Comments Said Not to Save My Toxic Childhood Sweetheart, I Chose Cambridge Chapter 01

Comments Said Not to Save My Toxic Childhood Sweetheart, I Chose Cambridge Chapter 01

Seraphina Hale lived for Truth or Dare.

Over three years at Havenbrook Preparatory Academy, she’d either forced classmates to bark like dogs out on the Athletic Field, or dragged groups over to confess crushes to the Dining Hall staff

On SAT exam day, her itch for chaos flared up again.

She snuck every single student’s SAT Admission Ticket and stashed them away on the charter school coach bus.

She called it one last wild send-off.

“Everyone, hunt fast!” she chirped. “If we dig every last one up, we head into the testing hall as a group. If we strike out… we’re all stuck retaking the SAT next gap year.”

I frowned, ready to step in and stop her.

That was when lines of comments popped up right in front of my eyes.

[Elowen’s such an icon-she’s bold enough to pull stunts this huge on official SAT day.]

[Ugh, that stuck-up Elowen’s here to lecture everyone again.]

[Let her have her fun. If she tries to call campus security and ruin Seraphina’s exam shot, Kael will yank her MIT Undergraduate Research Fellowship slot. He’ll crush her grades until she spirals into a breakdown. Meanwhile our girl Seraphina gets mentored by Kael and becomes the youngest top Integrated Natural Sciences researcher at Haverthorp Institute.]

I froze for a split second, then deleted the number I was about to call from my phone.

I pulled up my official Haverthorp Institute acceptance letter and tapped the confirm button.

***

The next second, a large hand shot out and snatched my phone away.

I lifted my head and met Kael Mercer’s guarded stare.

“Don’t you dare run to staff to snitch on us,” he said flatly. “Seraphina’s only doing this to give everyone a fun memory. I’m holding onto your phone till the game ends.”

Before I could get a single word out, Seraphina peeked out from behind Kael’s shoulder, eyes glistening like she was about to cry.

“Elowen, I know you hate me, and Mr. Halewell always takes your side. But this is the last time our whole class gets to hang out together. I just wanted us to have something memorable. I’ll take every detention or suspension this gets me, I swear.”

Her words instantly turned every single classmate against me.

Kids who’d hesitated a minute prior all shuffled over to stand beside Seraphina.

“You act like you own this school, running to staff over every stupid little incident.”

“Quit raining on our parade. Do you really think the staff will hold back forty of us from testing?”

“Dude, if we filmed this whole stunt for our Daily Video Journals, we’d blow up as Online Conten Creators overnight.”

“Let’s start already, Seraphina! We’ll all take the heat together. We’re not snitches like her.”

[Seraphina’s the ultimate class favorite-Kael’s obsessed with her, and every single kid backs her up.]

[My heart breaks for Seraphina crying. When’s Elowen gonna disappear from the plot?]

[This is the exact part where Seraphina’s gonna snap once everyone ignores Elowen’s nagging.]

I stared at the scrolling wall of comments and let out a sharp, bitter laugh.

“Who said I planned to report anyone? I’ll play this stupid game with all of you.”

The comments froze mid-scroll.

Even Kael stared at me in pure shock.

“You’re serious? What trick are you planning this time?”

The doubt written all over his face cemented everything the comments had warned me about.

This wasn’t the same Kael who’d promised we’d both hit MIT and Stanford side by side.

A hollow laugh slipped out of my throat.

I lunged forward, snatched my phone right out of his grip, and hurled it clean out the coach window.

“Now do you believe me?”

Kael stared at the empty window, panic flickering across his face.

Seraphina went rigid too-she’d never expected me to pull something that drastic.

“Whoa, Elowen’s finally loosening up?” Jasper Reed, our Varsity Team Captain, shot a glance at Seraphina. When she didn’t object, he yelled loud enough for the whole bus to hear. “Let’s crank this up another notch! Everyone power off their phones, no exceptions!”

He held his own device up for the whole class to see, then pressed the power button hard.

“Watch closely!” he shouted. The screen cut to black instantly.

“Anyone who keeps their phone powered on’s a total buzzkill.”

The entire bus erupted in chaos. Some kids dug their phones out of backpacks, others hesitated, every gaze drifting toward Seraphina for permission.

Seraphina recovered fast, grinning as she shut her own device down.

“If Elowen’s cool with it, we might as well play without distractions. Let’s go all out.”

Kael reached out, ready to stop the chaos.

“This is way too reckless. What if we miss our testing window entirely?”

Jasper shot me a cold side-eye, then grinned at Seraphina.

“Guess whoever’s unlucky enough to get caught out’s just out of luck.”

Seraphina blinked playfully.

“Games have winners and losers, that’s just how it works.”

The second she finished speaking, every single student powered their phones off in silent agreement.

Kael pressed his lips tight together and switched his own phone off too.

[Wait a second-why isn’t Elowen stopping everyone?]

[For real, what if an emergency pops up with zero working phones?]

[Relax, Elowen’s gonna take all the blame if anything goes wrong anyway.]

I stared at the floating comments and sneered.

It was all so predictable.

Seraphina invented this Truth or Dare game. If I refused to join, I’d get labeled uptight and boring.

If I played along, every bad consequence would land solely on me.

Other kids would get silly punishments like barking on the Athletic Field.

My punishments would be far worse: humiliating photos set as every classmate’s profile picture, private Discord Chat Logs leaked to the entire prep school so everyone called me Kael’s obsessive stalker, and eventually forced to hand over my National STEM Competition Scholarship Slot.

Kael had gone from my closest confidant to someone who thought I was rigid and dull.

Now he’d chosen to side with them and sabotage my SAT exam future right alongside everyone else.

None of them knew the game’s control had shifted to me.