The Campus Princess's Punchline Chapter 1

The day before the university fitness test, my childhood best friend, Leo, shoved me into a hole in the wall behind the academic building.

My lower body was wedged tight, but my top half was dangling on the other side, leaving my butt sticking out for the whole world to see—right in the path of the impending lunch rush.

“Why?” I asked, panic clawing at my throat.

He just laughed, a casual, dismissive sound. "Oh, Sophia wanted to play a prank on you, film a funny video for social media."

"She'll pull you out in a minute," he added.

Sophia. The campus ‘it-girl’ who’d been clinging to Leo since freshman year.

I fell silent, the cold truth settling in my bones.

So that’s what my dignity was worth. The punchline to a joke.

I stopped struggling. I just waited, my humiliation turning into a campus-wide spectacle.

That’s when the look on Leo’s face finally changed.

"I told you I'd pull you out in a minute, didn't I? Why didn't you fight back?"

"Right," I mumbled into the darkness of the wall.

* * *

My mind went completely blank the moment I realized I was stuck.

The hole was a relic from a renovation, an old ventilation shaft that had been sealed off. It was just big enough, and just small enough, to trap my hips perfectly.

Leo had just asked me to grab something for him.

"Vivi, I left my notebook back there. Can you grab it for me?" He'd smiled at me then, the same gentle smile he’d given me a thousand times over the last twelve years.

I’d agreed without a second thought.

It was our rhythm. He needed something, and I was there to give it.

But now, I was stuck headfirst like a human cork, my ass to the world. And the worst part? This was the main path to the dining hall. In ten minutes, the lunch bell would ring, and thousands of students would be walking past.

I struggled, twisting and pulling, while fumbling for my phone to call Leo.

It rang three times before he picked up.

“Leo, help me! I’m stuck!”

He chuckled, a light, airy sound that made my blood run cold. “Oh, I know. I’m the one who pushed you in.”

For a second, I think my heart stopped beating.

“What… what did you say?”

“Relax,” Leo’s voice was laced with an impatient edge. “Sophia wanted to film a funny clip. She said your ass is so big it’d be hilarious. I’ll pull you out as soon as she gets the shot. Five minutes, tops.”

I froze, every muscle in my body locking up.

Sophia? The girl who had been chasing Leo since day one? The one who paraded her perfection in front of me every chance she got?

She wanted to make a joke out of my body, and Leo… Leo just shoved me into a wall?

“Leo, do you have any idea how humiliating this is?” My voice trembled.

“God, don’t be so sensitive,” he snapped. “It’s just a joke. I mean, a girl as gorgeous as Sophia asks for a favor, what am I supposed to do, say no?”

“Besides,” he added, and his next words felt like a knife twisting in my gut. “Your butt is pretty big. It’s just a fact.”