The Definition of Hate

Hadley

Hate is a strong word.

Most people think of it as a passionate dislike or a fleeting moment of anger. For me, hate is the boiling heat flooding my veins the second a certain someone enters my line of sight. Hate is the physical twitch in my left eye when he strolls past my desk, carrying that infuriatingly calm aura like the universe owes him rent.

Hate is Maddox Hayes.

I stared down at the paper sitting on my desk.

Ninety-nine percent.

A bright red ninety-nine circled at the top of the page. For anyone else in this room, a ninety-nine on Mr. Harrison’s AP Physics final would be a cause for a literal street parade. It was a fantastic grade. It was a grade people cried tears of joy over.

But not me. Not today.

My fingers gripped the edges of the paper so tight my knuckles turned white. Across the aisle, lounging in his chair like a Greek statue carved out of pure arrogance, sat Maddox. He had a black pen tucked behind his ear and zero concept of personal space as his long legs stretched out into the walkway.

Taped to the top corner of his test paper was a red, bleeding hundred.

A perfect score.

I glared at the side of his head, mentally trying to set his dark hair on fire with my sheer willpower. I didn't stop staring until he slowly shifted his gaze and met my eyes.

His lips twitched. The corner of his mouth ticked upward into a slow, mocking, soul-crushing smile.

He then turned back to his friend, murmuring something low that made the other guy chuckle. He dismissed me. He treated me like a speck of dust on his windshield, acting as if he hadn't just stolen the top spot in the class for the eighth time this semester.

My vision blurred with red.

"If he smirks at me one more time, I am going to shove this test paper straight down his throat." I muttered through clenched teeth, leaning closer to my desk.

Nadia leaned across the aisle from her seat. She took a loud sip of her iced coffee and raised a perfect eyebrow at me. "Okay, relax, assassin Barbie. You are legit about to shoot lasers out of your eyeballs."

"I wish I could do so much more than that." I slammed the test paper face-down on my desk.

Nadia let out a soft laugh. "It is literally just one point, Hads. You still have the second-highest score in the entire grade. You need to breathe."

"That only makes it worse! If it were anyone else, I would shake his hand and move on. But it is him." I pointed a rigid finger in Maddox's direction.

Nadia rested her chin on her hand, her eyes drifting over to Maddox with a dreamy glaze. "Maddox Hayes is a mystery wrapped in a very fine, athletic package. Maybe he isn't evil. Maybe he is just socially constipated."

"He smiled at me, Nadia. A dark, evil, villainous smile."

Nadia snorted into her plastic cup. "Oh, the audacity of the boy."

"Why couldn't he be dumb? Or ugly? Or allergic to pencils?" I dropped my forehead against the cold, hard surface of my desk and groaned into the wood.

Nadia reached over and patted my shoulder. "You are spiraling again."

I kept my cheek pressed against the desk, peeking over the edge to glare at him one last time. Maddox stretched his arms over his head, the movement pulling his black hoodie tight across broad shoulders and flexing muscles that belonged in a sportswear commercial.

I hate him. I hate him so much it hurts my chest.

And the worst part of all this?

It was only Monday.

The thing is, I do not usually hate people.

I am the girl who loves everyone. I spend my weekends volunteering at the local animal shelter to bottle-feed sick puppies. I bake organic cookies for every charity bake sale. I organize canned food drives like it is an Olympic sport. I am the golden girl of Amber Creek High. I am the captain of the swim team, a straight-A student, and the girl with a smile for every hallway passing. I have zero enemies.

Except for one.

Maddox freaking Hayes.

He is the sole human being on this earth capable of making my blood pressure spike into the danger zone.

It all started the day he transferred here. He walked through the main doors wearing that signature black hoodie, his hair slightly damp, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else. Every girl in a thirty-foot radius stopped breathing and stared.

I did not stare. I made it my personal mission to be welcoming.

I cornered him by the vending machines on his second day.

"Word of advice. Unless you are into severe stomach cramps, avoid the tuna sandwich at all costs." I offered him my brightest, most welcoming grin.

He stopped. He blinked at me. He did not laugh, smile, or even offer a polite nod. He just looked right through me and kept walking.

At first, I brushed it off. Maybe he didn't hear me. Maybe he was having a miserable week. But it became a pattern. Every joke I cracked, every smile I offered, every attempt to treat him like a fellow human being was met with a wall of freezing ice. He ignored me.

But I am Hadley Vance, and I do not know how to give up. The more he pushed me away, the more determined I became to break his moody silence.

A month into the semester, our hockey team won a massive home game. Maddox scored the winning goal in overtime. The crowd went wild, chanting his name until the bleachers shook. I decided this was the perfect moment to extend an olive branch.

I stood near the locker room exit, clutching a small white bakery box tied with a pristine blue ribbon. Inside were my famous homemade chocolate chip cookies. They were still warm. I even decorated the tissue paper with little hockey stick stickers.

The heavy metal door swung open. The smell of cheap body spray and damp towels drifted into the hallway. Maddox stepped out. His dark hair was wet from the showers, his team jersey slung casually over his shoulder. His dark eyes locked onto mine.

I stepped right into his path and flashed the brightest smile I could summon.

"Hey! That game was insane, you totally crushed it out there. I baked these. For you." I held out the white box.

Maddox looked down at the box. He looked up at my face.

"No, thank you."

He sidestepped me and kept walking.

My smile shattered into a million pieces. My stomach dropped to the floor.

No, thank you?

Something inside me just snapped. The weeks of polite rejection boiled over into pure, unadulterated rage.

"Why are you such an unbearable jerk?" I yelled down the empty stretch of lockers.

Maddox stopped in his tracks. He turned around slowly, raising one dark brow.

"What?"

"Did I do something to offend you?" I closed the distance between us, my voice echoing off the metal lockers. A few straggling students turned their heads to watch, but I did not care.

Maddox stared at me with an unreadable, icy expression. "No."

"Then why do you act like I am a massive pain in your side? I have offered you my notes, saved you a seat in homeroom, and tried to include you. I even helped you find the science lab when you got lost your first week, and you didn't utter a single word of thanks. I have tried, Maddox. I have really tried to be your friend."

His jaw ticked. His voice came out low and chilling.

"I never asked you to be my friend."

I gasped softly, taking a step back. "Excuse me?"

He folded his arms across his chest.

"Look, I do not want to be part of your little Miss Princess Act. You do not have to make everyone like you. You do not have to pretend to be kind just to feel good about yourself."

It felt like he had slapped me across the face. My throat closed up. My heart slammed painfully against my ribs. I stood there holding a stupid box of cookies while people whispered and pointed.

He turned around and started walking away again.

No way. He was not getting the last word after publicly humiliating me.

"Maddox!" I screamed.

He paused mid-step.

I stormed right up to him, grabbed the lapels of his jacket, and shoved the white bakery box hard into his chest. He had to instinctively bring his arms up to catch it before it fell.

"Fine! You do not want to be friends? Great. Amazing. But mark my words, Hayes. I am going to crush you. On the track, in the classroom, in every single club, wherever I see you... I am coming for the crown. And you can trash the damn cookies if you want to."

I turned on my heel and marched away, my face burning with a fiery heat. I didn't look back once. I just prayed he would choke on the sweet smell of melted chocolate chips.

That humiliating hallway encounter was the official start of my downfall.

I thought I could write him off as a minor annoyance, but the universe had much darker plans for me. Evil, six-foot-two plans packaged with sharp cheekbones and a genius-level IQ. Maddox Hayes was not just a hockey star with a pretty face. He was brilliant.

He was smart enough to do the unthinkable. He pushed me down to second place in the final GPA rankings.

Second place.

That had never happened to me. Not in preschool, not in middle school, and certainly not during four years of high-functioning, anxiety-driven high school dominance.

Yet here I was.

Graduation day.

I sat in the front row on the football field, suffocating in my green cap and gown. I plastered a fake smile on my face and clapped like a good little runner-up while Principal Miller stood at the podium.

"And now, it is my great honor to recognize a student who has achieved the highest academic distinction in the graduating class. This year’s Valedictorian, with the highest cumulative GPA in school history, is Maddox Hayes!"

The stadium erupted into thunderous applause.

I rolled my eyes so hard the back of my skull ached.

Maddox walked across the wooden stage with that effortless, infuriating stride. He looked like he owned the entire town. The crowd went feral for him.

"He is so handsome." A mother behind me whispered loudly.

"Such a bright young man." Another parent replied.

I gripped the edge of my plastic folding chair to stop myself from screaming. I refused to let Maddox Hayes ruin my graduation day. This was my moment too. I had a million things to be grateful for.

I had an amazing group of friends cheering from the bleachers. I had my sweet, loyal boyfriend Trevor sitting three rows back, shooting me a comforting thumbs-up. I had a brilliant college future waiting for me in the fall.

Most importantly, I had my dad.

The ceremony ended in a flurry of tossed caps and screaming teenagers. The field transformed into a chaotic sea of green robes and crying families.

"There is my little golden locks!"

I spun around just in time to be swept into a massive, rib-crushing bear hug.

"Dad!" I laughed out loud as he lifted me off the grass, spinning me in a quick circle before setting me back on my feet.

My dad cupped my face, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I am so proud of you, baby. And I know your mom would be, too."

My chest squeezed tight. I reached up and gripped his wrists, flashing him a genuine, watery smile. "Thanks, Dad. I love you."

He pulled back and aggressively wiped his eyes, pretending the bright afternoon sun was bothering him. I was just about to tease him for crying when his entire face lit up. He looked over my shoulder, his expression transforming into pure delight.

"Oh! There he is, the man of the hour."

My dad took a step past me, extending his hand with aggressive enthusiasm.

He was reaching for Maddox.

Maddox Hayes.

I froze. The breath vanished from my lungs.

Wait.

No. No, no, no.

My dad shook Maddox's hand vigorously, pulling him into a familiar half-hug. Maddox actually smiled. A real, polite, respectful smile directed at my father.

Then the memory hit me like a freight train.

The one tiny, catastrophic detail my dad had mentioned over dinner last week. A detail I had been too distracted by finals to fully process.

My dad was dating a woman named Sarah.

Sarah Hayes.

My father was dating Maddox Hayes’s mother.

I stared at the two of them chatting like old pals on the football field. The sunny sky suddenly felt like it was crashing down on my head.

My actual flesh-and-blood father.

Dating the mother of my sworn academic nemesis. The brooding jerk who rejected my cookies, insulted my personality, and stole my Valedictorian crown.

The universe truly hated me.

As I stood there watching Maddox lock eyes with me over my dad's shoulder, his lips curving into that familiar, mocking smirk, I realized something terrifying.

The feeling was undeniably mutual.