Chapter 1

1: 1

The roommate who used to argue over a single cent when we split a group dinner was suddenly blasting huge cash gifts into the freshman chat.

Before I could even process it, Hester Pruitt posted another announcement in the group:

"Tomorrow night I'm dropping ten cash gifts of three hundred each. Get ready, everyone!"

Right then, the student I sponsored messaged me:

"Sis, could you transfer three thousand to the card? I want to buy a laptop tomorrow."

I stared at that message, and the longer I looked, the more wrong it felt.

I quickly pulled up the transaction history on the supplementary card.

Every single amount Hester had just given out matched, to the dollar, the amounts deducted from my supplementary card.

I tested the waters with a reply to the student I sponsored:

"Three thousand's too little. Let me send you thirty."

...

The moment the message went out, my hands started shaking and I couldn't stop them.

I switched back to the freshman chat. Hester was in there showing off like crazy.

"After training wraps tomorrow, on top of the three-thousand cash gifts, I'm buying bubble tea for every freshman. A thousand cups, plenty for everyone!"

"A thousand cups? You're so generous, that's fifteen grand right out the window!"

"Your family must be loaded, a total heiress!"

"I'm linking myself to Hester right now. Feed me long-term, please!"

"We have to nominate Hester as this year's campus queen!"

Hester replied to every single person.

Lottie Finch leaned half her body down from the top bunk and asked, low:

"A thousand-plus cups of bubble tea, that's over ten grand. You sure you want to treat?"

Hester didn't even turn her head. She answered offhand:

"What's there to be scared of? My parents are wiring me thirty grand in living expenses tomorrow, and our family's still the richest in Larkvale. This is nothing."

Lottie gasped. "So you're the richest in the village. No wonder you can throw money around like this!"

Hester said mildly, "I just don't like flaunting it everywhere."

I'd just told the student I sponsored I'd transfer thirty thousand, and she turned around and said her family was giving her thirty thousand in living expenses. The timing lined up exactly.

I fixed my eyes on Hester's back, the anger shooting straight to the top of my head.

The student I sponsored was named Zoe White.

Wait. What?

A second ago Hester said she was from Larkvale, and the student I sponsored, Zoe White, was from Larkvale too.

Either Zoe White and Hester were the same person, one girl playing two roles, scamming my sponsorship on one side while playing the innocent roommate on the other.

Or someone had quietly swapped out the sponsored student, rerouting my supplementary card to Hester, and the real Zoe White had never gotten a single cent from start to finish.

Hester was still bragging to the roommates, completely unaware she'd let her cover slip.

Alberta Lambert sidled over. "Guess we had you all wrong before. We thought you were pretty stingy."

Hester smiled and shot a glance my way. "I just keep a low profile. Not like some people who love to put on a show."

A few of them turned their heads to look at me at the same time.

I gripped my phone, forced the anger back down, and didn't lift my head to answer them.

I wanted to see exactly what she was going to use to hand out cash and buy bubble tea tomorrow.

Early the next morning, Hester went out.

She'd placed the order for a thousand cups of bubble tea a day in advance. The shop had them all made, just waiting for her to come in, settle the bill, and take them.