Chapter 2

I sat on the toilet, watching Linda argue and trade insults with strangers, tears streaming down my face.

I moved to New Jersey when I was eight. Linda was the first friend I made.

When my parents died, she stayed by my side day and night. When she got bullied at school, I was the one who stood up for her. From age eight to twenty-five, we were practically inseparable.

I never imagined this was how she really saw me.

More and more people were piling onto the post.

Most were defending me, but a small handful had started giving her advice.

[FFFYEP: Sweetie, look here! I've been there! Last year my sister got into a big company and I sent an anonymous email saying she was the ringleader of a school bullying incident—got her kicked out, easy. The photos were all faked but the company didn't bother fact-checking. DM me if you want a tutorial!]

[OP LLLIN: OMG! Babe! I love you, I'm coming right now!]

[trrdio: Same here! My best friend is applying for an exchange program in Japan. I want to be ready in advance.]

I thought back to freshman year of college, when I commissioned a custom tutu encrusted with five hundred Swarovski crystals just so Linda could enter a competition.

But after Linda got it, she didn't speak to me for two weeks. The dress was ripped to shreds and tossed in the dumpster outside her apartment.

When my parents died, they did leave me a substantial inheritance, enough that I'd never have to worry. Now I see Linda must've thought I was rubbing my comfortable upbringing in her face.

Over a decade of friendship, and it crumbled like paper in the face of jealousy.

When I came back to the living room, Linda was already carrying the strawberries toward the kitchen.

"It's getting warm. I'll chill these in the fridge—they taste better that way."

I nodded and said nothing.

Once she was in the kitchen, I picked up my phone again.

[OP LLLIN: Btw, how do I get her novels taken down? They're her main income source. I have to deal with that first.]

The post exploded with dozens of new replies, plenty of insults mixed with actual schemes.

[FFFYEP: Easy, sweetie! Do you know her pen name? Which sites does she write on? Read every single one of her novels—you'll definitely find something you can use.]

[OP LLLIN: I actually don't know! She's never let me read anything she's written!]

[FFFYEP: Hiding it like that means there's something to hide! Sweetheart, go read all her stuff. If you find anything good, send it to her company email. See if they still want her then!]

[OP LLLIN: DAMN, sweetheart you're savage! Two birds with one stone! I'll go find out her pen name right now!]

When my parents died in a car accident in high school, Linda stayed at my place the whole time. She wouldn't leave my side.

I treated Linda like the only family I had left.

I was a wreck back then, just drifting through life, and Linda was the one who pushed me to write. That's how I started writing novels, and I've been doing it for years.

The novels weren't just an outlet for everything I was feeling—they became my main source of income.

And now Linda wanted to destroy that.

Linda came back.

I quickly screenshotted the comments and closed the page.

She sat down beside me. The smell of her perfume made me want to throw up.

"Jessica, what's your pen name? Let me read your novels!"

There it was. She was fishing.

"What I write isn't anything worth showing off. You wouldn't like it."

Linda's face changed.

"Jessica, you're being so stingy."

"We're so close—what's there to hide from me?!"

"Oh! Don't tell me you wrote me in as the evil mean girl!"

I smiled and shook my head.

"Does your company know you write? What did HR say in the interview?"

"They said side jobs are fine, so I didn't bring it up."

"Got it. Did they tell you when you start?"

"Monday."

"That's wonderful, Jessica. Congrats."

"Linda, I'm your best friend, right?"

I stared into her eyes, hoping to spark even a sliver of the friendship we'd had.

"Of course! I'm so happy for you, getting a job like that."

She smiled.

But the post updated again.

[OP LLLIN: Girls! She starts Monday! Boost this post! I've got three days to ruin her!]

Fine. If she really didn't care about everything we'd been through, I wouldn't pull my punches either.

She wanted my pen name? I'd help her out.