My Best Friend Catfished Him With My Photos

Megan Quinn froze.

She clearly hadn't expected that answer from me.

"Why, Chantelle?"

"Ethan's family might not be one of the most powerful around, but they're still incredibly wealthy."

"Haven't you always wanted to get away from your family? This is such a good opportunity."

A good opportunity?

That was exactly what I had thought in my last life.

And look where it got me.

At the thought, I shook my head.

"No. I can get scholarships now, and if I work part-time, I'll have enough to finish college."

"But... then we won't get to hang out all the time anymore."

Megan lowered her eyes, looking disappointed.

"If you dated Ethan, the four of us could go out together all the time..."

"Then we just won't."

I cut her off calmly.

"Megan, we're adults now. We can't stay attached at the hip forever."

Her eyes immediately turned red.

"Are you... are you still mad at me because I used your photos when I was dating Jake online?"

Looking at the tears gathering in her eyes, I felt a complicated mix of emotions.

She had looked exactly like this in my last life too.

Back then, I had softened.

I hugged her and told her I wasn't angry.

Then I agreed to date Ethan.

Eventually, I married him.

And died on the operating table.

"No."

"I only hope you'll be happy."

Maybe she hadn't expected me to be so firm.

Megan finally lost her temper and yanked her hand away from mine.

"You're impossible! Fine. Don't come looking for me again!"

I stayed where I was and watched her storm off around the corner of the hallway.

It took dying once to realize something.

Saying no to Megan really wasn't that hard.

—

Megan was true to her word.

She ignored me all day and didn't send me a single text.

I was more than happy to enjoy the peace and quiet.

I went to class, took notes, ate at the cafeteria, and went about my day as usual.

Only once in a while would I suddenly wonder if all of this was just some hallucination I was having before I died.

When the bell rang, I packed up and headed to my part-time job at a bubble tea shop.

The moment I stepped out of the classroom, I saw Ethan leaning against the railing in the hallway.

His bright blond hair was impossible to miss, and with a face that handsome, girls passing by kept turning to look at him.

My grip tightened around the strap of my backpack.

In my head, I suddenly heard the last phone call from my previous life.

"Chantelle, I already told you. Megan just got divorced and she's having a hard time. I'm only staying with her for a few days as a friend.

"There's nothing going on between us. Stop calling me. I'll be back in a couple of days."

Then he hung up.

At the time, I had been lying in a delivery room, wave after wave of contractions tearing through me.

The phone slipped from my hand.

A nurse asked, "Is your husband here? Is there anyone we can call?"

I shook my head.

"No. It's just me."

In the end, no one was able to reach him.

And I never made it out of that delivery room.

An amniotic fluid embolism took my life.

My last thought before I died was:

'Would he regret it when he found out I was dead?'

Now, looking at the nineteen-year-old Ethan standing in front of me, young, cocky, and completely full of himself, I took a deep breath.

I lowered my head and tried to walk past him as if I hadn't seen him.

But he grabbed my wrist.

"Chantelle, why won't you date me?"

He frowned, clearly annoyed.

I tried to yank my wrist free, but he wouldn't let go, so I glared at him instead.

"Because I don't like you."

Not only did he refuse to let go, he leaned closer, looking down at me.

"Why not?"

"Or is this some kind of game? Playing hard to get?"

I almost laughed.

"Are you money or something? Why should I have to like you?"

The corner of his mouth lifted, his expression full of arrogant amusement.

"I'm not money, but I have plenty of it."

"So?"

I looked him straight in the eye.

"There are plenty of rich guys in the world. Why would I have to like you? If all I wanted was money, why wouldn't I go after Jake Miller? Isn't he richer than you?"

Ethan's face darkened instantly.

He finally released my wrist and looked at me with open disgust.

"You seriously want to go after Jake? Megan treats you like her best friend, and you're trying to steal her boyfriend?"

I couldn't be bothered arguing with him.

I turned to leave.

And that was when I saw Megan and Jake standing around the corner of the hallway.

I had no idea how long they'd been there.

Megan's face was pale, and she looked like she might collapse.

Jake, meanwhile, was staring at me with an unreadable expression.

"Chantelle..."

Megan finally spoke, disbelief in her voice.

"Did you really mean that?"

My first instinct was to explain.

"No, I—"

But I stopped myself.

What a terrible habit.

Why did I need to explain myself?

I'd only said it to get Ethan off my back.

"Think whatever you want."

With that, I turned and headed downstairs.

—

By the time I got home from my shift at the bubble tea shop, it was almost eight.

The moment I opened the door, the smell of dinner hit me.

Mom, Dad, my younger brother, and Megan were all sitting around the dining table.

Mom was smiling as she piled food onto Megan's plate.

"Megan, I made your favorite mac and cheese. Have some more."

The second she saw me, her smile disappeared.

"You come home this late every day. Who knows what you're out doing? Megan's been waiting for you forever."

"It's okay, Mrs. Keller."

Megan waved at me with a sweet smile.

"Chantelle, come eat."

I pushed down my irritation, put my bag away, washed my hands, and took the empty seat beside her.

The table was covered with food.

Mac and cheese, baked salmon, garlic butter shrimp, roasted oysters, creamy chicken soup, and a big bowl of salad.

I glanced over everything and lowered my eyes.

I couldn't eat any of it.

The mac and cheese was the only thing I could have, and naturally, it had been placed right beside Megan, as far away from me as possible.

Whatever.

I reached for some salad.

Before I could even take a bite, Mom started in on me.

"Megan told me she introduced you to a really good guy, and you turned him down?"

My hand froze.

I instinctively looked at Megan.

She sat there as if nothing had happened, smiling gently.

"Mrs. Keller, don't blame Chantelle. I think she does like him. She's probably just embarrassed."

I set down my fork and cut her off quietly.

"I'm not embarrassed. I just don't like him."

Megan's smile froze.

The table went silent for a beat.

Then Mom exploded.

"You don't like him? Who do you think you are, some kind of princess? Since when do you get to be picky?

"If Megan hadn't made the introduction, do you really think a guy from the Lawson family would even look twice at you?"

"I'm nineteen. I'm still in college. I have the right to choose who I date."

I looked up, my eyes beginning to sting.

"Nineteen isn't that young."

Mom slammed her fork onto the table.

"If you can marry into the Lawson family, why would you even need college? I've told you before, girls don't need that much education. All it does is fill their heads with ideas!"

The moment the words left her mouth, she caught sight of Megan sitting beside her.

Megan was in college too.

Mom's expression turned awkward.

She quickly added, "Well, Megan's different. She's going to inherit her family business. Of course she needs a good education."

Megan smiled but didn't respond.

Instead, she turned to me.

"Mrs. Keller, let Chantelle think about it some more. She'll come around. I'll stay over tonight and talk to her."

Mom immediately beamed.

"Oh, that would be wonderful! I'll go get some toiletries ready for you."

Then she shot me a sharp glare.

"Eat up. And when you're done, go find Megan a nice set of pajamas."

That night, Megan and I lay side by side in the same bed, neither of us speaking first.

We used to have sleepovers like this all the time.

No one knew that Megan had once been my safe haven.

She had also been the person I cherished more than anyone.

When I was twelve, I once snuck a chicken wing at dinner.

Mom chased me through the house with a broom.

"You greedy little brat! You were already stealing nutrients from your brother before you were even born, and now you're still taking his food? I'll teach you!"

I fled downstairs and nearly ran straight into Megan, who had just moved in across the street.

She was wearing a white princess dress.

Standing there in the middle of our run-down apartment complex, she looked completely out of place.

She had clearly never seen anything like this before.

Her eyes turned red with fright.

An elegantly dressed woman hurried over and took her hand.

"Megan! Didn't I tell you not to wander off?"

She glanced at Mom and me, gave us a polite nod, and was about to lead Megan away.

Megan lived in the small house across from our apartment building.

It was the nicest house in the neighborhood.

I couldn't stop staring at her princess dress.

Meanwhile, she kept staring at my face, which probably still had grease around my mouth.

Then suddenly, she said,

"Mom, can she come over and play with me?"

And just like that, I escaped being beaten that day.

After that, whenever Mom came after me, Megan would often show up and take me back to her house.

It wasn't until later that I learned she was the Quinn family's illegitimate daughter.

Her mother had been Mr. Quinn's mistress.

"Chantelle."

Megan was the first to break the silence.

Her voice was quiet.

"If you're still upset that I used your pictures when I was dating Jake online, you can just tell me."

"I'm not."

My answer was the same as before.

And I meant it.

I knew she hadn't realized what was happening at first either.

Jake spent most of his time overseas and only came back occasionally.

During one of his visits, he saw me at a party.

He pointed in my direction and asked a friend,

"Who's that girl?"

But his friend thought he was pointing at Megan, who happened to be standing beside me.

"Her? She's the Quinn family's illegitimate daughter. They only brought her into the family recently."

Jake went quiet for a moment.

Then he asked,

"Do you have her contact info?"