DO OVER 100

CHAPTER 6

DANIEL'S POV

After the party I headed straight to my room slamming the door behind me, the faint echoes of the party still lingering in the back of my mind . The night had come to an end , but the tension that had gripped me all evening hadn't loosened it's hold. I tossed my jacket onto the chair by the window , running a hand through my hair as I tried to make sense of everything.

Why did I do it? 

I knew it wasn't my business. Stepping in like that , grabbing Chen's stupid hand-it was impulsive , reckless , and completely unlike me. Normally, I stayed out of other people's messes, especially when it came to something as trivial as relationship drama. But the moment I heard the way Chen spoke to her, the way he touched her, the moment I saw his slimy hand on her arm, something inside me snapped. 

I clenched my fist at the memory. Chen's mocking voice, the way he had insulted Mackenzie, belittled her. I wasn't sure what made my blood boil more-Chen's disrespect or the idea that Mackenzie had been putting up with it for so long. And then when Chen had grabbed her-like he had any right to her, like she was his play thing. I couldn't stand it , the fact that he could even breathe the same air as her made me want to carve his face into the ground-it had taken everything in me not to lose it completely, coz I knew if I was given the chance to I'd torture him ways even I considered inhuman. And it took a lot for me to consider my punishments "inhuman"

But why though? Why do I care? I thought, pacing the room in frustration.

It didn't make any sense. Mackenzie wasn't my responsibility. Hell we barely even know each other. She was just some girl who had caught my attention a little bit, but that was it , right? She was nothing more than a passing distraction. 

But then why did my chest tighten every time I thought about her? Why did the memory of her standing there, staring at me after Chen stormed off, make my pulse race? The way she'd looked at me , like she was trying to figure me out-it had unsettled me. I sat down heavily on the edge of my bed, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees . My mind raced, trying to untangle the emotions that had been swirling inside me ever since that moment on the dance floor. The way her dress hugged her body, the way her eyes flickered with both strength and vulnerability , the way she had stood up to that bastard with such raw fire-it all left me feeling.....drawn to her.

Tempted 

She wasn't like the other girls. She didn't care about my money or fame, and that made her dangerous in ways I hadn't expected . She wasn't trying to get anything from me , heck she didn't even like me the first time we met and that meant  I couldn't predict her. She didn't fit into any of the boxes I'd carefully constructed to keep people at arms length .

And that terrified me.

What am I doing? I thought. She deserves better. She'd just gotten out of a toxic relationship and the last thing she needed was someone like me, with all my.....history. I wasn't the kind of guy a girl like her should be with. Not with everything I was hiding. Because I knew the truth. The mask I wore-the cold, untouchable exterior-wasn't just for show. It was a shield, a way to protect myself from the truth of who I really was. I wasn't a white knight, I wasn't the guy who swooped in and saved the day. I was the guy who destroyed all beautiful things , the guy who stayed in the shadows, keeping his distance because getting too close meant revealing too much.

And if Mackenzie ever found out who I really was-if she saw past the façade I spent years perfecting-she'd run. She'd have to.

Because who would want to be with me once they knew? 

I shook my head, rubbing my hands over my face in frustration. The truth was, it didn't matter. I couldn't get involved , not with her. It would only end badly, for both of us. She needed someone who could give her true happiness, someone who wasn't broken and hollow inside.And I wasn't going to let her get hurt again, not because of me. But then why couldn't I stop thinking about her? Why, even now, could I still hear the sound of her voice, feel the warm of her skin when our hands had briefly touched?

Why was I drawn to her, despite knowing it was wrong?

I lay back on the bed , staring up at the ceiling, feeling the weight of my own thoughts pressing down on me. I could try to ignore it, pretend it didn't matter, but deep down I knew the truth: Mackenzie SaintClaire had gotten under my skin. And no matter how much I tried to push her out of my mind , she wasn't going anywhere. 

But I also knew one other thing for certain-whatever this was, whatever I was feeling , I couldn't let it get any further. For her sake, and for my own .

MACKENZIE'S POV

The next day , everything felt surreal , like I was moving through a dream. I couldn't shake the events of the night before from my mind-Chen, Daniel, the way things has shifted so suddenly. It was as if the entire campus had taken notice too. I had become the talk of the school. Rumours spread around ,some good while others .....not so good , with some saying I was brave while others saying how I used Chen to get to Daniel and jump ship. Whispers ,however, followed me down like hell with students eyeing me with a mixture of curiosity and admiration. 

As Crystal and I made our way to class, I felt the weight of everyone's eyes on me. It was unnerving. I wasn't used to being the centre of attention like this. "I still can't believe it," Crystal said, breaking the silence between us. "Daniel Bright swoops in to save the day? That's the last thing I ever expected to happen. I mean, come on,  you literally had a fight with him a while ago and he usually acts like he couldn't care less about anyone."

I went silent, lost in my thoughts. I had been asking myself the same question since last night. Why had he helped me? What had possessed him to step in like that? And more importantly, what did it mean for whatever relationship we had now ? If you could call it a relationship . We weren't even friends-not really. Before this, we'd barely even spoken. Apart from the hall way argument of course.

So why couldn't I stop thinking about him?

"I don't know," I murmured, my brow furrowed. "I'm trying to figure it out too. Maybe it was just....I don't know. Maybe he was bored, and I was a convenient distraction." Crystal looked at me  sideways."Bored? I don't think that was bored, MC. He was really pissed off at Chen, like really pissed."

I wanted to believe that , but part of her couldn't shake  the doubt. I didn't  want to get caught up in the idea that Daniel might actually care, only to find out that he was just playing some game. Still, the way he'd looked at me-protective, almost-made it hard to dismiss. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't see him coming. I rounded the corner on autopilot, colliding directly with a solid figure. I stumbled back, quickly realizing who I had run into.

Daniel!

He caught me by the arm, steadying me, his expression unreadable as ever. "Watch where you're going," he said, his tone cool but not harsh. My heart skipped a beat, and for a split second, I wondered if he was going to bring up what had happened last night. But instead, he simply released my arm and stepped back, his expression indifferent.-

Just like that, the strange connection she'd felt last night disappeared, leaving me standing there feeling stupid. Of course, he wasn't going to talk about it. To him, it was probably just another moment in a sea of moments he didn't care about. "Right, sorry," I muttered, brushing myself off, feeling a flash of irritation rising in my chest. Here I was, overthinking everything , and he was acting like nothing had changed. Like last night was no big deal.

He glanced at me, his gaze momentarily flickering with something I couldn't quite place. "See you around," he said, his voice flat, before turning and walking away. I watched him go , my frustration mounting. Was that it? One moment he's stepping in, saving me from Chen like some hero, and the next, he's back to his cold, distant self. It was infuriating. Did last night really mean nothing to him? Was I just another indulgence?

Crystal caught up to me , her eyes wide."Wow . He's back to his usual self, huh?" "Yeah," I muttered, my voice edged with annoyance."Figures." 

I couldn't help but feel like I was missing something. Maybe I misread the whole situation . Maybe Daniel had stepped in because it was the right thing to do and nothing more. But a part of me-deep down-couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it than that. That Daniel's cold exterior was hiding something else entirely.

But for now, he was back to being the same frustrating, unreadable Daniel. And I had no idea what to make of it. I've got a strong feeling we'll be seeing each other way more often  now....