Zodiac University

Virgo hummed to himself as he walked home from school. After making sure no one was trailing him, he opened the door to his complex and walked in.

“I’m home, Mom!” he called as he stepped into their apartment. He peeked in on the in-home office Mrs. Clemson worked in, and saw his mom hunched over the computer, not moving. Virgo closed the door behind him and walked closer.

“Mom, did you hear me?”

“Oh…hi, sweetie.” Mrs. Clemson finally shifted to look at her son. Virgo dropped his backpack when he saw the state his mother was in. She had dark circles around her eyes, bags that could carry groceries, and was trembling slightly.

“Mom! What’s wrong?!” Virgo rushed to her side and Mrs. Clemson slumped against him, completely out of energy.

“Oh, it’s nothing you need to worry about,” she said. “How was school? Enjoying the life of a regular commuter?”

“Forget school, Mom, what happened?” Virgo asked. The idea of normality briefly flashed across his mind. Sure, ever since he met Taurus, his school life had been as far from normal as could be, but that wasn’t top priority right now. His family came first and beating Taurus came second.

Normality would have to wait.

“You don’t want to hear about it,” Mrs. Clemson replied.

“I do! Please tell me what happened, Mom.”

“Well…” Mrs. Clemson rubbed her forehead wearily. “Someone filed a report against me at work.”

“What?! Why?!”

“I have no idea.” Virgo watched helplessly as his mother slumped back in her chair and tilted her head back. “One minute I was leading a web call, and the next, my boss asks me to stay behind. There was an anonymous accusation that I’d been harassing some of my colleagues.”

“What?!”

“Don’t worry. I was just lectured and let off with a warning since there isn’t any proof yet. You always jump to conclusions, sweetie.” Mrs. Clemson chuckled in a bittersweet way, noticing Virgo’s worried tone. “But this has put a dent in me and my coworkers’ trust.” She rested her arms on her desk. “I just wish I knew where this was coming from. I haven’t done anything to harass anyone.” She sighed. “It’s almost like there’s someone in our company that just wants to see me fall.”

At this, Virgo gritted his teeth. Thoughts were flying through his head a mile a minute, but they all came back to one person. Taurus.

So it’s begun, huh? he thought with a dry chuckle. Well, of course it had begun. Virgo knew Taurus was a force to be reckoned with when he proposed a battle of the minds. Who could destroy the other psychologically, emotionally, and physically, first?

He just hadn’t expected the weasel to work so quickly. Was that why he’d bravely approached Virgo and his friends this morning? Nah, that was just his self-righteous personality.

Mrs. Clemson looked at her son. “Virgo? You good, sweetie?”

“Huh? Yeah, I was just thinking of something,” Virgo said. “Hopefully that report will be proven false in due time.”

“I hope so, too,” Mrs. Clemson said with another sigh. “If I were to lose my job over this, I don’t know what I’d do. It’s not like we need the extra money, with your father being the main breadwinner and all…but I’d hate for my coworkers to suffer from the weight of a case that shouldn’t even have been introduced.”

Virgo just nodded absentmindedly. He was already thinking of ways to get back at Taurus. He started off for his room, fists clenched and swinging as he walked. Mrs. Clemson watched him go, confused but too frazzled to get answers.

Once he was in his room, Virgo grabbed his laptop and began his work. He skillfully hacked into the school database and accessed Taurus’s student files. Sure enough, there wasn’t much information there. It had Taurus’s first and last name, his sex, and his overall GPA, but everything else—including his class schedule, address, and emergency contacts—was gone. His picture was even blurred out.

That sneak, Virgo thought. But he wasn’t going to let that stop him. He opened a new tab in his browser and typed in Taurus’s name into the search bar. After a bit of digging, he located a post on social media that he soon learned was from Leo’s account. The post featured Leo in a jersey of the team he played on and his smiling face. Taurus was barely in the image. He must’ve told Leo to take down all pictures with his face, Virgo figured. No matter. I can just hack into Leo’s account, get his contact information, and from there, it’ll be cake.

For once in his life, Virgo was thankful he’d taken an ethical hacking course in middle school—and learned some other, less ethical material.

Something was bothering him, though. Capricorn had said Taurus was related to politicians who practically ran Admirant and the country. Yet he couldn’t find any material on them—not even by Taurus’s last name.

They must have predicted someone would come snooping around and purposefully hid, Virgo thought. After all, somebody in cahoots with them probably has loads of cybersecurity analysts under their thumb.

So Taurus wasn’t just a bully. He had smarts, too—but Virgo already knew that.

He spent the rest of the afternoon hacking into databases and breaking down paywalls for article information, but by the time the sun set, he’d only gotten details of the high school that Taurus went to and his birthplace.

Virgo decided to take a break. He stretched his arms above his head and leaned back on his bed, picking up his phone. He’d heard it vibrating while he hacked and coded away, and upon checking his notifications, he realized it was Cancer sending him messages. He’d gotten around to making an official contact for her on his phone.

Cancer: Hey Virgo!! 😙

Cancer: Wyd??

Cancer: Guess what!!

Cancer: My boyfriend is coming sooner than expected! He’ll be in town tomorrow!!

Cancer: I’m so happy!!!

Cancer: I can introduce you and Capricorn!!

Cancer: Completely fine if you don’t want to 😅

Cancer: Ahhh

Cancer: I’m so excited Virgo!!

Virgo smiled and started replying. After telling Cancer he’d love to meet the boyfriend she was always gushing over and wishing her a good night, he turned to his laptop and opened up a new tab.

He wasn’t going to stop until Taurus felt the same pain as his mother. How dare he get her in trouble at the job she loved so much? Virgo knew their whole bout was petty, but what could he do? He’d already declared war—the war of the mind games. And Taurus hadn’t promised to leave people he knew alone. Nobody was off-limits for him.

Virgo wondered if Taurus would even target himself, just to get ahead. Of course he would, he thought, feeling anger bubble up in his stomach. He’s sociopathic like that.

Virgo continued hacking deep into the night, not even taking a break for dinner. It was around 10 pm when he finally found something. He’d gone back to the school’s grade database and had, at last, broken down the strict security that kept other students from managing each other’s grades.

With a few quick clicks, Virgo skillfully turned all of Taurus’s grades—which were A+s, despite him constantly skipping class—to Fs. It wasn’t as big an accomplishment as he’d hoped, but at least it was something.

It would show Taurus he was dead serious.

After leaving the grading program, he decided to look over Leo’s social media again. He scrolled through pages upon pages but didn’t find any images of Taurus. What he did find, however, were some incriminating messages in Leo’s inbox. It wasn’t anything too deep—just Leo trash-talking a few of his friends behind their backs. Oh, and texts that suggested he was cheating on his current 22-year-old cheerleading girlfriend, Elizabeth.

I may as well send these to everyone’s school emails, Virgo thought, licking his lips mischievously. If I can’t hit Taurus, I may as well hit the next best thing.

With a few more clicks, control copy, and control paste, Virgo managed to spread Leo’s secrets all over campus. He even sent them to faculty members. And of course, he sent it to Leo’s own email. With a satisfied sigh, he finally closed his laptop and got ready for bed.