The tournament was just three days away. The college halls, once a place of boredom and routine for Harry, now buzzed with an electric energy. Posters were pinned on noticeboards with the tagline: -"National Inter College Fight Tournament! Who Will Be the King?" The rumor mill churned fast Harry's viral fight video had turned him from a forgotten outcast into the face everyone recognized.
Even though he was back, something inside him had changed. He no longer tried to fit in. He didn't smile at old friends or pretend to care about empty conversations. He was here for two reasons: to fight, and to make sure no one ever used him again.
It was lunchtime. The college cafeteria was full cliques huddled around tables, talking, laughing, gossiping. Harry sat alone in the far corner with a simple tray of food. He picked at his sandwich, lost in thought, until he heard the familiar click of heels.
He looked up. Jessica.
She sat across from him without asking, her eyes awkwardly avoiding direct contact. The once-confident, prank-loving social butterfly now looked surprisingly hesitant.
"Harry…" she started, voice soft.
He didn't respond. Just kept chewing, his eyes flicking up to hers, unreadable.
"I just wanted to say... I'm really sorry for that prank," she said. "It was immature, stupid, and honestly, it was for views. I used you and humiliated you, and I regret it."
Silence stretched. She shifted in her seat, waiting for something anger, forgiveness, even mockery. But Harry gave her nothing. His face was unreadable.
Finally, he stood up. He tossed the sandwich in the trash, picked up his tray, and turned to her with cold calm.
"Leave," he said.
Jessica blinked, stunned. "I… I really mean it, Harry."
"I said leave," he repeated, voice low but firm.
She bit her lip, her eyes glimmering as if she wanted to cry, but she stood and walked away.
From across the room, Tyler watched everything. His blood boiled.
Later that afternoon, in the parking lot behind the gym, he grabbed Jessica by the arm.
"What the hell was that?" he hissed. "Why the hell are you apologizing to him?"
Jessica pulled her arm free. "Calm down, Tyler. It's part of the plan."
"Plan? What plan?" he snapped.
"He broke my jaw, humiliated me in front of the entire college, and you're telling me we're playing friends with him now?"
Jessica leaned closer, voice dropping to a scheming whisper.
"Listen, idiot. That fight video? It got millions of views. Right now, he's the most talked-about guy in college. Everyone is watching him. And if I pull off another perfect prank bigger than the last one it'll blow up. Imagine the headlines: 'Viral Fighter Gets Fooled by Fake Love'. We'll get views, popularity, all of it."
Tyler's scowl faded slowly as he realized what she meant. Jessica continued, her smile twisting into something darker.
"Fake friendship. Fake support. Maybe even fake love if I have to. We just need to earn his trust. And then, boom crush him when everyone's watching."
Tyler grinned slowly, the plan satisfying his thirst for revenge. "You're a genius."
She winked. "I know."
The next day at college, Jessica transformed overnight into someone new.
She smiled at Harry in the hallway. Waved when he walked past. She even held the cafeteria door open for him.
Harry noticed. Of course he did. He wasn't stupid.
She was trying something.
But he didn't care.
He ignored her waves. Walked past her compliments. When she sat beside him at lunch, he stood and walked away. When she cheered during his tournament training, he plugged in his earbuds.
It wasn't easy she was persistent, charming, and knew exactly how to act like she cared. But Harry wasn't the same boy anymore. He had been broken before, and he had no intention of letting her do it again.
Still, the days dragged on, and Jessica's persistence began to wear at the walls Harry had built. During one training session, he slipped and twisted his wrist. Jessica rushed forward with an ice pack before the coach even noticed.
"Here," she said, wrapping the cold compress around his wrist. "You'll bruise if you don't treat it right."
He looked at her, unsure. "Why do you care?"
She smiled. "Because I was a jerk. And I want to make things right."
Something in her voice soft, vulnerable made him hesitate. Could people really change?
By the end Harry let her sit with him during lunch. He let her hand him a towel during training. He even laughed once just once at her joke about Coach Thompson's beer belly.
To everyone in the college, it looked like a fairy tale unfolding. The bullied fighter and the popular girl, making peace and becoming friends.
To Jessica and Tyler, it meant the plan was working.
One afternoon, as the sun dipped low and the tournament countdown reached its final 48 hours, Tyler cornered Jessica behind the gym.
"Well?" he asked. "He trust you yet?"
Jessica nodded, her smile confident.
"He forgave me. We're close again. Everyone's watching. All we need now is the perfect setup. One prank. Something public. Something humiliating."
Tyler smirked. "Let's make sure this fighter never makes it to that tournament."
Jessica laughed. "Exactly. Let's destroy the king before he even steps into the ring."
The sky above the campus was unusually clear, the sun glowing brightly like it had something special to witness today.
Lunch hour. The courtyard buzzed with students holding trays, chatting, and scrolling through their phones. The stage near the fountain had been strangely cleaned and decorated with a few flower petals.
Harry noticed it instantly. Too perfect. Too staged. Something wasn't right.
He stood by the cafeteria entrance, his usual tray of sandwich in his hands, when he saw Jessica walking toward him. Her movements were slow, deliberate. She was dressed in white today, an innocent color too innocent for someone like her.
A crowd began forming slowly, as if the universe had whispered that something was about to happen.
Jessica stepped onto the small platform with a mic in her hand.
"Harry..." Her voice trembled. "I know I don't deserve your time. Or even your forgiveness. But I need to say this, not just for you, but for myself. I'm sorry."
The courtyard froze.
Harry looked around. Students held up phones. A few had professional camera setups. Tyler was nowhere in sight, but Harry saw a flash of movement behind the library balcony just enough to recognize a GoPro.
Ah. There it is. The trap.
Jessica continued, "I made a mistake. No… many. I played with your feelings. For views, for clout, for laughs. But somewhere in that cruelty, I saw something real in you. Strength. Courage. Honesty. I fell for it. And now..." She took a deep breath. "I'm in love with you, Harry."
Gasps rippled through the students.
Harry blinked once, twice then smiled.
It wasn't a happy smile. It was the smile of a chess player who saw the final move ten turns ago.
He slowly placed his tray down on a nearby bench and walked up to the stage.
Jessica's eyes glistened with fake emotion. She extended her hand to him.
"I want to start over. With you."
Harry took her hand gently. The crowd sighed. A few girls even clapped.
But then Harry leaned into her ear and whispered something.
Jessica's face twitched. Confused. Scared.
Before she could respond, Harry raised his voice and turned toward the crowd.
"Everyone, I have something to say too."
A hush fell over the courtyard. Even the cameras stopped clicking.
"Jessica here thinks I'm dumb. That I'd fall for the same trick twice. That I wouldn't notice the GoPro hidden behind the hedge or the drone Tyler is flying right now to drop a 'Gotcha' banner on me."
He paused, letting the silence spread like wildfire.
"But this time… I came prepared."
He pulled out his phone and pointed it at the crowd.
"Say hi to my livestream, folks. You're all part of this now."
Jessica's jaw dropped.
"She planned to confess to me. Fake her love. Then make me say yes so Tyler could drop a banner calling me a 'loser' again. All for content. All for likes. All for clout."
Whispers turned to gasps. Phones began switching from Jessica's stream to Harry's. The chat on his phone exploded:
"WTF THIS IS INSANE."
"EXPOSE HER KING!!"
"Best revenge ever!"
Jessica took a step back. "Harry, I—"
"Save it," Harry said calmly. "You see, I may have been weak once. But now? I'm not the same guy.
He turned to the crowd.
"Let this be a reminder: Just because someone is quiet doesn't mean they're blind. Just because someone fell once doesn't mean they'll fall again."
Suddenly, a loud BANG! was heard. From the rooftop, Tyler confused why the crowd was booing instead of cheering accidentally released the prank banner.
It fell, fluttering in the air, its words written in bold red:
"GOT YOU AGAIN, LOSER!"
The banner landed right on Jessica's head.
The crowd erupted into laughter not at Harry, but at the pranksters. Jessica stood frozen, humiliated. Tyler peeked from the rooftop, horrified.
Harry looked down at the banner.
"Well," he said, picking it up and holding it for the livestream, "I guess they did get someone. But not me."
By evening, #PrankstersPranked was trending on social media.
Jessica's follower count took a hit. Her comments were filled with "fake", "cringe", and "karma is real." Tyler deleted his prank page entirely.
Harry? His livestream had crossed 4.2 million views in 6 hours.
Messages poured in from influencers, colleges, even journalists. Everyone wanted to talk to the "boy who turned the prank around."
But Harry didn't care about fame. He cared about something deeper.
He walked through the quiet sports corridor that evening, headphones in, mind focused. The tournament was one day away.
As he walked past the gym, a group of students clapped softly silently acknowledging his courage. A teacher patted his shoulder without saying a word.
He didn't need applause.
He had earned something bigger: Respect.