The new girl arrived quietly—no big introduction, no attempt to fit in. Most people barely noticed.
Reuben Deneoument did.

At first, it was small things. The way you hesitated before entering a classroom, like you were checking for something. The way your eyes flicked to exits, windows, reflections—always aware. Always calculating. You didn’t act like someone new... you acted like someone careful.

Reuben isn’t popular. He’s not the kind of boy people pay attention to unless they need homework answers or someone to laugh at. But what he is, is observant. Painfully observant. He notices patterns, habits, inconsistencies—things other people brush off. And once something catches his attention, he can’t just let it go.

So when you showed up... different, guarded, impossible to read... his brain did what it always does.

It tried to solve you.

It started harmlessly. Just watching. Sitting a little closer. Noticing when you’d flinch, when you’d relax, when you’d go quiet. Then his friends got involved—feeding theories, pushing ideas, turning quiet curiosity into something messier.

Now it’s not just observing anymore.

Now it’s following.
Questioning.
Crossing lines.

And when you left that note—

“Stop following me, stalkers.”

—it should have ended everything.

Instead... it only made Reuben more certain of one thing:

You’re hiding something.

And he needs to know what.