From Dead Last to Queen Bee: The Academic Harem

My supposed childhood best friend just blocked my number and swore he'd never look at me again. He tried to force me to admit I cheated.

He screamed that the financialaid charity case needed that Ivy League recommendation letter way more than I did, and demanded that I, a classless newmoney brat, give up my spot at the top of the class.

I smiled, agreed to his terms over the phone, and then immediately dropped the audio recording into the school's biggest gossip group chat, CCing the principal's office just for kicks.

He really won't be seeing me anyway. I've already transferred out, straight into the elite prep school program packed with actual geniuses.

Chapter 1 After surviving a fakeinnocent mean girl's sabotage, my childhood friend's betrayal, and a coordinated classwide boycott, I still easily crushed everyone and took first place.

My dad decided I was a oneinamillion prodigy.

He immediately pulled some heavy strings to transfer me into the most cutthroat AP program in the city's top prep school. "Gauss spent a whole night on a math problem, but my girl destroyed it in seconds using his own formula.

Newton didn't figure out his three laws until his twenties. My girl knew them by sixteen." I pushed my shoulders back. "Why were they born before me?

Are they just early birds, or were they dodging my prime?" My dad's eyes flashed with pride. He sighed deeply. "Legends never share the same era. Baby girl, you're all grown up.

I can finally hand over my business empire to you with peace of mind." My dad's name is Rocco.

His corporate rivals call him the Tyrant in hushed tones, and he's raised me from day one to be the sole heir to his empire.

People thought it was just a joke, but the two of us took it dead seriously. "Heavy is the head that wears the crown, Astrid. You have to be a ruthless leader.

Understand?" I arched a confident eyebrow. "The Queen will handle everything, obviously." Right after I posted my flawless report card to Insta, officially declaring my victory, Spencer called me. "Astrid, cut the crap.

How could you possibly get first place? Even if you're desperate for attention, using disgusting tactics like cheating is pathetic.

Is that fair to the people who actually study?" I took a slow breath. A proper ruler never lets their emotions show; they calculate before they strike. "Oh?

And who exactly am I being unfair to?" He paused, then let out a sharp, knowing scoff. "You're just jealous of Willow, so you're targeting her.

I never realized how toxic you actually are. "I highly suggest you march into the office, admit you cheated, and give her back the top spot.

Otherwise, I'm not speaking a single word to you next semester." "Except I didn't cheat.

You can pull the security footage, or have the teachers give me a completely new exam." Spencer choked on his words for a second, a dark flush of humiliation creeping up his neck before his jaw clamped shut.

I could hear his breathing turn jagged over the line. "Do you really have to be this relentless? "You know perfectly well a bottomfeeder like Willow needs that Ivy League recommendation letter way more than you do to change her life.

Your family is swimming in filthy money. Can't you show a shred of basic charity and just let her have it?" I tilted my head back, staring at the ceiling.

Back when we were kids, he swore he'd be my White Knight forever. Who knew that the second Willow batted her eyelashes at him, he'd completely fold?

Every time there was the slightest friction, he instantly shielded her and demanded I be the one to apologize.

I used to let it slide, out of some stupid nostalgic loyalty to our childhood. But not anymore. I was holding all the cards now.

Who the hell did Spencer think he was, talking down to me like this? It was time to teach him a brutal lesson. I gave a tight smile. "Fine.

I'll talk to the principal." He went dead silent, clearly shocked I backed down so easily. "You… whatever. I'll forgive you this time.

Just don't ever pull this cheap crap again." I hung up, immediately attached the audio recording to an email, and blasted it straight to the principal's office. [Subject line: Sorry, I'm transferring.

Apparently, new money isn't allowed to rank first.] He wanted to play games with me? He just kicked a titanium wall.

Since the entire class had practically blacklisted me, I spent all my free time hunting down AP teachers in the faculty lounge to rip through advanced material.

Even the principal knew me on a firstname basis. My grades were brutally forged under the direct supervision of every department head.

Literally no one, except maybe Spencer's delusional ass, would ever question my flawless track record.

It didn't take long for the administration to panic and call my dad to investigate.

Since my transfer papers to the elite prep school were already finalized, Rocco seized the moment to tear them apart.

Whatever happened to Spencer after that wasn't my problem anymore.

Chapter 2 Once the semester started, the entire school was buzzing about Spencer getting slapped with a major disciplinary warning and public humiliation.

Word on the street was that he swore he never wanted to see my face again for the rest of his life. Good. Because he wouldn't.

By that time, I was already sitting in the elite AP prep program at my new school, having proudly secured… dead last in the placement exams.

I stared at the heavily redinked test paper for a long time, completely zoning out, muttering under my breath. "How is this mathematically possible?

I thought I was a prodigy." The insanely hot guy sitting next to me leaned over, caught a glimpse of my score, and let out a snort of laughter.

I leveled a deadpan stare at him, and he instantly backpedaled. "You're obviously a genius.

But even if you're a oneinamillion prodigy, in a country this size, there's still a few hundred of you walking around.

So, you know, don't sweat it." I nodded in satisfaction, casually sliding over a limitededition iced Americano that I had my driver wait in line for. "Pleasure working with you.

Try not to hold me back." He propped his chin on his hand, looking incredibly amused. "Astrid, your majesty, do you seriously not remember me?

My dad and your dad are practically golfing buddies." Oh. Right. He was Harrison's kid, Griffin. We bumped into each other at some obnoxious charity gala a while back.

Harrison was always bragging about how elite his son was, which annoyed the hell out of my dad and me, so we totally tuned it out.

But now, a true Queen knows how to leverage her assets. I was probably going to need him to carry my grades for a bit.

I planted my hands firmly on his desk and leaned in close, closing the physical distance. A playful, dangerous smirk tugged at the corner of my lips. "Of course I remember you.

You were the only hot guy at that boringass party even worth a second glance." Calculated flirting was the ultimate tool for establishing absolute social dominance.

Griffin's elbow gave out. His head slammed directly into the wooden desk with a loud thud.

I jumped back, slightly startled, and shoved his shoulder. "Griffin, you good?" It took him a solid ten seconds to slowly lift his head.

He snapped his gaze out the window, avoiding eye contact. The tips of his ears were burning crimson red. "I'm fine. Just… low blood sugar." "Right.

Sure." I dropped the conversation and went back to violently correcting my wrong answers. The Queen's empire wasn't going to build itself.

Our homeroom teacher was a fiercely strict woman. She gave me a brisk, twosecond introduction before launching straight into AP material.

For the first time, I felt the sheer intensity of a real academic warzone. No petty cliques, no pathetic meangirl targeting.

Just pure, unadulterated obsession with destroying the grading curve.

With Griffin buffering me, I seamlessly integrated into the new hierarchy and secured a very comforting safety net. "If you hit a wall, just ask me." Only two people refused to buy into my vibe.

One was Stella, the deadserious hall monitor. To her, I was just a brainless trustfund baby buying my way in and wasting elite educational resources.

The other was Felix, the untouchable valedictorian who treated everyone like garbage. Griffin and Felix were childhood bros.

Griffin dragged me over to his desk to make the intro. "Astrid, this guy is a beast.

If there's ever a question even I can't crack, you can pawn it off on him." My eyes lit up like a predator spotting fresh prey.

I reached out to shake on our new alliance, but a voice colder than liquid nitrogen cut me off. "Instead of wasting time socializing, she should probably drill some basiclevel concepts." Felix didn't even bother lifting his head.

He had a razorsharp jawline, a perfectly straight nose, and thin, cruel lips. Even the sunlight seemed biased, hitting him like a cinematic spotlight.

Griffin clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Astrid is my friend. Watch your mouth." Whatever. True geniuses always had massive egos. I was a benevolent ruler, after all.

I patted Griffin's shoulder. "It's fine.

It's totally natural for the former number one to feel threatened by the future number one." Griffin: "…" Felix: "…" Felix finally dragged his heavy eyelids up, shooting me a glacial stare.

He looked like I had just personally insulted his entire bloodline.

Chapter 3 But that afternoon, the homeroom teacher aggressively rearranged the seating chart based on the placement test scores. I ended up right next to Felix.

He actually initiated a conversation for once, tapping his long, slender index finger against my desk. "You're right. Number one usually doesn't respect number one.

But… you're dead last." Me: ??? My private driver, Clifford, needed emergency surgery for a severe medical issue.

For the time being, I originally planned to just order a toptier Uber Black to commute home.

But the second Griffin found out, he immediately offered his ride. "Princess, it's right on my way.

Let me drop you off." I gave a polite nod of thanks, then smoothly corrected him. "I'm not a princess." Griffin thought I was actually offended.

He panicked, holding his hands up. "My bad, I didn't mean it as a degrading nickname or anything." I nodded sharply. "I know. But I've already ascended the throne.

I am the Queen now." Griffin: "?" Seeing my deadpan, serious expression, he dug his fingers hard into his own thigh, desperately trying to suppress a smile. It didn't work.

The second his driver let out a snort from the front seat, Griffin completely lost it. Absolute, unhinged laughter filled the luxury SUV for the rest of the drive.

I remained totally unfazed, calmly pulling out my AirPods to blast AP English lit audiobooks.

As I stepped out of the car, Griffin called out to me. "Princess—wait, no, Your Majesty. I'm picking you up tomorrow morning, too." I nodded. "Griffin, you're a lifesaver.

I'll get my grades up fast so we can be seatmates again." His eyes went wide. The teasing smirk froze on his lips as a fierce blush violently crashed over his entire face.

Under my intense, observant stare, his fluster turned into a fit of aggressive coughing. "Jjust go inside!" He waved his hand frantically before the tinted window rolled up at max speed, the SUV peeling out of the driveway.

The next morning, I handed Griffin his daily premium iced Americano, right on schedule. Felix happened to look up from stretching his neck and caught the exchange.

A deep crease formed between his brows. When I got back to my seat next to him, I tried to strike up a conversation, but he flatout ignored me.

I bombed the last AP Calculus pop quiz—missed eight out of ten questions. The math teacher took a deep, stressed breath and ordered me to his office after class.

I was obviously totally down to grind and went constantly, but getting out of my seat meant I had to squeeze past Felix every single time.

After I woke him up for the millionth time, he finally snapped. His suppressed annoyance practically exploded. "Which problem are you stuck on?

I'll just tutor you myself, okay?!" I reluctantly accepted his offer.

A couple of days later, right in the middle of breaking down an equation, he suddenly slammed his hand against his chest, his expression turning grim.

I poked his arm with the back of my pen. "Are you dying?" He slowly turned his head to stare at me, his face deadpan. "I'm pretty sure your sheer stupidity is giving me cardiac arrhythmia." Fine.

I suppose he technically counted as the Royal Tutor now. I slid my spare iced Americano across the desk to him. "Cool down, Professor Felix. Don't pop a blood vessel.

I'll keep trying." His jaw clenched, but he couldn't fire back. He snatched the cup and downed it aggressively. Wait… was he throwing a fit because I hadn't been buying him coffee?

I tested the waters. "Want me to grab you one tomorrow, too?" "Heh." He let out a cold, sharp sneer. "I literally talk myself hoarse tutoring you just to get a single drink. "That guy just lets you carpool and you supply him every single day.

Good to know actual intellect is worthless to you." I frowned, immediately defending my stance. "Don't say that.

Knowledge is a priceless asset." Felix just scoffed and completely shut me out again.

I went to get up to ask Griffin a question, but Felix purposely slumped over his desk, faking sleep to physically block my way out. Sigh. I had to pull out the big guns.

I have this weird skin condition—dermatographia. Even a light scratch puffs up into bright red welts.

I used my fingernail to carve a quick message right into my forearm and shoved it under Felix's desk. 'Stop throwing a tantrum.

Tomorrow's iced Americano is on me.' Chapter 4 A few seconds later, his hand snapped out, violently gripping my wrist.

His pupils dilated in pure shock. "Are you having an allergic reaction?" "No. It doesn't hurt or itch. Relax." I explained the whole artificial hives thing.

His jaw clenched tight, a muscle ticking in his cheek as he wrestled between utter annoyance and complete helplessness.

I tested the waters. "I'm trying to bribe you into a better mood. Are you not happy?" I mean, people get whole tattoos to prove their loyalty.

The Queen was lowering herself to physically write an IOU on her own skin. That had to count for something, right?

Whenever I pulled this kind of stunt on my dad, he instantly caved and bought me whatever I wanted.

Hearing that, the corner of Felix's mouth twitched up for a fraction of a second before he forced it back down into a harsh line. "Whatever.

Seeing as you're actually putting in effort, you can ask me about other subjects, too.

Not just Calculus." He paused, his voice dropping slightly. "But don't ever scratch yourself up like that again. Got it?" Wait, it was that easy?

I was secretly thrilled, but also incredibly confused. Was that specific iced Americano really that addictive?

It was just some limitedbatch roast from my dad's business partner that got delivered every morning.

I thought it was way too bitter, which is why I dumped it on Griffin in the first place. Who knew they'd both get so obsessed with it?

Just as I was about to climb into the SUV after school, I noticed Griffin's expression was absolutely sour. At the same time, another figure materialized next to the car.

Felix looked at me, a faint, arrogant smirk playing on his lips. "My driver had an emergency today.

Mind if I crash your ride?" I nodded and took a step back, planning to just take the passenger seat.

Griffin and Felix both barked at the exact same time. "Wait—" Before either of them could finish, a sharply familiar voice cut through the air. "Astrid, who the hell are they?" I turned around.

It was Spencer. His face was thunderous, his eyes violently snapping between the three of us