Chapter 1

At the campus design competition awards, I was reaching for the trophy and the fifty-thousand-dollar prize that belonged to me.

Then my ex-boyfriend's current girlfriend rushed the stage and scattered a stack of suggestive photos over the audience and the judges' table.

"You little slut. We already broke up, so why are you still luring my boyfriend off to a hotel with you?"

Once everyone had looked at the photos, every eye in the room fixed on me. My ex stood below the stage and spoke up with a pained expression.

"I didn't want to. She's the one who came on to me."

I was shaking with rage. I'd just moved to grab the microphone and explain when a few lines of scrolling comments drifted across my vision.

【Don't explain. The photos are all AI fakes. The second you push back, she'll pull out a doctored video and cast it to the screen for everyone to see.】

【In your last life, the whole class labeled you a homewrecker, and your grandmother was driven to death by the rumors.】

【The design prize went to this pair, the trash boyfriend and the vicious girl. What she wants is to see you unable to defend yourself!】

【This time, just admit it. Play along with what she says, draw out anything useful, then finish her in one strike. Let them reap what they've sown.】

My trembling hand slowly curled into a fist. Looking at her furious face, I let the corners of my mouth lift.

"That's right. I did go to the hotel with Lester Dickerson."

1.

The room erupted.

Leona Fletcher hadn't expected me to just admit it. She froze for two seconds, then laughed.

"You all heard that, right? She admitted it herself!"

"She'd already broken up with Lester and still lured him to a hotel. How shameless can you get!"

Below the stage, teachers and students whispered to one another, and the looks they gave me turned uglier by the second.

Leona let out a cold snort. "Handing first place in the design competition to a homewrecker who ruins other people's relationships. Is that really appropriate?"

"Teachers, from what I understand, a competition doesn't just judge a person's skill. It judges their character too, doesn't it?"

"Carla Fox is a homewrecker with rotten character. For all we know, her competition entry was plagiarized from someone else. A champion like that? I refuse to accept it!"

At a signal from Leona's eyes, Lester spoke up weakly too. "I think I saw Carla's design drafts at the hotel that day. They had someone else's name on them."

The moment he finished, the murmuring surged. "Oh my God, not only is she a homewrecker, she plagiarizes too?"

"Everyone knows plagiarism is a disgrace in the design world. How does she dare?"

"She acts so innocent, but she's probably been passed around plenty."

In the crowd, I saw my friend, seething, start to stand up to defend me. But a comment flashed past my vision.

【Don't act rashly. Ask her whether she has proof!】

Leona watched me smugly. I kept my expression calm and spoke. "Where's your proof?"

"Since you're questioning my ability, then show me the evidence."

Leona looked like she'd been ready for this. She lifted her head and glanced at Lester.

Lester hesitated a flicker, but something crossed his mind, and he pulled a stack of design drafts out of his bag.

Every drawing I'd made since I started freshman year was on them.

Except every one was signed with a different person's name.

He handed them to the teachers and had them passed around.

Leona gripped the microphone and announced loudly, "Take a good look, everyone. Every single one of Carla's designs is copied from someone else."

"She even copied from a different person each time so no one would catch on."

The dates, the names, the fluid linework, the distinctive style, all of it both resembled mine and differed from it.

A student raised a doubt. "That doesn't add up. If she plagiarized this much, why was she never caught even once?"

Leona curled her lip. "That would be because a teacher at our school was covering for her!"

"Otherwise, how would a mere student dare to do all this?"

"From what I understand, to snatch a scholarship away from a poor student, Carla even stooped to seducing that teacher!"