Vicious

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, death, child abuse, and bullying.

Emilia LeBlanc reflects on her grandmother’s axiom that love and hate resemble one another, as both involve passion and pain. Emilia did not give credence to this idea until she met Baron “Vicious” Spencer, Jr.

The narration reverts to 10 years prior, when Emilia and her family arrive in Todos Santos, California. Emilia finds the all-black decor of the Spencers’ massive mansion off-putting. Her mother, a household employee, sends her to seek Vicious. Emilia hears him arguing with a man named Daryl. The two speak cruelly to one another, and Vicious announces his intention to kill Daryl someday. Emilia tries to flee, but the door opens and Vicious catches her eavesdropping. He threatens to kill her if it ever happens again.

Emilia avoids Vicious for the next two months, during which she is bullied for her low socioeconomic status by her wealthy classmates. After the bullies steal her textbooks, she seeks to borrow a copy from Vicious. She overhears him with a girl in his bedroom, which makes her jealous. Furious at the economic disparity between herself and her classmates, particularly Vicious, Emilia barges into the room and refuses to leave even when she finds Vicious kissing Georgia, a wealthy classmate.