Chapter 1

Seconds after I posted my reply, our high school group chat filled with people tagging me.

"That plagiarist actually has the nerve to show up? Isn't she afraid she'll fall through the floor?"

"That's Blue Rose Manor! It costs $300,000 a day to rent. Has she ever even seen a place that luxurious?"

"No bridesmaid dress? Ha! She probably can't squeeze into one and is just making excuses!"

"God, what vehicle could even carry you now? Try calling a tank!"

Jack posted a posed gym photo. "Fellas, just wait until the wedding. I'm going to lift two hundred pounds in front of everyone. Better start training my lower back now so I don't break it on the big day."

The chat howled. "Hold on tight during the first dance, Jack. Don't let her send you flying."

No matter how many years went by, their cruelty never changed.

Ella stepped in to smooth things over. "They're just teasing, Sophie. Don't be nervous. I already had your bridesmaid dress made five sizes larger, so it'll be nice and roomy."

And then she slid the knife in.

"If going up five sizes still isn't enough, there's really nothing I can do. That's as large as the bridal shop goes."

This was what Ella did best. She played the good girl while driving the knife as deep into my heart as she could.

Back then, I pulled three all-nighters creating my competition entry, only for Ella to see it and steal it for herself.

Using my work, she won a gold medal in the statewide competition and secured a recommendation letter for admission to an elite university.

Stolen work always comes back to haunt you. Afraid she would be exposed, Ella went on the offensive, spreading rumors to smear me and accusing me of plagiarizing her work.

I was shy and terrible at defending myself, and Ella was one of the most popular girls in school, so no one believed me.

In public, she made a show of standing up for me, cementing her image as the school's beautiful, kindhearted golden girl. In private, she watched coldly and let the entire school bully me.

The stigma of being called a plagiarist clung to me. For all four years of high school, I couldn't escape the cruelty Ella had unleashed.

I scrolled and screenshotted every sneering comment.

The page refreshed, revealing another phony show of concern from Ella in the comments.

"Don't be so harsh, everyone. Sophie was actually very kind back then. She brought Jack breakfast every day, even though he threw it straight in the trash every time."

Jack replied instantly, "Oh my God, shut up! If I hadn't lost that bet to you guys, do you really think I would've said a single word to someone like her?"

As I read those words, Jack's face flashed through my mind.

The day I walked out of the school gates covered in mud, with the laughter coming from every direction, Jack was the only one who pushed through the crowd and shouted at them to stop.

He handed me a pack of tissues, his voice gentle. "Here, wipe yourself off. You'll catch a cold."

That was the first kindness I'd known in all the darkness of that school.

From that moment on, I fell for him completely.

When he sprained his ankle playing ball, I ran three blocks through a downpour to buy him anti-inflammatory cream. When he complained that his math homework was tedious, I stayed up all night imitating his handwriting and filled an entire workbook for him.

He never showed the disgust everyone else did. He would say, "Sophie, you're really sweet."

Then, just before graduation, I gathered every scrap of courage I had and handed him my love letter.

He accepted it with a smile. Then he went straight to the broadcast booth and read my love letter theatrically over the PA to thousands of students. At the end, he scoffed, "From now on, stay the hell away from me. I'm allergic to pigs."

The moment the broadcast cut off, the entire school building erupted in laughter.

Only when I heard my classmates laughing did I realize the whole thing had been a vicious bet.

I had been fooling myself. To him, I was only a twisted trophy he could use to impress Ella.