On Sunday, Blythe woke up to the sound of pouring rain outside. Suzy looked a little antsy as she entered the room at the ring of her call bell.

  “Good morning, my lady.” In her hands was the bottle of water she’d learned to take with her to Blythe’s room in the mornings instead of the teapot tray she used to carry.

  “Good morning, Suzy!” As she tied up her hair, Blythe smiled at Suzy. “I’ll run in the training hall today.”

  This was exactly the kind of refreshing weather she loved to experience from the warmth and comfort of her own bed back in her original world. She would never have gotten up for a jog then, even if she had the option of doing it indoors.

  Here, she didn’t really have a choice. The heavy classroom chairs had become much easier to move around, but she wasn’t at the level of hefting them without any trouble yet. Skipping a day of working out was a luxury she couldn’t afford just yet.

  Suzy’s brown eyes grew as wide as saucers. “U-understood, my lady!”

  Blythe raised an eyebrow when her vision was momentarily flooded with green light.

  She’d gained some favorability points with Suzy during the time she was a day student, usually over an insignificant action like smiling or speaking to her like a normal person. This was another one of those.

  Magnus had mentioned the original Blythe hated the rain. Maybe she often got cranky and took it out on the people around her when it started raining. Whatever the reason, Suzy’s anxious expression had vanished.

  Reuben showed up at the same time as usual. He looked astonished by Blythe’s presence. He mostly did his own thing while Blythe did hers, but it was nice being in the same training hall together. He must have felt the same way, because she got another 5 favorability points from him.

  Later, after lunch, Suzy picked up Blythe’s obligatory chocolates from the chef for her. It was time for her to head back to Novalbus since she had a student kitchen reservation in the evening. The next day was Valentine’s Day, so she had to make the so-called romantic chocolates for Magnus. She didn’t really care about the Magnus part, but she was looking forward to keeping some of the chocolates for herself and making the cookies Jessica had promised to share the recipes for.

  Everything went smoothly until Jessica and Blythe arrived at the student kitchen section. They bumped into Daisy in the hallway, where they were just about to enter their reserved kitchen. Daisy was rummaging through her bag—the bag Blythe had given to her—in front of the door opposite Jessica’s and Blythe’s.

  Seeming to sense their presence, she looked up. Her frustration immediately gave way to a deer-in-headlights expression as she stopped moving. Blythe froze in place as well, feeling her stomach drop.

  Jessica eyed Daisy with a venomous glare. Without missing a beat, she raised her hand and tapped the room tag to the door access control.

  As Daisy fished out what looked like a room tag from her bag, Jessica pushed the door open and said, “Some girls simply have no shame. They make chocolates for every boy in sight. Isn’t it so disgusting that they can’t stop leading boys on for attention, Blythe?”

  Blythe scowled, following her in.

  “Can you not? She’s just minding her own business. She isn’t leading anyone on.” Before the door closed behind her, she looked over her shoulder at Daisy. “Sorry.”

  Daisy, who was opening the door to her own reserved kitchen, looked even more troubled by her direct apology.

  Then the door closed, and Blythe was alone with Jessica.

  “Did you have to do that? You don’t even know why she booked that kitchen. For all you know, she could be making anything but chocolates in there.”

  Jessica gave her a funny look. “Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. She’s almost certainly using it to make chocolates.”

  She had a point. Even in the game, the player was prompted to make chocolates for Valentine’s Day the day before.

  “Okay, fine, but that doesn’t give you a reason to insult her unprovoked. All she did was stand there!”

  “Unprovoked? But she was about to make chocolates for His Highness, and probably Clyde too. And I didn’t insult her.” A saccharine smile appeared on Jessica’s face. “I said ‘some girls’, so it’s not my fault if the shoe fits.”

  Sighing, Blythe helped to take the ingredients out of the basket onto the kitchen countertop. She hadn’t known Daisy was acquainted with Clyde. No wonder Jessica was so salty about her.

  “Would it kill you to ignore her? She’s not even going out of her way to talk to the boys. And those are just obligation chocolates.”

  Jessica pouted. “I’ll ignore her as long as she stops trying to steal attention everywhere.”

  “But you always think she’s seeking attention.“

  “She should stop that if she doesn’t want to people to notice, then. I can’t believe so many boys in Novalbus have been taking in by her innocent act. They’re always fawning over her. She’s not even that pretty.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “I get it; you don’t think she’s pretty. It doesn’t change the fact that she was minding her own business. Be nice.”

  Jessica looked betrayed. “Have you been swayed by her? You would never have said such a thing in the past.”

  “I told you I don’t want to be mean to her anymore! I meant it!”

  For some reason, Jessica giggled instead. “Are you doing that act again? Blythe! How many times do we have to tell you that you don’t have to pretend to be fine with Willoughby in front of us? I understand that you’re practicing, but you don’t have to do it all the time.“

  “This isn’t practice!”

  It was no use. Jessica seemed absolutely certain that Blythe was doing this for her image or whatever. Giving up, Blythe turned the conversation back to chocolate-making.

  Since the cookies Blythe had expressed interest in would require some time in the cooler, Jessica suggested getting started on the cookies first. They would be able to make the chocolates while waiting for the cookie dough to chill.

  The checkerboard cookie dough was fun to prepare. They split the dough into two when it was ready, and Blythe mixed cocoa powder into one half. After shaping both dough portions into the same rectangular shape, they sliced the respective doughs into even strips and stacked them in alternating colors.

  All throughout, Jessica kept expressing amazement at Blythe’s ability to follow instructions.

  “It’s really not a big deal,” she said, embarrassed after what felt like the sixth time.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to imply it would be difficult for you!”

  “That’s not what I meant …”

  In the end, Blythe had several extra chocolate truffles and regular chocolates she’d made just for herself. That, along with the paper bag full of checkerboard cookies sitting on the counter, gave her an enormous sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Lifting one of the regular chocolate pieces she’d made using Jessica’s chocolate recipe to the light, she admired how smooth it looked. She’d never thought she would hand make any chocolates, but here she was with the very first batch she’d made from scratch.

  Jessica was busy packing her own chocolates into a fancy-looking box meant for Clyde, humming a tune to herself. Blythe’s chocolates for Magnus were already safely tucked away in the metal tin she’d found in her locker.

  Blythe popped the piece of chocolate into her mouth. They’d already taste-tested it, but it wouldn’t hurt to try another piece. The richness of the cocoa combined with the sugar and milky taste engulfed her tastebuds. She let out a hum of approval. She was probably just biased, but it tasted even better than the obligation chocolates she’d gotten from the chef.

  As she closed the box’s lid, Jessica chuckled. “Do you like it that much?”

  Blythe made an effort to swallow the mouthful of chocolate before answering. “It tastes even better knowing that I made it. I can’t wait to try making that caramel pudding you mentioned!”

  As they chatted while making the chocolates and cookies, Jessica had offered to teach her how to make some more desserts she could leave in her room as readily accessible snacks. According to Jessica, it wasn’t uncommon for students to bring a cooler from home for their dorm room, especially if they had the smaller, more portable ones. Her parents likely hadn’t suggested it since the original Blythe seemed heavily against snacking.

  Green light.

  “We’ll reserve another kitchen slot for next week later,” Jessica promised. “I’ll also show you how I make my sugar cookies with icing.”

  “I’m going to make cute sugar cookies.”

  “I never knew you had such a flair for baking. Why don’t you consider taking Patisserie Arts as an elective?”

  She’d merely wanted to learn these recipes from Jessica as a fun way to get more snacks—the sense of achievement was a bonus.

  “I’ll think about it. I’m not sure I want to commit to taking another class.”

  “That’s fair.”

  After putting their baked goods away in their respective dorm rooms, they met Sophie in the dining hall for dinner.

  ???

  Monday arrived, and along with it came a tense atmosphere looming over the school.

  Whether they were walking in the hallways or in a classroom, girls peered around incessantly. Jessica was one of them, constantly losing track of the conversation at the dining hall table with Blythe and Sophie.

  “Oh, sorry,” Jessica said for the umpteenth time that morning. “What were you saying about the ducks at the pond?”

  She tore her gaze away from something distant she’d been fixing it on to smile at Blythe. Sophie shot Blythe a sidelong glance, raising an eyebrow.

  Blythe squinted at Jessica. “I already finished talking about it. Soph was telling us about her weekend.”

  Flushing, Jessica said, “Sorry, Sophie. I was a little distracted.”

  “You’ve been distracted since we met up outside the dorm,” Sophie said. “Looking for Clyde? Don’t you have a class with him later? I’m sure you can find him during lunch too.”

  “I saw Leah,” Jessica said, referring to Clyde’s old crush. “Just keeping an eye on her movements. If she goes anywhere near Clyde …”

  “Oh?” Sophie’s raised eyebrow stayed up as she had another bite of her raisin muffin. “I thought she was going to find herself locked in a janitor’s closet sometime during the day.”

  Blythe’s eyelid twitched.

  “No, Blythe made me realize I needed to give Clyde the chance to choose me without taking her out of the picture myself.” Jessica ate some of her scrambled eggs.

  Sophie’s eyes lit up as she turned to face Blythe. “That’s such a wonderful idea! How romantic!”

  Jessica beamed at her before her eyes began roaming again. “I’ll continue keeping an eye on her, though. Just in case.”

  Blythe stopped looking at her food long enough to notice a few girls in the dining hall approach guys and engage them in conversation. They would then leave the dining hall together. This wasn’t a common sight on a regular day. Clearly, it was a Valentine’s Day thing.

  When they left the dormitory building after breakfast, there were people scattered in pairs consisting of boys and girls all over the courtyard.

  “Aren’t they rushing it?” Jessica asked, brushing her hair over her shoulder. “They’d have more time to talk after school.”

  “It’s possible their love rivals are day students,” Sophie said, leaving the implication that they were taking advantage of the time alone they had now with their crush unsaid.

  After they popped by their lockers in the classroom building, they went their separate ways to their respective classrooms.

  Blythe’s first class was History IV, which made it extremely awkward when Magnus entered the classroom. Unlike the workbenches in the greenhouse that were intended for two people to sit at, the desks in this classroom were for one. Even if she sat next to someone or next to the wall, there would still be three other seats adjacent to her for him to sit at.

  She kind of wished she dawdled at the dining hall until the very last minute.

  Magnus locked eyes with her.

  Within seconds, he was seated next to her. After their mini-confrontation last Friday because she’d sat beside Giovanni in Botany, Magnus had to know that she didn’t want to sit beside him anymore. It probably pleased him to irk her.

  “Good morning, Blythe,” he said.

  After she greeted him back, silence descended upon them.

  Despite sensing his hard stare from the side, Blythe studiously avoided eye contact with him.

  Red light filled her vision for a split second.

  That was it. She couldn’t take it anymore.

  “What?” she demanded, whipping her head around to glower at him. “What did I do now? I was just sitting here minding my own business!”

  (fingers twitching) Maybe I really should take my love rival out of the picture.