Chapter 3

I had no interest in arguing with Tammy any further.

Unfortunately, she only got worse.

One day in the dining hall, she saw me pouring myself a glass of lemonade, the same thing she'd gotten, and actually stopped to roll her eyes. "God, some people are like flies. So freaking annoying. I get lemonade, and of course, she has to get lemonade too..."

My hand paused over the pitcher.

I looked at her curiously. "Are you talking about yourself?"

Tammy sneered. "I'm talking about whoever keeps copying me. Seriously, when are you going to stop? Now you even have to copy what I drink?"

I laughed and glanced over my shoulder.

It was the middle of summer, and the dining hall offered free ice-cold lemonade with lunch. Naturally, it was one of the most popular drinks on campus.

Behind me, a long line of students was waiting to get some.

I raised my voice, putting on an exaggerated look of realization. "Oh, I get it now! I guess everyone here is copying Tammy Reed. Tammy got herself some lemonade, and suddenly all these people decided to get lemonade too. Apparently that makes all of you copycats!"

Every head in the line turned our way.

A few people immediately frowned. "Who's Tammy Reed? What are you talking about?"

Tammy immediately panicked. "I… I wasn't talking about you guys! I was only talking about her!"

I tilted my head. "So, when I get lemonade, I'm copying you, but when everyone else gets it, they're not? How does that work?"

"You!" Tammy jabbed a finger at me, too furious to get another word out. "Fine! I don't even want it anymore!"

She shot me a disgusted glare, then grabbed her cup and poured the lemonade straight back into the dispenser.

"What is wrong with you?" someone in line snapped. "You just poured your drink back in there! Other people are supposed to drink that!"

Tammy's face went scarlet. "I didn't drink from it!"

"How are we supposed to know that?"

"That's disgusting..."

"Someone, get a dining hall employee. What if she did drink from it? Nobody wants her germs!"

The line erupted into chatter as more and more people began complaining.

"You…" Tammy's eyes welled up. The moment she saw a dining hall employee heading our way, she stomped her foot and bolted.

After that little incident, Tammy ended up all over the campus gossip page.

For the next few days, people kept coming up to her and asking if she was the girl from the viral post.

She was so humiliated that I heard her crying in our dorm more than once.

On the bright side, she finally left me alone for a while.

Two weeks later, in our entrepreneurship class, the professor had each group present their final project.

My three teammates and I had pulled more than a few late nights putting ours together, and we'd finished both our presentation and business proposal well ahead of time.

So, when it was our turn, we walked to the front of the room feeling pretty confident.

We presented our product, which was designed for seniors, then walked the class through our business model and marketing strategy.

When we finished, the professor applauded enthusiastically. "Excellent work. The concept is innovative, but it's also practical and commercially viable. I can tell you put a lot of thought into this. Everyone else should take notes."

My teammates and I exchanged excited smiles.

The group with the highest score in the class would qualify for the university-wide startup competition.

At this rate, we actually had a shot. All those late nights might finally pay off.

The professor looked around the room again. "Would anyone like to critique their presentation? Tell us what they did well and where they could improve."

The room fell silent.

Then one hand shot up. Tammy's.

The professor looked pleased to see someone volunteering and called on her.

But instead of offering feedback, Tammy stood up with an angry expression and pointed straight at us. "Sir, they stole our entire project!"