Chapter 2

To make things easier, Molly practically lived with my family, and we went to school together every day.

Somewhere along the way, she seemed to forget that none of it was actually hers. After spending so long surrounded by my family's money and privilege, she started acting like she really was the heiress.

At school, she spent my family's money like it belonged to her. She quickly earned a reputation as the rich, generous girl who was always picking up the tab. Before long, she was treating the whole class to meals and outings all the time.

While everyone praised her for being so generous, she was trashing me behind my back.

She told people I was her neighbor's daughter and spread rumors that I was cheap and broke. She even claimed Mom made a living collecting trash.

The rumors spread fast.

I wanted to set the record straight, but Molly talked me out of it. She told me that the more I tried to defend myself, the guiltier I'd look. I was stupid enough to believe her.

Meanwhile, she kept feeding the rumors behind my back until the whole class had turned against me.

And whenever things got bad, Molly was always there to comfort me. Little by little, she made herself the only person I thought I could trust.

In the end, the worst betrayal of all came from her.

One day during a class meeting, the class fund disappeared. Molly immediately accused me of stealing it, then took the story online and told everyone I was a thief.

By then, she already had everyone convinced she was sweet and generous, so my classmates believed her without question and piled on.

The internet tore me apart, and my reputation was destroyed.

Mom and Dad did everything they could to clear my name. But while they were busy dealing with the fallout, Molly teamed up with our family driver, stole confidential company files, and sold them to a competitor.

Before long, the company went bankrupt. Our creditors came after us, and in the end, Mom, Dad, and I were all killed.

After our deaths, Molly started livestreaming and cast herself as the righteous one in the whole mess. She made a fortune off it and ended up with everything.

Thankfully, I'd been given a second chance.

This time, I wasn't going to repeat the same mistakes. And I sure as hell wasn't wasting another ounce of kindness on someone who didn't deserve it.

When I still didn't respond, Felicia finally lost patience. She reached for me, trying to force me to my knees in front of Molly.

I sidestepped her and shoved her to the floor instead. "You like kneeling so much? Then stay down there."

"Amber!"

Felicia flew into a rage, humiliated in front of everyone. She was about to come at me when Molly stopped her.

Molly gave Felicia an apologetic look, acting like she was the bigger person.

"Felicia, don't be mad at Amber. Her life's already hard enough with the family she comes from. How about this? When we get to Maldelis, I'll buy you a few extra souvenirs to make up for what she did."

What a hypocrite.

I gave Molly a cold look, then turned and walked out of the classroom without another word.

The second I stepped outside, I pulled out my phone and texted Mom.

"Mom, stop giving Molly money."

So she wanted everyone to think she was some rich heiress?

Fine. I wanted to see how long she could keep up the act once my family stopped paying for it.

After leaving the classroom, I went straight to the cafeteria.

Why waste another second on those people when I could be eating something good?

And this time, Molly wasn't there to stop me. I loaded my tray with chicken tenders, meatballs, and barbecue pulled pork, all the things she'd rarely let me eat before.

In my last life, whenever I tried to get extra meat at lunch, Molly would stop me.

"Amber, you're already overweight. You really should be trying to lose weight!

"If you want to lose weight, you should eat more vegetables and cut back on meat. I'm only looking out for you!"

After hearing that over and over, I actually started believing her. Every time we went to the cafeteria, I let her fill my tray with the cheapest vegetable sides.

Eventually, my diet became so unbalanced that I ended up malnourished. My blood sugar dropped so low that I passed out several times while running.

All the while, Molly pocketed the money she saved by skimping on my meals. She spent it on clothes and handbags for herself, then used some of it to treat other people so she could look generous.

That was how she earned a reputation as the rich, kindhearted heiress who was always helping people out.

I, on the other hand, kept a low profile and lived on cheap, basic meals, so everyone naturally assumed I was the poor student Molly had taken under her wing.

Looking back, I had to admit she'd been far more calculating than I ever realized.