8:47 a.m. – Evergreen University, Main Hallway
The hallway smelled like burnt coffee, Axe body spray, and the faint panic of people who realized they still hadn't bought their textbooks. Bodies moved like salmon fighting upstream. Someone's AirPod hit the floor and got punted twelve feet.
Tyler "Ty" Morgan walked in the middle of it all, hoodie half-zipped, hair that looked like he'd lost a fight with a leaf blower. To his left was Landon Reed, blond baby face, backpack the size of a small coffin. To his right, Mason "Mace" Carter, red hair, mouth already running at 110%.
Mace (yelling over the chaos):
"Statistically, one of us has to get laid this semester. I'm doing the math right now and it's looking like me."
Landon: "Your math also said we'd pass calculus last year."
Ty just smirked and kept walking. He didn't need to say anything. The second people saw his last name on his student ID, the Red Sea parted.
Proof arrived in the form of a six-foot-five basketball player in a backwards hat. (Ty's brother)
Basketball Bro
"Ty Morgan! My dude! Did you see that shot against State that shot was filthy. Like, actually nasty. We're tailgating the Duke game, you're obviously coming, VIP tent, all that."
Ty gave the universal head-nod that meant "sure, whatever." The basketball bro fist-bumped him and vanished into the crowd like he'd just secured a future job.
Landon muttered, "We have literally never spoken to that human before."
Mace: "He knows my boy Ty's bloodline. That's royalty, baby."
Ty: "I'm royalty the same way a remora is royalty because it hangs out with a shark."
They rounded the corner and almost collided with the only four girls on campus who didn't care about Jake Morgan's vertical.
The Royals.
Sophia Ramirez, senior, Kappa Delta vice president, resting murder face.
Kayla Nguyen, junior, pre-med, smile that could launch ships or end civilizations.
Kenzie Harper, sophomore, redhead, 2.7 million TikTok followers from dancing in her dorm.
Liv Torres, Kenzie's freshman cousin, still had glitter stickers on her Hydro Flask.
Mace, because he had the survival instincts of a raccoon on bath salts, stepped right into their path.
Mace: "Sophia, quick question, if a guy could get you into any party on Greek Row tonight, no line, no cover, free drinks all night… would you at least let him buy you one?"
Sophia didn't break stride.
"We already have that guy. He's six-eight and dunks on people for fun. Move, Carter."
The Royals flowed past like they were allergic to broke freshmen.
Landon watched them go. "We are going to die virgins."
Ty: "Speak for yourself. I've been emotionally kissed by rejection plenty."
9:30 a.m. – Lecture Hall 204
The professor hadn't shown up yet. The trio claimed the very last row like it was their ancestral homeland.
Mace was already filming himself with the front camera.
"Day 68 of being underrated. Y'all sleeping on the future. Drop a like if you believe in glow-ups."
Landon opened his laptop, saw the 47 unread Canvas notifications, and closed it again.
Ty's phone buzzed. He answered on speaker without thinking.
Jake Morgan's voice boomed through the entire back half of the lecture hall.
Jake: "Yo, lil' bro! Sigma's throwing tonight. I got twelve wristbands on me. Tell your boys to stop being losers and at least try to look cook for once. And Mace, if you dry-hump my point guard again I'm bench-pressing you into the pool, love you, bye."
Click.
The lecture hall went silent for half a second, then erupted. Suddenly every head swiveled toward the back row.
Random girl in a crop top: "Are those the Sigma wristbands? Like, the real ones?"
Mace stood on his chair. "FIRST TWELVE PEOPLE WHO VENMO ME TWENTY BUCKS GETS IN VIP WITH THE BASKETBALL TEAM, LET'S GOOOOO!"
Ty yanked him by the hoodie. "We're not scalping my brother's wristbands, you gremlin."
Professor Klein walked in, took one look at the chaos, and sighed the sigh of a man who had chosen the wrong career.
Professor: "Mr. Carter, furniture is for sitting, not for your… whatever this is."
12:17 p.m. – Campus Cafeteria
They carried trays of questionable chicken tenders to the only open table, right in the middle of everything.
The Royals sat three tables away, laughing loud enough to make heads turn.
Mace: "Operation Shoot Our Shot starts now."
Landon: "Operation Get Publicly Executed, you mean."
But Mace was already walking. Ty and Landon followed because that's what they always did.
Mace (sliding into an empty chair at the Royals' table like he was invited):
"Ladies. Quick survey. On a scale of one to ten, how illegal is it to look that good on a Tuesday?"
Kenzie didn't even look up from her phone. "Eleven. And trespassing is still a crime, Mason."
Kayla laughed into her iced coffee. Liv, the freshman, actually looked sorry for them.
Sophia finally glanced up. "Did Jake lose a bet and send you over here?"
Ty, standing awkwardly behind Mace: "Technically he just sends us everywhere. It's easier than admitting we're related."
Sophia's eyes flicked to Ty for half a second, something almost like amusement. Then it was gone.
Sophia: "Wristbands don't make you interesting, Morgan. Go guard the punch bowl or whatever it is you do."
They retreated. The entire cafeteria watched like it was pay-per-view.
Landon (whispering as they sat back down): "I think I just died."
Mace: "Nah, that was flirting. She said my name."
Ty: "She said my name too, and I'm pretty sure it was a restraining order in verbal form."
10:42 p.m. – Sigma House, the actual party
The bass rattled teeth. Red Solo cups formed a carpet you could lose a shoe in. Someone had already puked in the ficus.
Ty, Landon, and Mace stood by the keg like lost exchange students.
Mace (holding three cups, already on his fourth attempt): "Watch this one, boys. I'm using the wristband line."
He walked up to a blonde sophomore.
Mace: "Hey, you ever been VIP with the basketball team?"
Blonde: "my boyfriend is on the basketball team ."
Mace returned thirty seconds later, untouched cups still in hand.
Landon spent twenty minutes hiding in the bathroom line just to avoid eye contact with humans.
Ty got recruited to hold Jake's teammates' phones while they played beer pong. He stood there for two hours like a very sad coat rack. After rejections piled up, they decided to leave
1:43 a.m. – Walking home through the woods
The party noise faded behind them. The air was cold and pine-smelling. Their breath came out in clouds.
Mace: "Zero numbers. Zero kisses. One girl told me I smelled like gas-station taquitos."
Landon: "That was Kenzie's cousin. She said it nicely."
Ty: "I carried eighteen Natty Lights for people who don't know my first name. I think we set a personal record for pathetic."
They laughed because what else could they do.
Then the sky ripped open.
A burning streak, screamed across the darkness and slammed into the earth fifty yards ahead. The impact felt like a earthquake. Flames whooshed up, then died fast, like someone turned off a gas burner.
Silence.
The three of them stared at the glowing thing half-buried in the dirt. It pulsed faint blue, shifting colors like oil on water. Not a meteor. Not space junk. Something else.
Mace, because of course it was Mace, was already walking toward it.
Ty: "Dude, no."
Mace: "Relax, it's probably just Elon's side hustle."
He reached out and touched it.
Blue lightning exploded outward, chaining between him and object like they were plugged into the same socket. Ty and Landon lunged to pull him off, and the second their hands made contact:
White.
Everything went white.