If Lilly had known the universe hated her this much, she would've just stayed in bed.
Biology was already her least favorite class. Something about the fluorescent lighting and the scent of formaldehyde always made her want to commit minor crimes. But today?
Today was different.
Today was group project day.
And when Ms. Castillo started calling out partner assignments, Lilly knew — in her bones, in her soul, in every cursed fiber of her being — that she was going to get the worst possible outcome.
She just didn't realize how bad.
"Vale," the teacher called. "You'll be with Drake."
Lilly's stomach dropped.
A few students looked up with a mixture of pity and barely-contained laughter. Drake — who had been slouched at the back of the room, expression unreadable — looked vaguely amused.
Lilly, however, did not.
"Son of a bitch," she muttered.
Not quietly.
Drake's eyebrows lifted, and he smirked like the smug alien bastard he was.
Ms. Castillo shot her a warning look. "Something to share, Miss Vale?"
"No," Lilly said tightly. "Just thrilled."
⸻
Ten minutes later, they were at the back lab table with a tray of preserved frog specimens, latex gloves, and a growing list of unsaid threats between them.
"Cut into the dorsal side," the teacher instructed.
Drake grabbed the scalpel and sliced into the frog like it owed him money.
Lilly scowled. "You're supposed to be gentle. You're not carving a steak."
He didn't look at her. "Maybe I'm pretending it's an annoying little human with a big mouth."
"Yeah? Try slitting its throat so it doesn't have to endure your company."
He glanced at her, slow and sideways. "You talk a lot of trash for someone who's done nothing so far."
Lilly held up her pencil, twirling it slowly between her fingers. Her voice was deceptively calm. "If you don't shut up in the next five seconds, I will stab you in the dick with this pencil."
Drake turned fully toward her now, eyebrow arched like really?
"I'm not bluffing," she added.
"I didn't say you were." He looked... entertained? Which only made her angrier. "You're a violent little thing, huh?"
She gave him a sweet smile that didn't reach her eyes. "And you're a condescending sack of steroids. We all have our flaws."
Drake leaned back, resting one arm on the chair behind him — loose, casual, infuriatingly smug. "It's cute that you think you scare me."
Lilly stabbed the pencil into the table between them with a crack.
He blinked. Then laughed. Actually laughed.
Which was somehow worse than him smirking.
"I take it back," he said. "You don't scare me. But you do amuse me."
"God, I hate you."
"That makes two of us."
They glared at each other for another solid ten seconds before Ms. Castillo walked by, glanced at their table, and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Oh, great. They are going to kill each other in my class."
