Infinite Cashback: My Wealth Rebate System

Class let out in a scatter of chairs scraping back and bags zipping shut, and Jason had barely gotten his own bag over his shoulder when Vivian appeared at his elbow, already moving.

"Come on. We gotta go. Nadia’s been texting the group chat for ten minutes straight, she’s two messages away from an actual aneurysm."

"That urgent?"

"She sent a message that just said ’clock is ticking’ with no punctuation. That’s her final warning tier." Vivian was already tugging at his sleeve, the same habit from yesterday, apparently now a permanent feature of how she moved him from one place to another.

Behind them, Ben leaned toward Marcus with theatrical volume. "They’re going private again."

"Second time this week," Marcus said, nodding gravely. "Bold."

"I don’t know what they get up to in those study rooms, but I have theories."

"Extensive theories," Vivian said without even turning around, cutting them off before Jason could. "Very extensive. Wouldn’t want to ruin the mystery for you boys."

Ben’s mouth fell open slightly. Marcus actually clapped once, delighted.

"See," Marcus said, "she doesn’t even deny it. That’s how you know it’s real."

"There’s nothing to deny," Jason said, already being pulled toward the door. "You’re both insane and I’m leaving before either of you says something that requires an actual explanation."

"Have fun studying," Ben called after them, putting far too much weight on the word studying.

"We will," Vivian called back cheerfully, waving without looking, and Jason shook his head, letting himself be steered out into the hallway with her hand still loosely hooked around his sleeve.

They walked in comfortable quiet for about ten seconds before Vivian broke it, glancing sideways at him with the particular glint she got right before saying something designed to get a reaction.

"You know," she said, "you could’ve defended my honor back there instead of just standing there letting them assume things."

"What things exactly."

"The theories. The extensive theories." She grinned. "I basically confirmed their entire fantasy and you just let it happen."

"You’re the one who confirmed it. I was going to deny it."

"Too late now. The damage is done. Marcus probably thinks we’re secretly dating."

"Marcus thinks a lot of things that aren’t true. It’s kind of his whole personality."

"Fair." She bumped his shoulder lightly with hers, not quite an accident. "Still. Rude of you not to jump to my defense."

"I didn’t realize your honor needed defending from a compliment."

That stopped her for half a step. "That wasn’t a compliment."

"Sure it was. Ben thinks you’d want to be alone with me. That’s a compliment. Most people don’t." He said it evenly, no real weight behind it, the same dry delivery he used for everything, and watched her actually blink at it, caught slightly off guard.

"That’s not, I mean, that’s not what he meant–!"

"You’re stammering."

"I’m not stammering."

"You are. It’s very cute." He kept walking, entirely unbothered, letting the silence do the rest of the work while she visibly scrambled for a comeback that didn’t arrive fast enough.

"Okay, that’s not fair," she said finally, a flush creeping up along her ears that she was clearly trying to will away through sheer force of denial. "You can’t just say things like that."

"Why not."

"Because I don’t have anything to say back."

"That’s kind of the point of winning an argument." He glanced sideways at her, letting himself enjoy it, just a little, the rare sight of Vivian momentarily out of words.

She recovered fast, shoving his shoulder properly this time, laughing despite herself. "Shut up. We’re almost there anyway."

"Convenient timing."

"Extremely convenient." She pushed open the door to the same glass-walled study room from yesterday, and whatever composure she’d lost in the hallway snapped instantly back into place, her usual bright energy filling the doorway before Jason had even stepped through behind her.

Nadia looked up first, eyes narrowing at the clock visible on her laptop screen. "You’re four minutes late."

"I’m exactly on schedule for the amount of chaos required to get anyone anywhere on time," Vivian said, dropping into her usual seat.

Bree, tucked into her corner with the same paperback from yesterday, glanced up at Jason with quiet, unhurried attention. "You came back."

"I said I would."

"People say a lot of things." She smiled slightly, tilting her head. "Good. I had a theory about you and I wanted to test it."

"Should I be worried."

"Depends how the theory holds up." She didn’t elaborate further, already turning a page like the comment hadn’t been strange at all.

Nadia clapped her hands once, sharp, cutting straight through the small talk. "Okay. New plan today. We’re not doing flashcards."

Vivian sat up slightly. "We’re not?"

"Flashcards are for people who already know the material and just need repetition. None of us are there yet."

Nadia pulled a stack of blank index cards from her bag and dropped them in the center of the table.

"We’re doing something better. Everyone writes three exam questions. Hard ones. Actual trap questions, the kind Professor Warren would write if he wanted to ruin someone’s week."

"That sounds evil," Jason said.

"It is evil. That’s the point." Nadia slid a handful of cards toward each of them.

"Then we trade. Everyone answers someone else’s questions cold, no notes. Whoever gets stumped the most has to explain what they got wrong to the group. Public accountability. It’s the fastest way to find the gaps in what you actually know versus what you think you know."

Bree looked up again, a slow smile spreading. "I like this."

"Of course you like this," Vivian said. "You’re going to write something diabolical and none of us will see it coming."

"Probably."

"See, this is exactly why I’m scared of her," Vivian said, leaning toward Jason like she was sharing a secret, though her voice carried plenty loud enough for the whole table.

"She looks so calm and then she writes a question that makes you question your entire understanding of the class."

"People are rarely just one thing" Bree said, her voice echoing among the group

"Everyone start writing," Nadia said, already bent over her own cards, pen moving fast. "Five minutes. No talking. No looking at each other’s cards. This isn’t a democracy."

The room went quiet, pens scratching, Vivian chewing the end of hers thoughtfully before scribbling something with a small, wicked grin that promised whoever received her question was in for a rough time.

Bree wrote steadily, unhurried, her expression giving away nothing about what she was constructing.

Jason stared at his own blank cards for a moment, running through the material from the lecture, trying to think in exactly the kind of twisted, deceptive terms Nadia had asked for.

Trap question.

He thought back to the framing effects section, an idea forming slowly, deliberately, the same careful construction he used for laying out chess positions. He started writing, and around him the room stayed quiet except for the soft, steady sound of four people quietly building traps for each other, the actual studying somehow more competitive and more absorbing than anything a stack of flashcards could have managed.

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