Chapter 69

The mixer wasn’t exactly a big event—barely fifty people, evenly split between guys and girls. Serena wasn’t feeling it at all. She just sat there, switching her phone screen on and off, on and off, feeling a sinking emptiness growing in her chest. Ivy, on the other hand, was visibly nervous, constantly fixing her outfit and occasionally turning to Serena to ask things like, “Is my hair okay? Did my makeup smudge?” “Hi there. Mind if I introduce myself?” A boy with a gentle face and glasses walked over to sit across from them. He had a polite smile and neat, white teeth—definitely had that bookish vibe to him. Serena couldn’t help but compare him to Ivy’s tricky list: “not fat, not skinny, not too handsome, not too plain, and must be 180 centimeters tall.” But Ivy didn’t even wait three seconds before her eyes lit up and she eagerly replied, “Hi, I'm Ivy! Have a seat!” Serena chuckled. So much for standards—it's always about the vibes. As the guy sat down, he struck up a conversation w