As Mark walked toward the parking lot, it was clear school was over for the day. Seniors were climbing into their cars, showing off for underclassmen who watched with envy. Music thumped from open windows. Someone revved their engine unnecessarily, the sound echoing off the brick buildings.
He stood waiting for Henry when he saw Sherry Braithwaite heading straight toward him, her dark curls bouncing with each step.
His teenage body responded immediately, flooding him with hormones he hadn't felt in years. Something about her made his heart race in ways that felt completely beyond his control. Hugo's seventy-year-old mind was a passenger in a seventeen-year-old vehicle that had its own ideas about what mattered.
"Hey, Mark," she said, stopping in front of him.
"Ignore her, Mr. Lidorf," the system voice chimed in immediately. "This interaction has a seventy-three percent probability of being unproductive."
I'd take the twenty seven percent chances, Mark thought back.
"Hey, you." Sherry waved her hand in front of his face. "Earth to Mark? You okay? You look kind of spaced out."
"Sorry. Hey."
"Listen, I saw what happened in the cafeteria." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a gesture that probably broke hearts regularly. "Stop trying to impress me, Mark. I already told you freshman year. I can't date someone like you. It's not going to happen."
Wait. The girl actually thought he'd fought Daniel to get her attention? Like she was the center of his universe? The main character in everyone's story?
"Who said I was trying to impress you?" Mark replied, genuinely confused.
Her expression shifted to surprise, then something that might have been irritation. "Come on. We all know why you did it. Everyone's talking about it." She looked him up and down critically. "And why aren't you wearing your glasses? Just be yourself, Mark. The nerd thing works for you. Don't try to be something you're not."
She walked away like she'd just dropped the mic at a rap battle, leaving him standing there with stitches in his face and apparently zero self-awareness about how the world actually worked.
"Bitch, little bitch." Mark muttered under his breath.
[FRONTIER AVAILABLE: Follow Sherry Braithwaite. Build intense sexual tension and desire toward you. Make her increasingly desperate for sex with you. Once she is clearly fully ready to give in, abruptly leave her and end the interaction.]
Mark stared at the notification hovering in his vision.
"Yeah, no," he muttered.
"Mr. Lidorf," the system said, "this is a Frontier. Completion prepares you for real tasks."
"I heard the pitch." He watched Sherry disappear around the corner of the building. "Find me a different one."
"Frontiers are not selectable. This opportunity window closes in four minutes."
Yeah, right.
Mark followed Sherry. The system had spoken and that was good enough for him. She was cutting across the courtyard toward the main building, completely unaware she had an audience. He kept his distance. Old habit. You didn't survive forty years in boardrooms by letting people know you were watching them.
She turned toward the library. Mark almost stopped walking.
The library. School was over. The parking lot was half empty and Sherry Braithwaite was heading into the library like she'd left something important in there, which was either very convenient or very Sherry.
He met Henry coming the other way, backpack slung over one shoulder, phone already out, scrolling through what was almost certainly cafeteria footage that had gone viral in the last twenty minutes.
Henry looked up. Took in Mark's stitched face and the direction he was walking.
"Where are you heading, bruh."
"Wait for me here."
"You sure you're okay?"
"I'm good." Mark was already past him. "Don't move."
He heard Henry say something else behind him but the words didn't make it. He was already back among the buildings, cutting toward the library entrance, telling himself this was just a task. Just a Frontier. Just preparation for something real.
He pushed the door open. Sherry was alone inside, moving between the shelves with the tight focused energy of someone retracing their own steps, one hand trailing along the shelf edges, eyes on the floor.
She hadn't heard him come in. Mark let the door drift shut behind him and stood there for a moment just watching her. The library was quiet the way libraries only get after school hours, that specific stillness where every small sound lands a little louder than it should. Then he finally stepped forward.
She looked up. Her eyes did the math quickly but she didn't seem surprised.
"Don't tell me you're following me."
"Not really." Mark glanced around. "Looking for something?"
"My car keys." She turned away immediately, already moving again, one hand trailing the shelf edge, gaze sweeping low along the floor. Not interested in conversation. Not interested in him.
He spotted them almost immediately. Half-hidden in the corner near the window, catching a thin strip of afternoon light like they'd been waiting there patiently for someone to notice them. He walked over and picked them up.
"These?"
She turned. Looked at the keys. Looked at him. She crossed the room and held out her hand without even thanking him.
He dropped the keys into her palm and that surprised her the most.
"There you go."
Sherry blinked. Her hand stayed out a half second too long, waiting for a punchline that wasn't coming.
"That's it?" Sherry asked, keys now resting in her palm. She sounded almost disappointed, like she'd been braced for another awkward attempt at impressing her.
Mark gave a small shrug, but he didn't step back. "That's it. You're welcome."
She stared at him for a beat, clearly expecting more. When nothing came, she let out a short breath and turned half away, but her eyes kept flicking back to him.
"Why did you even follow me in here?"
Mark closed the distance slowly, voice low and calm. "Because you wanted me to."
Sherry's eyebrows lifted, a skeptical little laugh escaping her. "Excuse me?"
"You've been mean to me for years, Sherry. Snapping at me, putting me down in front of everyone." He stopped just close enough that she had to tilt her head slightly to look up at him. The air between them felt thicker. "Girls don't waste that much energy on someone they don't notice. You notice me. You just don't like that you do."
She opened her mouth, ready to fire back, but the words seemed to stall. Instead, she swallowed, her chest rising a little faster. "You're delusional."
"Am I?" Mark's gaze dropped to her lips, then lower, tracing the line of her neck, the way her blouse hugged her breasts with each breath. "Then why haven't you walked away yet?"
The library was dead silent except for the faint tick of the wall clock. Sherry shifted her weight, but her feet stayed planted. Mark could see the faint flush creeping up her neck.
He leaned in closer, voice dropping to a husky murmur right beside her ear. "I know what you really want when you're alone at night thinking about it. You want someone who doesn't flinch when you act like a bitch. Someone who sees through it… and still wants to bend you over the nearest table and fuck the attitude right out of you."
Sherry's breath hitched sharply. Her thighs pressed together involuntarily. "Mark… what the fuck—"
He didn't let her finish. One hand came up, slow and deliberate, brushing a curl behind her ear before trailing lightly down the side of her neck. His fingers grazed the edge of her collarbone, barely touching, but enough to make her shiver.
"Tell me I'm wrong," he whispered, lips hovering near hers. "Tell me you don't get wet just thinking about a guy taking control."
Her lips parted, a soft, involuntary sound escaping. She didn't pull away. If anything, she swayed closer, her breasts now lightly brushing his chest through their clothes. The contact made her nipples tighten visibly against the fabric of her blouse.
Mark's other hand settled on her hip, thumb stroking slow circles just above the waistband of her skirt. He could feel the heat radiating off her skin. "You're already breathing heavier. Already imagining it, aren't you? My hands sliding under this little skirt… finding out how soaked you are for me."