In the end, all she could do was keep crying.
For the first time, I realized how satisfying it was to embrace being the villain.
Of course, she ran to tell the teacher.
The teacher called me to the office, where I put on a tearful performance, recounting the events of my birthday party.
By the end, I pulled out a hospital diagnosis.
“Because of her lies, my brother humiliated me in front of everyone that night. I cry every time I think about it, and I even wake up from nightmares.
“I’m seeing a therapist now, and I’m on medication. The doctor says I’m severely depressed.”
In the end, the teacher ended up comforting me instead.
It was no secret that I disliked Linda.
Rachel, baffled, asked, “Why do you keep targeting her? Did she ever actually do anything to offend you?”
I tilted my head and smiled at her.
“Can’t I just be a spoiled rich girl who looks down on the poor transfer student?”
“Yeah, right.”
She rolled her eyes at me.
“If you were really like that, why haven’t you bullied me? My family’s even worse off than hers.
“On our first day as friends, you bought me enough school supplies to last three years. If I’m supposed to believe you’re a bully, I might as well believe I’m Cleopatra. Even I’m not that clueless.”
Exactly.
Everyone understood that much.
Everyone except my brother and the man I liked.
I curved my lips into a faint smile, but there wasn’t a trace of warmth in my eyes.
…
A month later, the school prepared to celebrate its hundredth anniversary.
In my previous life, Linda performed a piano solo at the anniversary gala, arranged by Shawn and Alec.
Her performance caught the attention of a talent scout in attendance, who granted her the only special admission spot to their prestigious program.
And me?
I had been trained in dance since I was four years old, practicing for over a decade. I had prepared a classical dance routine for the gala.
But Alec found me before the performance.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm glow over the campus, he pulled me into a gentle hug and murmured, “Don’t perform, Sierra. I don’t want everyone else to notice how beautiful you are—it’ll make me jealous. Just dance for me, okay?”
Back then, I was a fool.
