Chapter 6 – Viral Trouble
It’s amazing how fast panic can spread through your bloodstream.
One second, I was staring at a random girl sending a video.
The next, I was running toward her like a lunatic in hockey gear.
“Hey!” I shouted, heart hammering. “What are you doing?”
The girl looked up—mid-send—and immediately hit her screen with the speed of someone trying to close 17 tabs of something they shouldn’t be watching.
Too late.
I saw it.
“Sent ✅ to: 📌THE ICE RINK CHAT 💀🔥”
She slipped her phone into her pocket, looked me dead in the eye, and said, “Nothing. Just texting my boyfriend.”
I stared at her.
She stared back.
It was the kind of moment that made you want to scream into a locker.
Back in the locker room, I found Lucas pacing behind a row of benches, still dressed like me.
“We have a problem,” I said.
He turned. “Minji?”
“Worse. Some girl recorded me and Minji talking. She sent it to a group chat—your team’s group chat, I’m guessing.”
Lucas blanched. “Oh no.”
“Yeah. Oh yes.”
He dragged a hand down his face. “What did she catch?”
“I don’t know. Just us talking. But Minji was all ‘tell me what’s real’ and I looked sketchy. Anyone watching that will know something’s off.”
He groaned. “This is getting out of control.”
“Correction: this was out of control. Now we’re entering full-blown meltdown mode.”
Lucas collapsed onto the bench and stared at the floor. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know. Talk to your teammates? Spin it as drama with your ex? Pretend you’ve taken up interpretive brooding?”
He didn’t laugh.
I sat down beside him. “Hey. We’ll figure it out.”
He looked at me. “You’ve handled all of this way better than I thought you would.”
I blinked. “That almost sounded like a compliment.”
“It was a compliment.”
“Oh. Well… thanks.” I paused. “You’re not so bad either.”
We sat there in silence for a second.
Then Lucas said, “I guess we go into damage control mode.”
We didn’t have to wait long to find out what that damage looked like.
Because by the time lunch rolled around, the school was buzzing.
A few people snuck glances at Lucas—me, technically—as we walked past. A few whispered. One bold sophomore straight-up asked, “Yo, you and Minji getting back together?”
Lucas blinked. “What? No—”
I elbowed him.
“—I mean, no comment,” he added quickly.
We made it to the cafeteria and found a corner table, heads low.
Lucas pulled out his phone and scrolled through the group chat. I watched over his shoulder.
The video was right there.
Us, talking. Minji looking intense. Me—in his body—looking like I was about to confess to a crime.
The caption?
“Park’s ex got something on him 👀 Drama incoming??”
The comments ranged from:
“They getting back together?”
“He looks MAD shook lol”
“Captain’s going soft 💔”
To the truly chaotic:
“Bet he’s got a secret girlfriend.”
“Maybe he’s got two.”
“New drama = better skating??”
Lucas groaned. “They think I’m emotionally compromised.”
“They’re not wrong,” I said dryly.
He glared.
“Okay, but seriously,” I added, “we need to redirect this before people start asking real questions.”
He nodded slowly. “Maybe if we act normal, they’ll forget it.”
“Your teammates? Forget? Lucas, they still bring up the time you tripped during your own birthday speech in sophomore year.”
“That mic stand came out of nowhere!”
I snorted. “Look, it’s only a matter of time before someone puts the weird behavior together. So unless you want the entire school thinking you’re having an identity crisis…”
He frowned. “We need to get ahead of the story.”
“Exactly.”
But before we could plot further, a voice cut through the cafeteria noise.
“Lucas Park.”
We looked up—and there she was.
Minji. Hair pulled back in a fierce ponytail, arms folded, expression unreadable.
She walked up to our table.
And dropped a printout of the video on the tray between us.
“You need to fix this,” she said.
Lucas stared at her. “You printed a video?”
“I screenshot every frame. Labeled it. Cross-referenced your facial expressions from the last six months. And no, I’m not kidding.”
I swallowed. “Okay, wow. That’s… thorough.”
Minji leaned in. “People are watching you. The team’s watching. Coach is watching. If you keep acting weird, they’ll bench you. You’ll lose captaincy. And maybe your shot at nationals.”
Lucas paled.
I sat up straighter. “We’re dealing with it.”
Minji narrowed her eyes. “Are you? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re spiraling.”
She turned to me—her gaze piercing. “And you—you’ve been acting weird ever since Rae confessed to you.”
My stomach flipped.
She didn’t know the truth. But she was circling it.
Minji shook her head. “I don’t know what game you two are playing. But if you don’t fix it—fast—I’ll fix it for you.”
Then she walked away.
Lucas exhaled slowly. “I forgot how terrifying she is.”
I nodded. “We need a plan. Like, yesterday.”
That afternoon, the plan found us.
Because during last period, the PA crackled to life.
“Lucas Park and Rae Kim, please report to the media room for a student spotlight interview.”
Lucas and I locked eyes.
“What?!”
We arrived to find a setup straight out of a student-run talk show. Cameras. Lights. A tiny couch set for two. The host? Sunny Hwang, senior media queen and literal daughter of Coach Hwang.
Of course.
“Have a seat!” Sunny said brightly. “We’re doing a ‘Crush Confessions’ feature. Thought you two would be perfect.”
Lucas and I exchanged panicked looks.
Sunny smiled too wide. “So, Rae—you confessed to Lucas, right? Super brave. And now you’re training with the hockey team? Spicy!”
Lucas (in my body) choked.
I (in his body) tried to keep my face neutral. “We’re just… friends.”
“Really?” Sunny’s eyes gleamed. “Because social media thinks otherwise.”
I coughed. “People overreact.”
“Okay,” she said, clicking her pen, “let’s start recording. First question:
Lucas—what do you really think of Rae Kim?”
The camera’s red light blinked on.
Lucas turned to me.
I turned to him.
And neither of us had any idea what to say.