Chapter 2

Cole looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Seeing it was me, he blinked in surprise and quickly tried to shove the wrinkled paper behind his back.

"What are you looking at?" he muttered, his tone rough around the edges.

I didn't beat around the bush. Pulling the pink gel pen from my pocket, I held it out to him.

"Here. Take it."

He stared at the pen, then looked back at me, his face practically screaming: *Are you out of your mind?*

"Are you sick or something?"

The floating chat went wild.

*[LMAOOO the rival’s reaction is killing me.]*

*[Girl, just be direct! If he doesn't take it, your whole plan goes down the drain!]*

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible. "You haven’t submitted your form yet, right? Use this pen. It works."

Cole looked me up and down twice, like he was checking out a certified lunatic. "Chloe, did exam prep fry your brain? It’s just a pen. What’s it gonna do?"

"Are you going to use it or not? If you don’t want it, I’ll give it back to its owner."

I made a move to pull it away. He snatched it out of my hand and clicked it into his pencil pouch.

"Free stuff is free stuff," he grumbled, squatting back down on the steps. He smoothed the application over his knees, popped the cap off, and began writing.

Standing beside him, my heart pounded against my ribs.

A countdown flashed in my vision.

*[System detected a transfer of the writing tool.]*

*[Target: Cole. Luck rating: 3. District Ranking: Bottom 200.]*

*[Transfer in progress. Within one hour, 100% of Natalie’s luck will be reallocated to Cole.]*

*[Warning: During the transfer window, Natalie will physically sense the loss of her luck. If she recovers the pen before the transfer completes, the process will fail.]*

A knot tightened in my chest. I spun around and headed back toward the hall.

Two steps in, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

It was a text from Mom, telling Natalie and me to wait for them by the parking lot.

When I got to the parking lot, Natalie was already standing by the car.

Her back was turned to me, and she was on a call, keeping her voice down. But I was close enough to catch every single syllable.

"The system is showing the pen’s binding snapped. It wasn't discarded—someone actively took it."

A two-second pause.

"Track it. It’s a guy with a rock-bottom luck stat."

Another pause on the other end.

"Then what about my luck? All eighteen years of luck I’ve collected—is it going to transfer over with that pen?!"

She spun around abruptly and saw me standing just three steps away. All the color drained from her face.

I looked right at her, saying nothing.

The floating comments were flying:

*[She’s freaking out! The system is actively draining her luck, and she can feel it!]*

*[Look at that twitch by her eye—that’s the physical fallout of luck draining away.]*

*[In one hour, every bit of luck she stole over the last eighteen years belongs to Cole.]*

Natalie hung up and forced a strained smile. "Chloe, when did you get here?"

"Just now." I opened the back door, climbed in, and stared straight ahead.

She slid in right beside me. Just the two of us sat inside the car as the air conditioner hummed quietly.

After about ten seconds of silence, she finally spoke up.

"Chloe… that pen. Did you take it?"

Her tone was casual, as if we were just chatting about the weather.

I turned to meet her gaze. There was no gentleness in those eyes, no sisterly affection—just the cornered, venomous glare of a trapped animal.

"What pen?" I asked calmly.

"The pink gel pen I offered you." She locked eyes with me, enunciating every word. "You knocked it down. Did you keep it instead of giving it back?"

"It fell on the floor. I assumed you didn't want it anymore."

The corner of her mouth twitched violently. She leaned in close, dropping her voice so low only the two of us could hear.

"Chloe, give that pen back to me right now. You have no idea what it means. If you don't return it, you will regret it for the rest of your life."

I met her fiery gaze and answered evenly, "Natalie, I genuinely have no clue what you're talking about."

Her face darkened completely. She reached out, clearly about to rummage through my backpack.

Right then, the front doors opened. Mom and Dad stepped in. Natalie snapped her hand back instantly, plastering her sweet, harmless smile right back on.

"Mom, Chloe says she dropped a pen, so I was helping her look for it."

Mom glanced at me through the rearview mirror and scowled. "Why are you always losing things? Since you were little, you can’t keep track of a single item."

The chat room blew up with rage:

*[She has the audacity to blame Chloe for losing things? Natalie literally STOLE all of them!]*

I kept my eyes down and tightened my grip on my bag strap.

The car pulled out. Sitting beside me, Natalie furiously tapped on her phone, her complexion growing uglier by the second.

The glare from her screen lit up her face. I sneaked a glance.

She was messaging Cole on Snapchat.

I couldn't read the text clearly, but the floating comments translated it for me in real time:

*[She figured out the pen went to Cole! She’s texting him to meet up right now to get it back!]*