The hallway after first period was a swarm of bodies, noise, and bad cologne.
Backpacks slammed against shoulders. Friends shouted half-jokes over pop music blaring from someone's phone. A half-eaten muffin lay tragically smashed by the lockers.
Elias navigated it all without touching anyone.
He walked as if the crowd bent around him on instinct.
It didn't take long for the click of flats — fast, determined — to catch up with him.
Alex Dunphy slid in beside him like a prosecutor heading to the stand.
"You're not going to say anything?"
Elias didn't break stride. "About what?"
"You know exactly what."
"I know a lot of things. You'll have to narrow it down."
She darted in front of him, forcing him to stop.
Students passed around them, barely slowing. Elias looked at her like one might study a chessboard right before taking the queen.
Alex folded her arms.
"That quiz was designed to humiliate us. It was packed with false quotes and misleading dates."
"And?"
"And you're new."
He shrugged. "So is the textbook."
"That's not an answer."
"That's because your question wasn't really a question. It was an accusation dressed in insecurity."
Alex blinked. "Excuse me?"
Elias leaned slightly closer, lowering his voice so only she could hear.
"You thought you knew every trap on that quiz. That no one else could possibly outmaneuver you. And then some stranger walks in, erases the curve, and suddenly you're the second-smartest person in the room. For the first time."
Her jaw clenched.
"And that terrifies you," he finished, stepping past her.
Alex caught up a second later, eyes narrowed. "I'm not afraid of you."
Elias smirked. "You should be."
She stopped walking.
"So you admit it."
He paused mid-step. Turned.
"Admit what?"
"You're deliberately trying to provoke me."
He blinked once. Then gave her a look that could only be described as... impressed.
"Now that was an actual question. See? We're making progress."
Alex made a strangled sound of frustration — not quite a groan, not quite a growl — and spun on her heel, heading in the opposite direction.
Elias watched her go.
His smile faded.
Smart. Competitive. Overthinking. Dangerous.
And for the first time since he'd been reborn, he felt something spark.
Not attraction. Not yet.
Just recognition.