Chapter 4

It was my mirror selfie and a shot of me from behind.

The face was blocked, but the clothes were exactly the same.

One sharp-eyed classmate recognized me right away.

"Isn't that Janice?"

"Guess she really did scam money in an online romance!"

The heavyset man smirked, pleased with himself, and swiped across the screen.

"I've even got the racy selfies you sent me last night!"

The whole crowd pressed in.

Gasps and mutters rippled through them, one after another.

"Wow, she's a real piece of work!"

"Playing the sweet, pure type all this time. She turned me down when I asked her out, and now someone finally exposes her. Disgusting!"

The photo had been faked into something crude and filthy. I couldn't even bring myself to keep looking at it.

Florence stood mixed into the crowd, her voice all fake sympathy.

"Janice, why don't you just give the guy his money back? In a minute the whole school's going to know you're a gold digger."

"You're a total embarrassment to this school. If you ask me, they should expel you. Make an example of you!"

I'd poured a lot into preparing for the graduate-school entrance exam.

The classmates who'd always been wary of me acted like they'd finally found their opening, and they were chanting for me to drop out as a group.

Anger sat pressed tight in my chest. I clenched my back teeth and said, cold,

"Every one of these photos was doctored. Spreading them out of malice violates my right to my own image, and I have every right to sue you!"

Florence's breath caught in an instant.

The fat man didn't budge.

"Hmph. I'm the one who wants to sue you. You took over a hundred grand off me, and you were flirting with other guys on the side!"

"Let everyone here be the judge. Who do you think you are?"

The classmates buzzed over it, and Kate, as if something had just come back to her, clapped a hand over her mouth and let out a low squeal.

"No wonder Janice keeps showing up in new designer stuff. It's all bought by some rich sugar daddy."

"I remember two days ago you said your boyfriend was a rich second-gen. Turns out that was a lie too."

The fat man had gone almost white with rage.

The slabs of muscle in his face twitched.

"If you don't give me my money back today, I'm not leaving!"

The academic advisor stepped up too, urging me to pay him fast and let the matter drop.

"Ned, if you still won't return the money, the school will have no choice but to bring in the police."

My gaze stayed calm and certain, and I caught the flicker of surprise in her eyes clear as day.

"That's fine. I already called them."

The smile froze on Florence's face, and panic pushed her voice up an octave.

"Called the police?"

"Something this small and you're calling the cops? Isn't that a waste of public resources?"

As she said it, she went to snatch my phone, to cancel the call.

I caught her hand before she got there.

"You, what are you doing?"

The smile in my eyes only deepened.

I looked at the fat man.

"Didn't you say I'm the one you were dating online? Then you must have a phone number for me, right?"

I held up my phone, the screen lit on the dial pad.

"Let's call it right now! If I really took your money, I'll pay back every last cent!"

"No, you can't call it!"

Florence had completely lost it. Her nails nearly dug into my wrist, her voice sharp and fast,

"Are you crazy? Once that call goes through, you're finished at this school!"

She glared at me, lips trembling.

The next second, all the color drained from her face.

The phone in her pocket had started to ring.