Chapter 4

I opened the version history.

The second row was Horace.

【Task: help her look into her major, get her family situation out of her.】

The third row was Bob.

【Task: build up the flirting, get her to bring up meeting in person herself.】

The fourth row was Hugh.

【Task: send voice messages on a set schedule, take the video calls, hold down the boyfriend role.】

After that came an emotion-tracking sheet.

【First time she calls me babe: ten points.】

【Says she misses me on her own: twenty points.】

【Cries and begs me to stay with her: thirty points.】

【Agrees to come to campus and meet in person: fifty points.】

I read down it row by row.

The night Grandma went into surgery, the one on duty was Bernard.

The night I got my acceptance results, the one on duty was Horace.

The first time I lied to my parents because of Hugh, saying I was on the phone with a classmate, the one keeping me company that day was Bob.

Only the video and voice calls were Hugh's job.

No wonder every time I asked to video, he'd say he was out.

He'd only suddenly agree once he was back in the dorm.

Jemima leaned in.

"These people are insane, right?"

I didn't say anything.

For three months I'd thought Hugh was getting to know me, a little at a time.

It turned out they'd been writing my habits, my family, my moods into a table and handing them off to the next person.

I kept scrolling.

The last page was the filming plan.

【Episode one: the in-person meeting, four phones to build the suspense.】

【Episode two: release the chat screenshots, steer viewers toward guessing the girl was dating four guys at once.】

【Episode three: reveal the duty-rotation truth, film the girl's breakdown reaction.】

【The longer the girl cries, the better the video performs.】

At the very bottom it said:

【Promotion earnings split four ways.】

Jemima swore.

"Save it right now."

I recorded every page, then downloaded each version in the history.

The file creator was Bob.

The earliest creation time was seven days before Hugh confessed to me.

Four editors' names, every one of them there.

I sent the material to my counselor.

The message had barely gone through when Hugh called.

"Come to the activity room."

"No."

"The campus page is already live."

He lowered his voice.

"There are tens of thousands of people waiting for you to explain right now."

"You don't show up, they'll just decide you're admitting you dated all four."

"You don't care about your reputation anymore?"

I opened the campus page.

Hugh was sitting in front of the camera.

A statement lay on the table.

"Jessica's probably on camera for the first time, and the pressure's too much for her."

"We've already worked it out. As long as she admits both sides planned this together, the misunderstanding is over."

Horace laughed beside him.

"Don't roast the freshman, everyone. She just got too into it."

The comments were all pushing for me to appear.

【Didn't she say she was the victim? Where's the proof?】

【All she can do is hide in the back playing pitiful.】

【Brave enough to date four, not brave enough to come explain?】

I picked up my laptop.

"Jemima, come with me."

The hallway outside the activity room was packed.

Someone saw me and instantly raised a phone.

"The time-management master is here."

"All four boyfriends are here. Who are you picking tonight?"

I pushed the door open.

Hugh stood up and reached for me.

"Sit down first."

I stepped around his hand and set the laptop on the table.

Bob killed the screen share.

"This is our account's livestream. Don't go putting your stuff up."

I looked at the camera.

"Didn't you want to hear me explain?"

The livestream went quiet for a few seconds.

Hugh slid the statement over.

"Read it out."

It said:

【I, Jessica Henson, took part in the campus online-dating challenge of my own free will.】

【I had flirtatious exchanges with Hugh Matthews, Bernard Fox, Horace Donaldson, and Bob Norris alike.】

【The four boyfriends' account of events is not a lie.】

I set the statement down.

"I did talk to all four of them at the same time."

A stir went up outside the door.

Horace smiled.

"Hear that? She admitted it herself."

The comments flooded in.

【Confirmed!】

【All four admitted.】

【Someone like this needs to lose the freshman rep spot, fast.】

I opened the laptop.

"But from start to finish, I only ever added one account. Hugh's."

Bob's face changed. He lunged to grab it.

Jemima blocked him.

I connected the projector and pulled up the first table.

【June 10, Bernard on duty.】

【June 11, Horace on duty.】

【June 12, Bob on duty.】

【Hugh handled voice and video.】

The activity room went dead silent.

I flipped to the file creation time.

"This table was made before any of them ever confessed to me."

Then I turned to the last page.

【Final task: tell Jessica Henson the truth, film her breaking down in front of everyone.】

"Hugh, you told me you got me through the whole summer."

"But you people even put a duty roster on liking me."

"I wasn't dating four boyfriends at once."

"It was four of them, all pretending to be one person, deceiving me."