I woke up the next morning to 43 missed notifications, 12 texts from Paige, 7 from Cailee, 4 from Harper, and exactly 1 from Cash that said:
"UMMMMM CYPRIANA."
That was never a good sign.
I unlocked my phone.
And froze.
The TikTok "Gauntlet of Doom" video — the one with the prank war, the dance challenge, the pancake fire, and, of course, Cash literally falling on me during the blindfold challenge — was at:
2.7 MILLION views.
Cash had captioned it:"Introducing our new neighbor 😤😤 she survived."
The top comment:"CYPRIANA IS SO PRETTY WTF???"131k likes.
The second top comment:"Cypriana x Cash?? HELLO?? WHAT IS THIS CHEMISTRY???"
The third:"No because Maverick was looking at her like 👀👀👀"
The fourth:"SHIPS ARE FORMING EVERYONE TAKE YOUR SEATS."
I dropped my phone on my pillowand screamed into it.
A violent knock shook my door.
"CYPRIANA VALE, OPEN UP RIGHT NOW," Harper yelled like the FBI.
I opened it.
Paige, Cailee, and Harper barged in like they owned the place.
Cailee threw her phone at me. "GIRL. YOU ARE VIRAL."
Harper adjusted her glasses. "I have charts."
Charts.She had actual charts.
Paige shoved her phone two inches from my face. "Look at Twitter."
I looked.
CYPRIANA TAKEOVER
was trending.
"WHY AM I TRENDING?!" I yelled.
Harper shrugged. "People like chaos. And the fact that two famous boys are already obsessed with you."
"I— THEY ARE NOT—"
"Sweetie," Paige said, patting my shoulder, "Cash almost died via confetti to save you yesterday."
"And Maverick aimed a water balloon at you with PINPOINT PRECISION," Cailee added.
Harper flipped her notebook open."I charted their behaviors."
Chaotic graphs.Lines.Arrows.The words 'love triangle incoming?' underlined three times.
"I hate this building," I said.
"No you don't," Paige replied."No you don't," Cailee echoed."You absolutely don't," Harper confirmed.
Then Cash burst into my apartment.
No knocking.Just a blond blur and chaotic energy.
"CYPRIANA I HAVE NEWS—"
He saw the girl squad.He froze like a deer in headlights.
"Uh oh," he whispered. "They're doing the thing."
"What thing?" I asked.
"The thing where they analyze everything I do and make me feel embarrassed."
Paige lifted her notebook. "We have data."
Cash slammed the door shut. "We ignore data."
Harper scribbled aggressively. "Suspicious."
Cash turned to me, bouncing like a golden retriever on caffeine.
"Cypriana. You're viral."
"I KNOW THAT."
"No, I mean VIRAL viral. Like… people are making edits of you already."
I blinked. "Edits? Of ME?"
He shoved his phone at me.Someone had made a slow-motion montage of me laughing and dodging water balloons, set to emotional music.
Cailee screamed. "YOU HAVE A STAN EDIT ALREADY WE ARE LIVING."
Paige wiped fake tears. "Our baby is famous."
Maverick arrived next.
He knocked once, then walked in without waiting.
His hair was damp, like he'd run here.
He held his phone up.
"Cypriana."
His tone was calm.Too calm.Dangerously calm.
"You're trending," he said softly.
"I… noticed," I said.
He handed me his phone.
And there it was:
A fan ship page.
"#MavRiana (Maverick + Cypriana)""#CashRiana (Cash + Cypriana)"
Two fandoms.Battling in the comments.
"MavRiana supremacy!!""CashRiana is canon, look at the BLINDFOLD CHALLENGE.""Maverick's jealous stare was no accident.""CASH IS SMITTEN SHUT UPPPP.""Maverick looked like he wanted to murder Cash in that scene???"
My stomach did a weird little flip.
"Oh god," I whispered.
Cash and Maverick both stared at me.
Then stared at each other.
Then stared at the phones.
Paige leaned over and whispered, loudly,"AND SO THE LOVE TRIANGLE BEGINS."
I wanted to throw myself off the balcony.
MYCHAEL ENTERS (THE VOICE OF SANITY… SORTA)
Mychael walked in with his camera bag.
"Sup," he said casually. "You broke the internet. Congrats."
I groaned. "Why is everyone saying that?!"
He shrugged. "Because you did."
Then he gave me the most normal smile anyone had given me today.
"You did good yesterday," he said."You're natural on camera."
My brain melted. Just melted.
Harper whispered, "OH MY GOD FOUR-POINT STAR POLY SHAPE INCOMING—"
"STOP," I begged.
THE BUILDING MEETING: CHAOS EDITION
Cash clapped his hands.
"Okay. Group meeting. Everyone shut up."
"No," Harper said."No," Cailee said."No," Paige said."No," Maverick muttered."Fair," Mychael added.
Cash continued anyway, "Cypriana is now officially part of the squad."
I blinked. "I— what—"
"Which means," Cash said proudly, "she's joining us for the 100K challenge today."
"What's the 100K challenge?" I asked nervously.
Maverick sighed."Cash made it up," he said. "It's stupid."
"It's not stupid," Cash argued confidently."It's art."
"What is it?" I repeated.
Cash grinned.
"Oh, it's easy.We just have to film ten videos, go live twice, bake something without burning it, do a Q&A, avoid dying, and hit 100,000 likes before sundown."
I stared.
"That's not easy.THAT'S LIKE A FULL-TIME JOB."
Cash beamed."Exactly!"
Harper wrote, "She's doomed."
Paige placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Welcome to influencer hell."
Cailee held up a GoPro like a weapon. "LET'S BEGIN."
CYPRIANA VALE: DAY TWO OF LA
Trending.Stalked by ship accounts.Attached to two boys who were already acting weird.Adopted by three unhinged girlbosses.Documented by a camera-addicted gremlin.Forced into more content.
And apparently…
About to become even more viral.
I took a deep breath.
Looked at Cash.Looked at Maverick.Looked at the squad.
And said,
"Fine. Let's do it."
Everyone cheered.
Maverick tried not to smile.Failed.Cash absolutely smiled.Did NOT fail.
And just like that—
The chaos continued.