Chapter 1: How a Drama King Is Made
Galveston County, TexasCounty High School1989 — Graduation Ceremony
"Please welcome our student representative — the real-life inspiration behind the beloved Amazing Amy book series — Amy Dunne!"
Applause rippled through the gymnasium.
A girl with an almost unsettling self-possession walked to the podium. She adjusted the microphone, swept her gaze across the rows of folding chairs, and let it linger — just for a beat — on a blond boy in the crowd before launching into her speech.
Down in the audience, the blond boy's carefully constructed expression — a painstaking cocktail of admiration, longing, heartbreak, and noble suffering — collapsed the second her eyes moved on. He touched his own face like he was checking whether the mask had left a mark.
Yeah. He was a drama king.
But he had reasons. Very good reasons. Anyone who knew that the poised, terrifying girl at the podium was his girlfriend — correction, his almost-ex-girlfriend, the one currently in the process of dumping him — and anyone who knew what she was capable of, would absolutely plaster on a humble, lovestruck expression and hold it there like their life depended on it.
As for how he knew what she was capable of?
That was a longer story.
"Hey." Someone nudged him from the side. A girl. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." He snapped back into character instantly — head slightly bowed, jaw tight, the picture of a guy holding himself together by a thread. He didn't even glance at her.
"Seriously? That serious?" The girl leaned in, lowering her voice. "It's a breakup, Adam. Even if she's Amazing Amy, you're Adam Duncan. You've had, like, a dozen girlfriends. Why the tragic-hero routine?"
"Juno." He shifted sideways, putting a few more inches between them, and shot a quick glance at the stage. Amy was still talking. He exhaled. "Don't lean on me like that."
"Oh my God." Juno straightened up, a slow grin spreading across her face. "You're scared of her."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You are! You're completely scared of Amy Dunne!"
Adam's stomach dropped, but he kept his face neutral — a skill he'd been practicing a lot lately. He looked at her properly for the first time.
Juno McGuff. Sharp eyes, freckles, a red hoodie so aggressively red it looked like a stoplight threw up on her. She had this look, the kind that made you feel like she already knew the punchline to a joke you hadn't told yet. It was deeply unsettling.
Another one, he thought grimly. Why are all the dangerous ones in my orbit?
"You're scared of her," Juno said again, like it was a simple fact.
"No, I'm not. Don't make stuff up."
"You literally flinched when her eyes went near you."
"That's — look, can we not do this right now?"
"Sure." She shrugged. Settled back in her seat. Then, pleasantly: "So why have you been watching little Sheldon Cooper all week?"
The gymnasium seemed to tilt slightly.
Adam made a split-second calculation. Juno had a built-in lie detector that made Amy's look like a gas station thermometer. He abandoned the performance entirely.
"He's a genius," Adam said carefully. "He's what, nine? Ten? And he's about to test into high school. I figured — if I'm actually going to get my act together and get into a decent college, having a friend who's basically a walking encyclopedia couldn't hurt."
Juno stared at him. Long enough that he started to sweat.
"Huh," she finally said. "You're actually telling the truth."
"I actually am."
"The teachers here are pretty useless," she agreed. "But you don't need Sheldon." She paused. "I'll tutor you."
Adam blinked. "You."
"Yes, me. Problem?"
"No — I just —" He scrambled. "I didn't want to bother you. My reputation, the whole thing, it'd be weird for you—"
"I'm already the weird one," Juno said cheerfully. "Three out of four therapists agree I've got something going on. I've stopped letting other people's opinions dictate my schedule. It's very freeing. You should try it." She tilted her head. "You were more interesting before you started doing the whole calculated-charm thing, by the way. Don't lose yourself trying to manage everyone around you."
Adam opened his mouth. Closed it.
"Last question," she said.
He braced himself. "Go ahead."
"Why are you scared of me too?"
Silence.
On stage, Amy was wrapping up her speech, voice warm and precise as a surgical instrument.
"...You dress like Little Red Riding Hood," Adam muttered finally. "And I'm just trying to keep my head down, study hard, get out of here without any drama. That's all I want."
Juno laughed — a real one, surprised out of her. She turned back toward the stage, still smiling.
Adam stared straight ahead, cycling through expressions for Amy's benefit, while in the back of his mind he pulled up the thing that had started all of this:
SYSTEM STATS — ADAM DUNCAN
Intelligence: 108 (Average: 100 | Smart: 120 | Gifted: 140 | Genius: 180)
Strength: 180 (Average: 100 | Athletic: 200 | Peak: 500 | Superhuman: 1000)
Endurance: 300 (Average: 100 | Athletic: 200 | Elite: 500 | Superhuman: 1000)
Speed: 140 (Average: 100 | Athletic: 200 | Elite: 500 | Superhuman: 1000)
Lifespan: 35.06 years (Short: below 60 | Average: 80 | Long: 100 | Extended: 150+)
Other Stats: 🔒 Locked
Intelligence +1
Speed +20
He stared at that lifespan number.
Thirty-five years old.
Yeah, he thought. That's why.
End of Chapter 1
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