Chapter 1 #1

{Melanie's P.O.V}

The squeak of my sneakers on the court was the only sound I trusted.

"Drop your hips, Mel! You’re late on the recovery!" Coach Miller’s voice boomed off the rafters of the arena, echoing through the empty stands—empty except for the handful of boosters and die-hard student fans who were always allowed into practice.

I didn't need to look up to know they were glaring at me. I could feel their eyes burning into my back.

The fluke.

The charity case.

The girl taking up a real man’s spot.

I turned back to run defense, stepping into the path of Ace.

He didn't look at me.

Ace, my brother Zayn’s best friend, and the undisputed golden boy of the team that always treated me like a ghost.

He flicked a crisp chest pass right past my ear to the wing, completely ignoring my open call.

When the whistle blew to signal the end of scrimmage, he grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his neck, and walked straight past me.

He hadn't spoken more than ten words to me all semester. If he knew the truth about the scum my brother ran with, he’d probably look at me with even more disgust than he already did.

"Hit the showers! Great push today!" Coach Miller called out.

I grabbed my water bottle, wiping sweat from my forehead as I walked toward the tunnel. That was always when the whispering started. Up in the low-tier bleachers, three girls in custom team jerseys were staring down at their phones, then pointing directly at me.

"Unbelievable," one of them hissed, loud enough for her voice to carry down to the court. "She really thinks she can ruin the team and get away with it?"

I frowned, slowing my pace.

My phone vibrated violently in my gym bag. They were probably hate comment on my post on Instagram or death notes from crazy fan girls in my DM.

I unzipped the side pocket, pulled out the screen, and stopped dead in the center of the hallway.

A notification from the campus sports blog was pinned to the top of my feed, trending wildly under the hashtag #SnakeInTheRoster.

I clicked it. My stomach dropped into a bottomless, sickening pit.

There was a high-definition photo of me leaving an apartment complex on 4th Street at two in the morning. The dark hoodie barely covered my face, but my profile was unmistakable.

Below it, the headline ran in bold, vicious letters: "MELANIE’S DIRTY PLAY: Point Guard Caught Leaving Rival Captain Ken’s Apartment—Is She Snitching Tactics To Win?"

The article was a disaster. It didn't just leak the photo..It built an entire crime narrative.

It claimed I was sleeping with Ken, the captain of our fiercest state rivals, specifically to steal their playbook.

It alleged that our recent surprise practice-scrimmage win against Ken’s team wasn't talent, but the result of me snitching on his play calls after pillow talk.

The comments were a toxic wasteland:

“Get this girl off our team! She’s ruining the program!”

“She couldn't win on skill, so she had to use Ken.”

“Ban her from the league.”

I gripped the edge of my phone until my knuckles turned white, my throat tight with a sudden, suffocating panic.

They had it completely backward.

I wasn't stealing tactics from Ken to help us win. Ken had spent months watching me, lusting after me, waiting for a single crack in my armor and he found it in my brother.

Zayn wasn't just a reckless kid; he was a thug, entangled deep with dangerous people who had rap sheets long enough to bury our entire family.

When Ken found out about Zayn’s criminal record and the violent crowd he ran with, he cornered me. He held that secret like a blade to my throat, threatening to leak the entire sordid story to the press. The moment it gets out is the end of my career.

He made his demands clear.

One night with him was his price for silence to which I had given in.

I spent that terrifying, humiliating night in his apartment just to protect my brother and save the only dream I had ever worked for.

Now, here was the photo, splashed across every screen in the state, twisting my trauma into a cheap scandal.

"Melanie. My office now." Coach Miller stood at the end of the corridor, his face grim. Behind him, standing in the shadow of the doorway, was Ace.

I swallowed hard, forcing my trembling legs to move. I pushed past the door into Miller’s office and stood, my hands sweaty.

"Tell me this photo is fake," Miller demanded, leaning against his massive desk, arms crossed over his chest.

"It's not fake," I said, my voice barely a whisper before I caught myself and hardened it. "But the headline is a lie. I am not leaking tactics, and I am not snitching on anyone. I would never betray this team."

"It doesn't matter what the truth is, Mel!" Miller snapped, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"The media is eating us alive! The athletic director is already getting calls from sponsors! The fans want your head on a pike...They think you're a mole, and they think our team's integrity is completely compromised!"

"Then let me make a statement," I pleaded, desperation bleeding through. "I'll handle it—"

"No statement you make will fix this," Miller interrupted coldly. He ran a hand over his face, pacing the room before stopping abruptly.

He looked from me to Ace. "We need damage control. Heavy damage control. We need to shift the narrative entirely, today, before the board suspends you."

I held my breath. "How?"

Coach Miller looked straight at Ace, then back at me. "You're moving out of your dorm today. You’re moving into Ace’s off-campus house."

My heart hammered against my ribs. "What?"

"The narrative is that you and Ken were a mistake—or better yet, a complete misunderstanding," Miller said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "You and Ace are going to be seen together. Everywhere. The public needs to believe that you two have been low-key dating, that you were at that complex meeting a mutual friend, and that your loyalty lies right here, with your teammate. With Ace."

"Coach, no," I said quickly, raw panic rising in my chest. "You can't be serious. Fake-dating? Living together? Ace doesn't even talk to me!"

I turned to Ace, waiting for him to laugh in Miller’s face and tell him there was no way in hell he was letting my chaotic, toxic life step foot into his sanctuary.

Ace stood against the wall, his arms folded across his broad chest, his dark eyes locked onto mine. His face was entirely unreadable, cold as stone, just like it always was.

"Ace, say something," I demanded, my voice cracking slightly under the weight of his stare.

"Tell him this is crazy."

Ace took a slow, deliberate step forward out of the shadows. He didn't look at Coach Miller. His gaze stayed fixed on me, heavy, suffocating, and entirely unwavering.

"Pack your bags, Mel," Ace said, his voice deep and completely devoid of emotion. "You're moving in tonight."