Chapter 3

I submitted my video on the day entries closed. The whole thing was only a minute long, but I'd watched it at least 50 times.

It opened at the library's west entrance. I walked past the steps with an armful of books, then glanced back at the camera.

The middle featured the athletic field, the science building, and the graduation photo backdrop.

In the final shot, I stood at the campus entrance and said, "I hope that when you come here, you'll find yourself along the way too."

My fingers were still trembling after the submission went through.

The photographer messaged me. "You did great. Now you can relax and get some sleep."

But I couldn't sleep.

I'd always hidden behind other people whenever a camera was involved. This time, I'd put myself in front of it.

Three days later, the preliminary results came out. The Office of Admissions posted the shortlisted entries on its official social media account.

First Place: Nina Wilde

Second Place: Chloe Lloyd

I stared at the screen, too stunned to react.

My roommate screamed and threw her arms around me. "Nina! You came in first! You actually came in first!"

Before I even had time to celebrate, the photography club group chat blew up.

"Nina came in first?"

"And Chloe came in second?"

"The video Ethan shot actually lost?"

Ethan didn't say anything until someone tagged him. "What do you think, Ethan?"

He finally replied, "The college will probably review the entry to make sure it's authentic."

My heart sank.

He didn't congratulate me or ask how I'd filmed it. His first reaction was to assume my entry wasn't real.

Chloe messaged me privately soon afterward. "Nina, that was incredible. Your photographer must be really good, though. It's hard to believe an ordinary student could produce something like that for only 20 dollars."

Someone quickly posted a screenshot of her messages in the group chat, and the conversation immediately turned against me.

"Exactly. There's no way that kind of quality only cost 20 dollars."

"Did she hire a commercial production team to produce the whole thing?"

"What if it was heavily edited?"

"Isn't an admissions ambassador supposed to be a real student?"

"Maybe the photographer knows someone in the Office of Admissions."

It wasn't long before posts questioning the results appeared on the campus forum too.

"Admissions Ambassador Preliminary Results Disputed: Student Suspected of Hiring Commercial Production Team"

"A Promo-Quality Video for 20 Dollars? Seriously?"

The comments grew nastier by the minute.

"Wasn't she known for looking terrible on camera?"

"Now she's suddenly leading-lady material? Who's going to believe that?"

"Guess she'll do anything for attention."

The longer I stared at the comments, the colder my fingertips felt.

Then a message from Ethan popped up.

"Who exactly is that photographer? Did he hire a team to help you? Nina, this is an admissions ambassador competition, not a glamour shoot. Don't turn a college campaign into an excuse to show off."

I stared at the screen for a long time before replying, "You think I cheated too?"

He answered almost immediately, "You know how unphotogenic you've always been."

His words cut deep. He couldn't believe I could look good on camera without something being faked.

That afternoon, a staff member from the Office of Admissions called me.

"Nina, please come to the Office of Communications. Someone has raised concerns that your video may have been produced by a commercial team, heavily edited, or given an unfair advantage through personal connections.

"We need to review the original footage."

I stood in the doorway of my dorm room, my mind completely blank.

My phone buzzed with a message from the photographer. "Take a breath. You're going to be okay. I didn't make you look like someone else. I just filmed you properly."

I held on to those words until I could feel my fingers again.

A second later, another message from Ethan appeared. "I'll go with you. I know how you used to look on camera."