Chapter 4

Before the opening ceremony, I sat quietly in the audience, waiting for it to begin.

Bess Head, in a couture gown, came over on Phineas Henson's arm and settled into the seat beside me.

"Phineas, didn't you say Claudia's the best swimmer in her whole family? Can't you have her fish out a fish for me to play with?"

"Her family lives by the sea. What she catches is saltwater fish. Not the kind of thing for a young lady like you."

Bess shook her head and pouted.

"Come on, I just want to see how amazing Claudia really is! You wouldn't turn down a little request like this, would you, Phineas?"

"How about this. If she films the whole process of fishing them out, I'll give her a hundred a fish. Call it a favor to her family."

Phineas laughed softly, his voice full of indulgence.

"Fine, fine, whatever you want."

The words had barely landed when a message came through on my phone.

"Claudia, come home in a few days and fish out some fish for me. Gut them while you're at it. I need them."

That was his style. He never gave me a reason for anything.

Just I need them, and already he was planning to take my ugliest, most humiliated self and use it to please Bess.

But he seemed to have forgotten. To earn that prize money, I once carved fish for three days and three nights straight, and afterward the sight of fish blood made me faint.

One word from him about wanting to see fish carving, and I carved for a full seven hours, gagging the whole time.

That same night my fever hit a hundred and four, and I was on an IV for seven days.

To this day I can't forget it.

Afterward, when he found out, the way he apologized to me over and over, his eyes red and raw.

But whether he remembers or not doesn't matter anymore.

I had just set down my phone when I looked up and saw Phineas's crowd of friends arriving late.

They caught sight of me sitting beside him and started whispering.

"Hey, look at that girl. Real class. Wonder which family she's from?"

"Doesn't look like a sophomore. A girl like that would've been voted campus queen by now. Maybe she's a freshman?"

Bess's ears snagged on the words campus queen, and the look she cut me was like a blade.

Phineas followed her gaze over, and then his whole body went rigid.

Seeing him stare at me like that, Bess's voice curdled with jealousy.

"Phineas, you're awfully into this freshman. Am I not the prettiest in your eyes anymore?"

Phineas pulled his eyes away and shook his head.

"Her eyes look like someone's. I mistook her for her."

I saw the surprise in his eyes, but he didn't recognize me, the poor student he'd sponsored for a whole year.

Didn't recognize these eyes he'd praised more times than I could count.

One of Phineas's friends elbowed him, his tone teasing.

"If only that fisherman's daughter had a fraction of this girl's class. If she did, I'd stop laughing at her."

"That kind of thing is bone-deep. A poor girl can dress it up all she wants, the sour reek still comes through. Forget it."

I couldn't help smiling when I heard that. This sour-reeking poor girl of theirs had been praised by them for quite a while.

Phineas only smiled at that and tossed off a lazy reply.

"If she could get even a tenth of this girl's class, she'd have to train for it in her next life."

Amid the laughter, Bess quietly clenched her fist.

She pulled out a brush painting, drew every eye back to herself, and spoke with put-on mystery.

"Phineas and I finished this together last night. Guess what's inside? It's about Claudia!"

She bit down hard on last night, as if afraid no one would catch the suggestion in it.

Phineas only looked at her and smiled, shaking his head helplessly.

When the host onstage announced that I would be going up in ten minutes,

Bess called everyone around her over, me included.

"Come take a look, everyone. This is big news about our student representative!"

Plenty of people leaned in, wanting a clear look.

Bess didn't drag it out either. She unrolled the brush painting.

On it was a hideously ugly little figure, its face soaked through with ink, all a black smear.

And a few big characters scrawled crookedly across it.

【Claudia Vance's Personal Portrait】

Bursts of shrill laughter rose all around, nearly swallowing me whole.

But I just sat there below the stage, and only when the host called me up to speak did I slowly rise under everyone's eyes.

The host froze on the spot, staring at me, dazed.

"Miss, I called for Claudia Vance. May I ask who you—"

Before he could finish, I snatched the mic from him and gave a faint smile to the crowd below.

"That's right. I am Claudia Vance."