Love Algorithm

Static Between Us

The alarms didn't stop.
Even after the screens went black, the echo of chaos clung to the air like smoke. Nova stumbled backward, her ears ringing, her heartbeat tripping over itself.

"Aiden," she gasped, "we have to move."

He didn't answer. He was staring at the shattered glass, light from the hallway flickering across his face.

"What did you do?" Jamie's voice was sharp, accusing — but beneath it was something worse. Fear.

Aiden turned toward him slowly. "It wasn't me this time."

"This time?" Jamie snapped. "You make that sound like you've done it before!"

Nova stepped between them. "Stop. Both of you." Her voice cracked, but the look in her eyes was enough to silence them. "Fighting isn't going to fix this."

The sound of distant footsteps echoed through the hall again. Not just one set — many.

Aiden's jaw tightened. "Security's coming."

"Good," Jamie said. "Maybe they'll finally see what you've done."

Aiden shot him a look that could've cut glass. "You think I'm the villain? You have no idea what you've dragged us into."

But Nova didn't wait to argue. She grabbed Aiden's wrist. "We're not getting arrested for this. Move!"

They ran out the back door just as flashlights flooded the hallway.

Outside, the air hit cold and sharp. The school's floodlights buzzed overhead, painting everything in sterile white.

"Where do we go?" Nova asked.

Aiden's voice was steady now — too steady. "I know someone."

Jamie's laugh was bitter. "Of course you do."

"Not like that," Aiden said. "She's... off-grid. She can help us find out who's behind the network."

"She?" Nova asked.

Aiden hesitated, then nodded. "Her name's Iris."

Nova didn't know why, but that name sent a chill through her.

They met Iris in the back of an abandoned coffee shop downtown, the kind with boarded-up windows and graffiti that looked more like warnings than art.

She couldn't have been older than twenty-one, but her energy felt older — like she'd seen too much and didn't care anymore. Purple hair, chipped black nail polish, and a laptop covered in stickers that said things like stay encrypted and don't trust the feed.

"So," Iris said, without looking up from her screen, "you brought the viral girl."

Nova blinked. "Excuse me?"

Iris finally looked at her, eyes sharp and unreadable. "You're trending again. Hashtag #RooftopKiss is back. Someone resurfaced the video."

Nova's stomach dropped. "But that was months ago—"

"Yeah," Iris said. "And the Algorithm doesn't forget."

Jamie glared at Aiden. "You said you could stop it."

"I said I could trace it," Aiden corrected. "There's a difference."

Iris smirked. "He's right. You can't delete what's already viral. You can only redirect it."

Nova crossed her arms. "Why are you helping us?"

"Because," Iris said, leaning back, "I was part of it once."

The room went silent.

"Part of what?" Nova asked carefully.

"The Algorithm." Iris's voice softened, almost like she regretted saying it. "It started as an experiment. A behavioral model meant to predict human attraction and loyalty based on social data. But someone turned it into something darker. Something that feeds on public attention."

Nova frowned. "Feeds?"

"Yeah. The more people talk, post, argue — the stronger it gets. The network learns. Adapts."

Jamie looked between them. "So what, it's an AI?"

"Not exactly," Iris said. "It's collective. Human-powered. Think of it like... a hive mind addicted to drama."

Nova's heart was pounding again. "And it's targeting me."

"It's not targeting you," Iris said softly. "It's using you."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Aiden paced. "There has to be a way to break it."

"Not without consequences," Iris warned. "The Algorithm doesn't erase — it retaliates."

"Let it come," Aiden muttered.

Nova stared at him. "You don't mean that."

He looked at her, eyes dark and tired. "Maybe I do."

Something in his tone scared her more than the threats. He wasn't being reckless — he was being resigned.

"Hey," she said quietly. "You're not alone in this."

He gave her a small, unreadable smile. "You keep saying that."

Jamie cleared his throat, voice low. "So what now? What's the plan?"

Iris tapped her keyboard. "We find the original node. Every network has a starting point. You cut that, you slow the signal."

"And if we don't?" Nova asked.

Iris didn't answer. She just turned her laptop around. On the screen was a live map — thousands of red dots like bleeding pixels.

At the center, one pulsed brighter than the rest.

"Is that... the source?" Nova whispered.

Iris nodded. "Atlanta. The same city you go to school in. Which means..."

"Someone close," Aiden said. "Someone we know."

The air thickened.

Jamie stepped closer to the screen. "Who?"

Iris typed a few commands, code racing like lightning. Then one name appeared at the top of the feed.

Nova's eyes widened.

It wasn't Aiden. It wasn't Jamie.

It was her own name.

NOVA CARTER — PRIMARY USER LINK.

She stumbled back. "That's not possible."

Iris looked at her, sympathy flickering for the first time. "You're not the target, Nova. You're the key."

And then her phone buzzed again.

One new message.
No sender ID.

RESET CONFIRMED. PHASE TWO BEGINS.

The screen flashed once, then went black — and the neon lights outside the coffee shop flickered like the city itself was glitching.