Quarterback 's Kiss Made Me A Target On Campus

The harsh buzz of my phone jolted me awake. Squinting at the bright screen, I groaned as I saw the time: 7:43 AM. My head throbbed from last night's events, the memory of Aiden's lips on mine still burning like a brand. I'd barely slept, tossing and turning as the moment replayed in my mind on endless loop.

The phone buzzed again, then again, then a fourth time.

"What the hell?" I mumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

I unlocked the screen and froze.

Twenty-three notifications.

Forty-seven text messages.

Sixteen tags.

My stomach dropped as I opened Instagram. The first post was a video—me and Aiden, captured in the middle of our kiss. My eyes were closed, his hand was on my cheek, and the caption read: "When the wallflower catches the quarterback! #SpinTheBottle #AidenThorne #WhoIsShe?"

I scrolled frantically, my hands shaking. There were photos from different angles, videos that caught the moment before and after, comments tagging Aiden's official account.

"OMG did you see this??"

"Aiden Thorne kissed SOMEONE at Miller's party!"

"Who is this girl?? #InvisibleGirlBecomesVisible"

One particular post stopped me cold. It was a side-by-side comparison—a photo of me sitting alone at a library table, hunched over a book, looking plain and invisible; next to it, a professional shot of Aiden in his football uniform, looking confident and golden. The caption read: "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: When the king of campus kisses the invisible girl. #SocialSuicide #WhatWasHeThinking"

The comments were worse.

"Seriously? Aiden could have ANYONE and he kissed HER?"

"Is this some kind of bet? Please tell me this is a joke."

"What does he possibly see in her? She's so... ordinary."

"I bet she's already planning their wedding. Pathetic."

I threw my phone across the room, where it hit the wall and fell onto Lily's unmade bed. She stirred slightly but didn't wake up.

My chest felt tight, like I was having trouble getting enough air. I pressed my palms against my eyes until I saw stars, trying to push back the tears that threatened to spill over.

This was exactly what I'd feared. Not just being noticed, but being noticed with Aiden Thorne. Not just being talked about, but being mocked and dissected online where it would live forever.

I wanted to disappear. No—I wanted to go back in time and never let Lily drag me to that party.

---

Across campus, in a sleek sorority house, Jessica Davenport's phone buzzed with a notification. She was still in bed, her silk pajamas twisted around her long legs, her blonde hair artfully arranged on her pillow.

She reached for her phone without opening her eyes.

"Ugh, who's texting this early?" she muttered, scrolling through her messages.

Her eyes snapped open as she clicked on a link from her Beta, Brittany.

"Holy shit," she whispered, sitting up straight.

The video of Aiden and me played on her screen. She watched it once, twice, three times, her perfectly manicured nails digging into her palm.

With a sharp movement, she threw back her covers and stood up, her face twisted with fury.

"Brittany! Madison! Carly!" she shouted down the hallway. "Emergency meeting! NOW!"

Within minutes, her inner circle had assembled in her room—five girls who looked like they'd stepped out of a fashion magazine, all with identical expressions of concern.

"What's going on, Jess?" Madison asked, perching on the edge of Jessica's bed.

Jessica held up her phone, the video paused on a frame of Aiden's hand on my cheek.

"This," she said, her voice dangerously quiet, "is a social disruption that needs to be addressed immediately."

Brittany's eyes widened as she leaned closer to look at the screen. "Is that... Aiden? With... someone?"

"Someone nobody," Jessica spat. "Some nobody who thinks she can just waltz into my territory and start claiming what's mine."

"It's just a game, Jess," Carly said cautiously. "Maybe it doesn't mean anything."

Jessica's eyes flashed. "It means everything. Aiden doesn't just kiss random girls at parties. He doesn't."

She began pacing, her bare feet silent on the plush carpet.

"We need a plan," she said. "This girl needs to understand her place. And Aiden..." She paused, a calculating look crossing her face. "Aiden needs to be reminded of where he belongs."

---

I arrived early to Literature of the Romantic Era, hoping to claim my usual seat in the back corner before anyone else arrived. The professor hadn't even shown up yet, and the room was mostly empty.

I pulled out my notebook and tried to focus on yesterday's reading, but the words blurred before my eyes. All I could think about were the notifications, the comments, the memes.

A group of girls entered the classroom, their laughter echoing off the walls. They stopped abruptly when they saw me, exchanging glances.

"Is that her?" one whispered, not quite quietly enough.

"The girl from the video?"

"I heard she's in this class."

I kept my eyes fixed on my notebook, trying to become invisible again. But it was too late for that.

More students filtered in, and the whispers grew louder. I felt their stares like physical touches on my skin.

"Did you see that video?"

"What does Aiden see in her?"

"She looks so... normal."

I shrank deeper into my seat, wishing I could disappear into the wall behind me.

---

After class, I hurried across campus toward the art building. I had a sketchbook I needed to pick up from my locker before my next class. Maybe if I immersed myself in art, I could forget about everything else for a while.

The weight of stares followed me across the quad. Even people who didn't know me seemed to sense that something was different, that I was suddenly someone worth noticing—or at least worth mocking.

I was fumbling with my locker combination when I heard a familiar laugh behind me.

"Well, look who it is," Jessica's voice cut through the hallway noise like a knife. "The girl of the hour."

I turned slowly, clutching my sketchbook to my chest like a shield.

Jessica stood there with three other girls—her usual posse. Brittany was on her right, smirking. Madison and Carly flanked them, their arms crossed.

"I'm just getting my stuff," I said quietly, trying to edge past them.

"Oh, we know exactly what you're doing," Jessica said, her smile sharp as glass. "Trying to steal what isn't yours."

She took a step closer, and I instinctively backed up until I hit the lockers.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, my voice barely audible.

"Don't play dumb," Brittany cut in. "It doesn't suit you."

Jessica's eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down. "You know, I almost feel sorry for you. Almost."

She held a coffee cup in her hand—one of those fancy ones from the café across campus. As she gestured with it, her movements suddenly became jerky.

"Oh!" she exclaimed as the coffee spilled all over my sketchbook. "How clumsy of me!"

The hot liquid soaked through the pages, ruining weeks of drawings and notes.

"Oops," Brittany added with fake concern. "Better clean that up before it stains permanently."

Jessica leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear.

"Some people just don't know their place," she said. "And it's my job to remind them."

As they walked away, laughing among themselves, I stood frozen in the hallway, coffee dripping from my ruined sketches onto the floor.

I finally understood what Aiden's kiss had done.

It hadn't made me visible.

It had made me a target.