The envelope appeared under Caden Wu's door at 6:45 AM on the first day of senior year.
He'd been awake since 6, scrolling through his phone, watching summer vacation photos from people whose lives looked more interesting than his own.
Across the small dorm room, Riley Park lay with his face down on his pillow.
Caden sat up, and looked at the white envelope. There was no name, just his room number written in handwriting he'd recognize anywhere-
Eloise Bennett.
Caden picked up the envelope. Riley groaned from his bed.
"Dude, it's not even 7. Why are you awake?"
"Habit." Caden said, tearing open the envelope.
There was a single card inside it.
Final dare of our college. My turn. Accept, or finally admit defeat.
"From her?" Riley sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"How'd you know?"
"Because you're holding that card like it might explode." Riley swung his legs out of bed, grabbing his glasses from the nightstand. "What's the dare?"
"Doesn't say." Caden flipped the card over, but it was blank. "Just telling me to accept or finally admit defeat."
Riley snorted.
"Like that'll ever happen. You two are the most competitive people I've ever met, and I'm an engineering major. I know competitive."
Caden couldn't argue with that. The Dare Game had become legendary on campus over the past four years.
The freshman year had started with simple dares like skip Professor Ming's lecture, steal a rival's library book, crash a faculty dinner.
By sophomore year, they'd escalated to stealing the rival school's mascot costume during homecoming, sabotaging each other's presentations by accidentally corrupting files.
"You going to that senior welcome thing?" Riley asked, pulling on a shirt.
Caden glanced at the clock. It was 7 now.
"Yeah. Need to figure out what this dare actually is."
"I think it's going to be insane."
"When has she ever played it safe?"
Riley laughed, heading for the bathroom.
"True. Remember when she dared you to replace the dean's office door sign with the one that said 'Lord of Chaos'?"
"We almost got expelled."
"But you still didn't back down."
"I'll never do." Caden muttered, staring at the card again.
That was the problem. Neither of them had ever backed down. It was both exhilarating and exhausting.
Caden showered, dressed, and tried to focus on normal first day tasks like reviewing his schedule, organizing his desk but his mind was on the envelope.
Riley left for an early lab meeting, leaving Caden alone with his thoughts and the card, which he'd tucked into his jacket pocket.
By the time Caden reached the student union, the building was already packed with the students. The main hall buzzed with conversations, laughter, and the music from speakers.
Caden scanned the crowd, his eyes moved automatically towards the window. Eloise always stood near natural light, claiming it helped her think.
And there she was.
Eloise Bennett stood with her friends near the windows, holding her iced coffee despite the early autumn chill outside. Her hair was longer now, falling past her shoulders in waves. Her grandfather's watch was too big for her wrist, was slightly loose but she still wore it.
As if sensing his gaze, Eloise looked up. Their eyes met across the crowded room. She smiled, then excused herself from her friends and started walking towards him. Caden held the card in his pocket.
Game on.
"Wu." She stopped in front of him. "You got my note."
"Hard to miss." He pulled the card out, holding it between them. "You made someone slid it under my door at dawn like some kind of vampire."
"Vampires are nocturnal. Dawn would kill me." She smiled. "You should know that; you're the creative writing major."
"And you're stalling. What's the dare, Bennett?"
She reached into her bag and pulled out a second envelope.
"Open it." She said.
Caden broke the seal. Again, a single card was there. On it, written in her handwriting was:
Date me for one month. Make everyone believe we're in love.
The words didn't make sense. Caden read them twice, thrice, his brain refusing to process what he was reading. He looked up at Eloise.
"This is a joke, right?"
"No joke." Her expression was serious, but her fingers tightened around her coffee cup. "Accept, or admit you're backing down from a dare for the first time in four years."
"Why would you…" He stopped. "Marcus?"
Eloise's jaw tightened.
"He transferred back. Got here yesterday with his new girlfriend."
Marcus Chen. The golden boy who'd destroyed Eloise sophomore year. Caden remembered that breakup because for two weeks after that their rivalry had paused.
She'd stopped issuing dares, stopped showing up to their usual competition spots. He'd seen her once, leaving the library late at night, eyes red and puffy.
That was the only time in four years he'd seen Eloise Bennett cry.
"So, I'm your revenge prop?" Caden asked. "This whole dare is just you using me to make your ex jealous?"
"You're my dare partner like always." She crossed her arms. "Unless you're scared."
She knew exactly which buttons to push, how to make his competitive pride override his common sense.
"I'm not scared of pretending to date you."
"Good. Because I already…"
"Already what?"
Eloise took a breath.
"Because I already told everyone we've been secretly dating for three months."
"You what…?"
"Check your phone."
He immediately pulled out his phone from his pocket. His phone screen was flooded with notifications from his social media accounts and text messages from unknown numbers.
OMG CADEN AND ELOISE??"
I KNEW IT! The sexual tension was INSANE!
This explains everything about their rivalry.
His ex girlfriend Jenna had texted him.
Seriously? Her? You told me you couldn't stand her.
"Eloise. WHAT DID YOU DO?"
She pulled out her own phone, showing him the screen, and showed him her social media stories, and edited photos of them.
Study rival sessions were edited to coffee dates where his arm around her shoulders while reaching for a book was now edited to look like an embrace.
The captions made him sick.
Finally ready to go public ❤️
He's been mine since freshman year.💕
My favorite rival turned something more.💖
"You posted fake evidence." Caden was shocked. "You created an entire false narrative. You told the entire campus we're dating without my permission, without even asking me…"
"I gave you an out." Eloise interrupted. "Accept the dare. For one month, we play couple, I get Marcus off my back, you get to prove you're still the king of never backing down from a challenge. Win win."
"And if I say no? If I tell everyone this is a lie and that you're manipulating me?"
Her expression hardened.
"Then you're the guy who's ashamed of his relationship. The guy who led me on for three months, made me think we had something real, and is now publicly denying it to save face. Your reputation takes the hit, not mine".
Checkmate.
She'd planned this perfectly. She'd trapped him with social pressure and his own competitive pride. If he denied the relationship now, he looked like a heartless ex. If he accepted, he became her puppet in a revenge plot against her ex-boyfriend.
Around them, students were starting to notice. Their phones were pointed in their direction. Someone screamed loudly.
"Is that them? They're so cute together!
Caden's jaw clenched.
"Fine." Caden said. "But we do this my way. There will be a contract, rules, and terms and conditions."
"Fine."
Good." Caden tucked his phone back into his pocket. "Then how should we make this…"
He didn't get to finish. Eloise grabbed his collar and pulled him down, and crashed her lips against his in a kiss.
The student union erupted.
Cheers, gasps and applause could be heard from everywhere. Phone cameras were flashing like paparazzi.
Caden froze for a second, then his hands held her waist, pulling her closer, and he kissed her back.
When they broke apart, Eloise's eyes were wide, her lips were parted, her chest was rising and falling rapidly.
"Game on, Wu." She whispered.