The look on Atlas's face was absolutely priceless. The way his dark eyes bulged out with his mouth ajar was comical enough to tempt me into taking out my phone and clicking a picture as memorabilia. It almost made waking up early and getting ready for the meeting worth it. Almost.

Atlas blinked at me a few times, slightly shaking his head as if to get his bearings back. He tilted his head to the side, scanning me from head to toe while a slow smirk formed on his lips. "You missed me so much that you came all the way here, Rosy? How sweet of you."

I clenched my jaw and glared at him. Of course, nothing could shock the arrogance out of him. And for some reason, he just had to say a few words to rile me up which was damn annoying. I needed to stop letting him and his presence affect me so much or else I was doomed.

Shutting my eyes, I exhaled a deep breath and took my sweet time to keep the notepad in my hand on the podium before turning to him with an identical smirk. "Sorry to break your bubble, your majesty, but the campus is paying me hefty bucks to stay in your vicinity," I said. "But on a second thought, even that isn't enough for tolerating you."

He hummed, his smirk widening as if I hadn't said anything offensive. "Should I add more for your reimbursement amount then? To make up for the deficit?" he asked, raising a perfect brow. "It won't make much of a difference to me. You didn't tell me how you want to receive the payment though? Should I Venmo it to you?"

That was it! All I wanted to do was scratch that smirk off his face. But that would lead to assault charges and I had too much potential to spend the rest of my life with a criminal record and doing odd jobs. So instead of that, I settled for glaring at him while imagining myself tackling him to the ground like Hulk. I was about to put him in his place using multi-colored vocabulary when the rest of the guys walked in. Deciding to be the bigger person, I ignored him and smiled at the others as they took their seats.

Once everyone had settled, I nodded at Tyler, signaling him to start the projector. After introducing myself and Tyler, I briefly explained what the project was and what my team had planned so far. As we moved on to answering any questions anyone from the team had, I quickly realized how true the saying 'one bad apple spoils the bunch' was.

The more Atlas Griffin spewed his nonsense, the more I could see the stark differences between him and the rest of his team. Leaving His Majesty aside, the rest of the guys were pretty normal. Pleasant even. Sure, their goalie, Dylan was a tad bit eccentric with his over-the-top personality, but none of them were outright douchebags.

"Are you sure you can get all of that on camera? Sports videography is quite different than taking still shots of random people on the college campus for the university's website. It's not for amateurs," Atlas said in his condescending tone.

Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes and counted backward from ten. This was the fifth time he had questioned my plan and the ability of my team. I saw right through his tactic of looking down at us under the guise of innocent curiosity.

He was testing my patience. And I wasn't about to give him the pleasure of getting a reaction out of me.

So, I straightened myself and smiled at him sweetly. "No need to worry. We have some of the best cameramen. And Tyler here had done his summer internship at a local sports channel. He knows the ropes," I said, patting Tyler on the back.

Tyler looked down at me and smiled gratefully. Of course, I wasn't going to let someone whose only experience in photography was taking blurry, emo selfies with his phone look down on my guy. He might be the captain of his team but so was I for mine.

"Anything else, your majesty?" I asked, raising a brow.

His teammates snickered and my smile widened when I saw his jaw tick. But still, he dared to look smug. "That'll be all for now."

One of his teammates, Kris, raised his hand next. "What will we have to do for the Youtube videos you mentioned earlier? Will it be interviews or something?"

I liked this guy. Not only did he look like a Disney prince with brown hair and green eyes but he was also very polite. None of that macho man shit even though he had quite the build.

"Umm... So far we are planning to do personal interviews and maybe some fun games sort of thing. We still haven't received any directions from the department if the hockey team is supposed to have a separate YouTube channel or just a playlist in the university's channel," I explained.

"What if we get a separate channel?" Dylan, the goalie asked next.

"Then there will be a lot more. A Youtube channel is a bigger and long-term commitment, so it'll need more content. If the team gets a separate channel, then there will be live streaming of games, highlights, etc."

"Cool!" the freshmen on the team exclaimed at the same time.

It had been pretty obvious who the freshmen were since they had been staring around with big, starry eyes, and listening to me like I was offering the secrets of the universe. I adored their wide-eyed wonder but also pitied them for having a captain like Griffin. These sweet boys would become arrogant playboys and fuckboys under his influence.

"When do we start?" another guy asked.

"Tomorrow. We'll be taking some sample shots in the gym and then at the rink. It'll be more or less like a test run to see what we have to work with," I said. Wringing my hands together, I looked around the room. "Any more questions?"

When my question was answered by silence, I decided to wrap it up. "Okay, then. That's it for today. See you guys tomorrow morning."

As soon as I said that, all of them stood up at once and suddenly the room started feeling much smaller than it was. The hockey guys sure knew how to take up space with their presence, towering over everyone with their gigantic heights.

Once everyone had left, I had a word with the Coach and got the team's schedule while Tyler packed up. "Let's go," I said, waving the schedule in my hand. "I'll drop you on the way."

"Nah, you go ahead. I think I'm going to take some shots of the empty rink. I think we can use them somewhere," he said, adjusting his camera in his hands.

Tyler and I had joined the media department at the same time. He was the quiet guy with the camera who hadn't spoken more than ten words with everyone in the first week. But when we saw the pictures and videos he took, everyone quickly realized he spoke with his camera. He had that one-of-a-kind talent that could make the most mundane things look like art. So when he said he wanted to do something, no one questioned him. Me included.

"Cool. See you tomorrow," I said.

"See ya," he replied, his head already bent down to peer at the camera in his hand.

I walked out to the parking lot while searching for my car keys in my tote bag. I didn't usually throw stuff in a tote bag and carry it around but today I was running a little late. After my night shift at the library, I overslept in the morning and barely made it in time for the briefing. And now I was in a hurry again for my shift at the mart.

When I finally pulled the keys out from a cluster of tissue papers, receipts, chapsticks, and other knick-knacks, I looked up at my car only to stop in my tracks.

There, leaning against my old, silver Honda was none other than Atlas Griffin. And he had conveniently chosen to stand beside the spot where the dent was. The dent made by his car.

Seeing him and the damage done to my car in a single frame made my blood boil. All the effort put into accepting, forgetting, and trying to move on went down the drain. On top of everything, he was whistling. Whistling!

I clenched my fists tightly and suppressed the urge to smack his face with my tote bag. "What do you want, Griffin?" I spat, coming to stand in front of him.

His lips curved into a grin and he straightened himself. "Relax, Rosy. I come bearing peace offerings."

"Peace offerings and you?" I scoffed.

He shrugged. "I did say that I would give you the money you need. But you left without giving me your Venmo account," he said, and then his brows furrowed. "Or do you use PayPal?"

His words from that day and earlier today rushed back into my head, bringing along my hatred for him ten folds stronger. "You can take your money and shove it up your ass. Now, get out of my way."

He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "That's not how a lady speaks."

I heaved a sigh when I realized that he was just toying with me, trying to get a reaction. "Look, you might have all the time in the world, but I do not. Get to the point and tell me whatever you came to say."

Atlas eyed me for a second before shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning against my car again. "The interviews you were talking about back there, I'm assuming you will be the one taking them?"

I nodded. "Nothing's decided yet, but it'll probably be me."

"I want you to leave all questions related to my family out of it. I won't answer them," he said, a serious look on his face. "I also want the schedule of the project for the next few weeks. I won't be switching my plans at the last minute for some stupid backyard game for your videos."

My jaw ticked at his condescending tone. "You only care about yourself, don't you? The project that you so easily called stupid is something my team will be working on for months, and we aren't even getting much out of it. But still, everyone wants to work hard. You know why?"

Atlas sighed. "Rosy—"

"Because we need to collect all these tiny project experiences to fill our resumes and plead with employers to take a chance on us. Because without a job after graduation, we are doomed. Because we don't have our dad's money to back us up!"

"You think you're the only one struggling? Do you think money solves everything?" Atlas snapped as he straightened himself and stepped away from my car.

"I don't see you running from one part-time job to another. Or struggling to cover the cost of the damage done to your car when it wasn't even your fault."

For the first time, his expression faltered, and he turned his head to look at the ugly dent in my car. When he faced me again, his gaze was much softer. "Give me your account number. I'll transfer the money. I don't want you to curse me and give me bad luck for the season."

"No thank you," I said and unlocked my car, getting inside and shutting the door with a bang. "You can give that money to your charities and buy well wishes for yourself. That's what you do best right? Buy your way into everything?"

A dark look appeared in his eyes. "That's not—"

"Let's try to keep this civil, Griffin. Once this project ends, you and I won't be seeing each other again anyway," I said, interrupting him. "You stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours."

He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn't give him the chance. I pulled out of the parking lot and sped off towards the local mart where my shift was about to start in half an hour. Atlas Griffin might have time to waste in making fun of others but people like me didn't.

My time literally converted to money because every minute I wasn't spending studying, I was working one of my three jobs. I didn't have the luxury to sit around and find new ways to trouble someone.

The ride down the hill to the town was swift. In a town as small as Wellsfield, the chances of you getting caught in traffic were next to zero. Maybe at the start of the new academic year or graduation when parents and relatives were coming to visit. Other than that, it was pretty chill.

I parked my car in the usual spot and ran in through the back door. Punching in my time, I kept my bag in my locker and tied my red apron around my waist.

"You have some superpower to reach one minute before your shift starts and never get late," Stacy, my co-worker, commented.

"Desperate times give you extraordinary powers," I replied with a shrug.

Stacy shook her head and we both chuckled as we got out of the locker room to meet our manager and get our tasks for today. Stacy was also a junior at Wellsfield majoring in fashion. Like me, she too was quick to realize that while scholarships paid the tuition, you would still be a broke student and will need more than one job to pay your bills. Her expenses were higher than mine because she had to make stuff for her course and the fabrics weren't always cheap.

"So...any expectations for the junior year?" she asked, tying her fiery red hair in a ponytail. Her gold hoops glinted under the fluorescent lights of the mart, a stark contrast against her hair.

"My expectations have already been crushed," I said, sighing. For my junior year, all I wanted was some peace, and the ability to quit one of my jobs. So far, both of them were out of my grasp.

"Why?" she asked, raising her brow.

"The university announced a media project for the hockey team and guess who is in charge?" I asked in a cheery voice.

Her eyes widened. "No way!"

"Yep!" I signed. "It's going to be a fantastic year in the service of his highness."

"Well, you know there's a chance that it actually might be a fantastic year. Who knows?" she asked, always the optimist.

"That's like expecting it to rain hundred-dollar bills. Never going to happen," I said.

Once Stacy and I got our assignments for today, we went our separate ways. I was stacking my third shelf with a different brand of cookies when my phone vibrated with an incoming text. I ignored it and continued with my work.

Mr. Paolo who owned the shop wasn't a super strict boss who restricted us from anything. As long as we did our jobs, he didn't mind the workers replying to texts or chatting amongst themselves. In fact, he joined in those chats enthusiastically. But I didn't like to take advantage of his kindness.

However, when four texts came up back to back, I decided to check them out only to wish I hadn't. My heart sank to my stomach when I read the sender's name.

Dad: Hey, sweetie
Dad: I hope you are doing fine.
Dad: Uh... I won't be able to send money to you this month

I wanted to scoff. For some reason, my dad always started a conversation like this as if he ever sent money to me. The last time I had received money from him was when I was a freshman in high school and was getting pocket money.

Dad: I...uh lost my job

Which translated to him getting fired again. It didn't even surprise me anymore. What would surprise me would be him holding a job for a whole month. This wasn't the first time we were having this conversation and it wouldn't be the last. So I decided to cut to the chase.

Evelyn: How much money do you want?

There was no response for a few minutes, and I was about to keep my phone back in my pocket when the three dots appeared under the screen.

Dad: Just for groceries for two weeks
Dad: I'm going to start looking for a job immediately

I wanted to type a snarky remark but held it back, settling instead for an 'okay'. He didn't bother me after that because he knew I would send him money by the end of the day. I always did. And have been doing it for the last three years. This year wasn't going to be different.

I was about to keep my phone back in my pocket when another text came through. This one from Samantha.

Samantha: Atlas Griffin texted me. He sent over his schedule and asked to accommodate it as we plan the project. I have emailed it to you.

Samantha: Good job today! You're doing great <3

I didn't know what to think of that. Was this him trying to be civil? Instead of demanding our schedule he was supplying his. In either case, though, he was still expecting us to work according to his timeline. And I knew this was just the start.

How could his majesty take a backseat for once and let others do their thing?

He had always gotten away with playing the commander and ordering everyone to do things according to his will. But this time things were going to be different.

If he tried to ruin this project for me, I'd rain hell on him.