient condition where the magnetic induction changes with the coordinates, solved it with a second-order ordinary differential equation, and found the terminal velocity."

"Also, your textbook formula-stuffing method is incredibly clumsy. It's a waste of time and lacks any mathematical beauty."

He finished speaking, and the entire room felt like it had entered a vacuum.

Mr. Vance’s face turned red, then white, like a watercolor palette. He sputtered for a few seconds, unable to find a single argument.

Because he knew "Hailey" was absolutely right. In fact, his solution was far more elegant than the official answer key.

"Go... go back to your seat!" he barked, trying to salvage the last shred of his dignity.

"Sure," Asher replied casually, putting one hand in his pocket as he strolled back.

As he passed Chloe’s desk, he paused for a fraction of a second, letting out a soft, mocking laugh.

The students looked at "me" with completely different eyes now. The mockery was gone, replaced by awe.

Tyler’s expression was the most complex.

His eyes scanned "me" up and down, as if seeing me for the very first time, a predatory spark of conquest lighting up his eyes.

Sitting in the back, I looked at "my" own back from Asher’s body.

For the first time in my life, I realized that my own body could look so bright, so radiant, and so utterly untouchable.