I smiled, locked my phone, and turned to Tessa Wynn.
“Let’s go get haircuts later. Invite Lydia Quinn too—my treat.”
“Alright! But only if you let Lydia and me treat you to dinner after. We don’t want to mooch off you all the time.”
I was about to reply when Scarlet’s shrill voice interrupted from behind.
“Where are you eating? Why didn’t you invite me? We’re dormmates—why are you excluding me? Celeste, do you think you’re better than me?”
Her voice was so loud that it drew the attention of the entire class.
Noticing everyone’s stares, she immediately switched to a pitiful tone and lowered her head.
“I know you’re all from wealthy local families. I’m just a girl from a small town—you must all look down on me. But I really just want to be friends.”
But her idea of friendship?
Every time we went out, she used her supposed poverty to dodge the bill.
Whenever we insisted she pay, she guilt-tripped us with sob stories—how hard her life was, how little she had.
After enough of that, none of us wanted to hang out with her anymore.
Just as I was about to pull out my phone and show everyone the evidence, Ethan Granger—my boyfriend and the class monitor—suddenly jumped out like some white knight.
“Celeste, didn’t I tell you already? I can’t stand domineering girls. Just because your family has a bit of money doesn’t mean you can bully others!”
"Scarlet may not come from a wealthy family like yours, but she's better than all of you born with silver spoons in your mouths. Coming from a small town and still getting into the same university—don’t you see how hard she’s worked..."
Listening to him go on and on about "poverty" and watching him defend Scarlet so righteously made me feel sick.
If my family hadn’t sponsored him, he’d still be stuck in that remote village, turning screws in a factory.
If I hadn’t begged my parents to give him an extra living allowance, if I hadn’t bought him luxury items, how could he have ever pretended to come from a well-off family, looking all polished and refined?
But Ethan wasn’t grateful at all. He resented the scent of money on me.
Worse, he knowingly used my family’s money to help Scarlet—the same girl who was scheming to replace me.
Recalling the nauseating image of him embracing Scarlet in my past life, I took out my phone and immediately messaged my parents.
Starting today, the company will cut all funding to Ethan.