Golden Melody (Editing)

Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Cosine Crush

Zatariel's Point of View

I came home like a grown man who had just discovered forbidden knowledge.

Not the under-the-table, top-secret, Dom-family kind that gets you flagged in twelve government departments.

No.

Something far more dangerous.

I am in love.

With math.

Now, don't get me wrong—numbers and I have always had a good relationship. They behave. They bend. Calculators practically spark under my fingers.

But today?

Today was different.

Today... math flirted back.

Because Ms. Kylie Sanchez wasn't just a teacher.

She was a parabola in heels. A walking theorem with a voice smoother than a linear equation.

For the first time since I lost a logic duel to my father at age ten—and threw a miniature chalkboard in protest, I felt truly, magnificently defeated.

"You again," I muttered to the ceiling as I dropped my bag by the stairs.

"Miss Sanchez. Round two tomorrow."

I rubbed my face dramatically.

"I might not survive."

But math wasn't the only irrational function ruining my life.

That title belonged exclusively to Miexha Verra.

The girl who could somehow score 1/30 on a math quiz and still make my brain go blank every time she looked at me.

Three meters away at school?

Please.

Your Romeo here has ways.

No ridiculous distance rule was going to stop me from pursuing the girl I was hopelessly in love with.

Absolutely not.

I had already mastered Sign Language: Flirting 101.

I winked.

I sent air hearts.

Once, I even performed an elaborate finger dance across the hallway that spelled:

"YOU LOOK 100/100 TODAY."

She panicked. Every single time.

Which, unfortunately, only made her more adorable.

Especially when she frantically scanned the hallway for Sphere like she was about to be sniped by a dictator.

I swear, if her face got any redder, the fire alarms would activate out of sympathy.

Still worth it.

I pushed open the kitchen door. And immediately froze.

My mother was standing there.

One ankle in a cast. One arm in a sling.

And she was very obviously checking the pockets of my father's coat.

Ah.

Domestic espionage.

She flinched the moment she noticed me and casually tossed the coat aside.

"Zatariel?" she said. "You're home."

"Mom!"

I rushed over immediately and helped her back into a chair, my dramatic teenage thoughts instantly replaced with actual concern.