Chapter 1: Confetti and Betrayal

Confetti rained down as Caleb hoisted the championship trophy—then, out of nowhere, a girl crashed onto the stage and threw her arms around him.

It was the kind of scene that steals the air from your lungs: confetti still drifting, the crowd’s roar swelling, camera flashes popping everywhere. The girl’s arms fit around Caleb like she belonged there, and I stood just offstage, stadium lights searing my skin, my fingers digging into the program booklet.

Backstage, my phone lit up, stinging with each notification buzz. Social media comments scrolled endlessly, their glow sharp in the dim corridor:

*[The main girl finally appears! She’s about to join Silver Arrow as their new sharpshooter and win the championship with the star player all over again!]*

*[Ahhh, this is everything I wanted—a genius girl from nowhere, the league’s top player, and now the ultimate power couple!]*

*[When is Caleb going to dump the side chick? Didn’t he switch teams and break up with her during the off-season?]*

*[Seriously, she just has a bit of money—why does she get to compete with the main girl for Caleb?]*

My heart slammed against my ribs. I blinked, half-hoping I’d imagined it, but the cameras kept rolling. It felt like getting blindsided by gossip in the girls’ locker room after gym, only instead of whispers behind my back, it was a thousand voices shouting in my face.

After a moment of stunned silence, I pressed my thumb into the bridge of my nose, fighting the urge to scream, then called my assistant.

"Take Caleb off the starting roster. Is there a promising jungler on the second squad? I’ll go check them out."

"Yes, yes, there definitely is."

My voice sounded steady, but my hand shook as I hung up. The stadium still thundered with cheers—my name nowhere in them.