Chapter 3

Lily and the others were furious too.

"Evelyn, don't push it. The phone's in your hand the whole time, and Virginia's sitting right next to me. How could she steal your money?"

"If you've got the guts, go squeeze the money out of your male models. Don't come throwing your weight around in the dorm."

I watched Virginia's face.

Her eyes were rimmed red, but the corners of her mouth were fighting not to curl up.

I was a hundred percent sure now. She was behind it.

But like Lily said, the phone was in my own hand.

When the money hit my account, Virginia was sitting on her bed doing nothing at all.

So how had she done it?

I stepped out of the dorm for some air, hoping it would clear my head.

What exactly had Virginia pulled to keep my balance locked at fifty?

Then a thought came to me.

It couldn't go over fifty. But what if my balance dropped below fifty?

I went to the school cafeteria and loaded twenty onto my meal card.

The balance jumped to thirty.

A second later, the screen flickered.

The balance was back to fifty.

The hand holding my phone started to shake with excitement.

So my bank balance could only sit at fifty. Anything over vanished, and anything under got topped back up.

If the money that disappeared went to Virginia, then this money that came back—wasn't it coming from her too?

Back in the dorm, Virginia waved her phone at me.

"Worried you couldn't afford to eat, so I just sent you twenty."

I looked at her and gave a small smile.

"Well, thank you so much for that."

Virginia knew my card was short by twenty.

Which meant the money that came back really did come from Virginia.

She was afraid I'd catch on to the loophole, so she pretended she'd transferred me money.

But she forgot that a transfer leaves a record, and there was nothing on my end.

I didn't call her out.

A plan was starting to take shape in my head.

Our class had always had a custom. Whoever got the scholarship had to treat everyone to a meal.

I was going to make good use of this one.

Sure enough, the moment I walked into the classroom with my books, our class president called out to me:

"Evelyn, the scholarship came through, right?"

I nodded. "It did. Ten thousand."

The class started ribbing me the way they always did. "Treat us this weekend, top scholar!"

Virginia rolled her eyes in contempt.

"You're counting on her? She hasn't even paid her tuition."

"The scholarship just landed and she already handed it over to her male models."

I didn't explain. I just waved my phone.

"It's only a dinner. I can ask my mom for the money."

I dialed the number.

"Mom, I'm treating my classmates on Saturday. Send me some money."

"Don't send it now, though. There's still something wrong with my bank card. I'll ask you for it when it's time to pay that day."