Veronica's POV

Fuming with rage, Renee grabbed a pencil case from the desk and hurled it straight at the head of the girl gossiping nearby.

Everyone knew she could do whatever she wanted, since being from a rich family made her untouchable at school. So, when the attack happened, the crowd fell silent, exchanging helpless looks before pretending to mind their own business.

I, on the other hand, quickly lowered my head, feigning fear.

“Y-you’re right,” I stammered. “I must’ve seen wrong. That person probably just looks like you.”

My nervous denial only made things worse, as it looked like I was trying to cover something up after being threatened.

Watching me act like that, her expression darkened. She then raised her hand and slapped me hard across the forehead.

“You really must have a death wish,” she sneered. “Daring to mess with me?” She tilted her chin arrogantly and added, “I was going to let you keep a shred of dignity, but forget it. You don’t deserve it.”

Still glaring, she unlocked her phone and opened a few photos.

The pictures showed a naked girl, her face twisted in resistance and shame. It was obvious she had been forced.

Renee gave me a once-over, clicking her tongue mockingly. “How pathetic. Sleeping with old men for money and taking nudes for a loan? Is your family really that poor?” she scoffed.

Her careless words made the others exchange disgusted glances in my direction.

I looked down at the photo, at my sister’s expression full of despair, and rage burned in my chest. I could only imagine how much she must’ve suffered.

Seeing my silence, Renee’s smile deepened with cruel satisfaction.

But then I suddenly laughed.

“What’s so shocking about these?” I said coolly. “I’ve got plenty more like them.”

Before anyone could react, I tapped a few nearby phones and used Airdrop to send out a folder full of pictures.

The notification sounds then began chiming one after another around the classroom.

Renee and her little sidekick burst into shrill laughter.

“Elodie, you’re so desperate,” she mocked. “What, trying to get people to notice you? Looking for a job, maybe?”

But one of the boys nearby frowned and tapped her shoulder uncertainly. “Uh… Renee, the photos Elodie sent, those are of you.”

“What?!” Renee quickly snatched his phone, and the moment she saw the images, she screamed, “These are edited! That’s not me!”

The photos were the same ones she’d shown before, except the faces had been swapped for hers and her friend’s.

Meeting her furious eyes, I shrugged, unbothered.

“It’s the twenty-first century. Are you really still ashamed of a little nudity?” I said lightly. “When you Photoshopped my nudes, I didn’t take it so seriously. I just appreciated them as an art.”

The students began to murmur among themselves.

“So, the pictures of Elodie were fake, too?”

“Honestly, those face swaps look so realistic, it’s hard to tell what’s real anymore.”

I interrupted, smiling faintly. “The faces were AI-generated. But the body, that’s the real deal. Renee’s, to be exact.”

“Elodie, shut your filthy mouth or I’ll tear it off!” she screamed, charging at me.

Her movements were so frantic that her blouse slipped off one shoulder, revealing a small red mole, exactly like the one in the photos.

I almost laughed. My sister once had that same mole, but she’d burned it off with a curling iron to hide the resemblance. Now, karma had come full circle.

The boys’ eyes darted between her shoulder and the pictures. One of them even swallowed hard.

“So, it was her all along. No wonder she kept showing us those ‘nudes of Elodie.’ She just wanted us to comment on her own body.”

“Yeah,” another said with a leering grin. “Could’ve just stripped instead of going through all that trouble.”

Their crude laughter filled the air.

But instead of turning on them, Renee stormed up to me, eyes blazing, and grabbed my collar.

“Bitch!” she spat and slapped me across the face hard.

Veronica's POV

Pain shot up my face as it swelled instantly, the sting making me hiss through my teeth.

“Damn it! Even my parents never hit me!”

I lifted my hand, ready to slap her back, but someone grabbed my wrist midair.

It was Frederick Reese.

He flung my hand away in disgust, his brows furrowed.

“Elodie, that’s enough! You’ve gone too far,” he scolded. “Do you even realize how important a girl’s reputation is? What will people think of Renee after this?”

The cruelty on Renee’s face vanished in an instant, replaced by trembling lips and teary eyes as she threw herself into his arms.

“Frederick, if you hadn’t come, Elodie would’ve bullied me to death,” she whimpered.

And that was all I needed to know, he was that guy, the one my blind little sister used to date.

I’d already dug into their history. Frederick had been two-timing, dating my sister while fooling around with Renee on the side. He loved watching two women fight over him like he was some prize. And now he wanted to lecture me about “reputation”?

Funny how he’d stayed silent when people spread lies about my sister.

I yanked my arm free and, without thinking, slapped him hard across the face. “Reputation, my ass.”

The sound cracked through the room. Frederick staggered back, clutching his cheek in disbelief.

Before he could say a word, I started firing off rumors like bullets. “You’re such a scumbag! You swore you only loved me, and the next second you’re sleeping with Renee! That baby she aborted, wasn’t it yours?”

His eyes went wide. “What nonsense are you talking about? We’re just friends!”

“Oh, really? ‘Just friends’ who bring you underwear in the middle of the night? ‘Just friends’ who you call 'baby' while sending hotel payments to Renee? You even used my membership card to book your room. Have some shame, both of you!”

The words poured out before I could stop myself.

The students watching were stunned.

“Holy crap! This is insane.”

“I knew something was off between them! Guess the real girlfriend just exposed it all.”

With every whisper around the room, Frederick and Renee’s faces grew paler.

I was just getting started, but before I could continue, the professor walked in and tapped the lectern.

“Class is starting. Quiet down.”

He then cleared his throat and looked around. “Renee, from the journalism department, your last piece was impressive. We’ve submitted it to the provincial competition. Keep up the good work.”

Renee’s rage melted into smug satisfaction. She stood gracefully and smiled. “Thank you, Professor. I’ll do my best.”

But my eyes narrowed as I looked at the essay he projected on the screen.

“Professor,” I said evenly, “there must be a mistake. I was the one who wrote that article.”

Every gaze that had been admiring her turned to me in surprise, and the classroom buzzed again.

But the professor’s expression darkened. Clearly, he hadn’t expected me to confront him in front of everyone. He spoke in a cold, practiced tone. “For competition entries, the first requirement is a good reputation. After all your incidents, you’d only hurt the school’s name. Renee is an excellent student. She’s the better choice.”

He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I tilted my head, smiling slyly. “Tell me, Professor. Is it really because of her ‘good image,’ or did she pay you off?”

“Or maybe,” I added, feigning confusion, “you're her sugar daddy, that's why all the good things land in her lap.”

I sighed dramatically and put on my most innocent look.

Veronica's POV

“No way, an old guy going after a younger girl?”

The pen in the front row clattered to the floor the moment the words left my mouth. The classroom went dead silent.

“Elodie, are you out of your mind?!” Renee screamed, furious enough to chew me up and spit me out.

Meanwhile, the professor trembled, fumbling for his phone. “You’re slandering a faculty member in public. Do you know how disrespectful that is? I’m calling the police.”

“Go ahead. Call them.” I smiled faintly and answered before he could press the dial. “Maybe they can look into the bribe you took for stealing my article and claiming credit. And while they’re at it, they can check the rumors about me, the nude photos and ‘special job’ stories, so people stop throwing dirt at me.”

The professor’s face showed a flicker of guilt, and he didn’t push the button in the end.

Amid the murmurs of everyone watching, I quietly gathered my things and stood. “My work is mine and mine alone.”

The red paint on my clothes had dried into a sticky, foul-smelling mess. It was unbearable, so I headed straight back to the dorm to shower.

But halfway through washing, I glanced up and froze as I saw a tiny red light blinking from the vent above the shower. It was a miniature camera.

So, that was how Elodie’s private videos had been leaked.

Anger slammed through me. I wrapped a towel around myself and ran out, shouting down the hall, “There’s a peeping Tom in the girls’ dorm! There’s a camera in the bathroom!”

I pounded on the dorm supervisor’s door.

The girls on the floor, drawn by the commotion, poked their heads out. As soon as they heard the word “camera,” their faces went pale.

“Miss, look at this.” I held up the little camera, trembling. “I just pulled it out of the bathroom. Everybody needs to check their rooms. If photos or videos are taken and spread, we won’t be able to clear our names, just like me.”

Tears blurred my vision. The girls near me stared for a long moment, whispering to each other.

“Isn’t she the one who had those nude photos circling around? So, it was a setup. This is awful.”

“We have to call the police. This can’t go unpunished.”

The supervisor reached for her phone to dial 911, but a hand suddenly snatched it away.

Renee was breathing hard, eyes wide with panic. “No, don’t call. This must be a misunderstanding.”

I stepped closer, keeping my voice low but urgent. “Renee, we share this dorm. What if she recorded you, too? You can’t be soft about this. We have to find out who did it.”

Renee forced a nervous laugh, but before she could say anything, I pushed harder, feigning hurt. “You wouldn’t have done it, would you? You were the one showing my nude photos to the guys today.”

As soon as I said it, the crowd’s mood shifted.

“Exactly! There are only four girls in this room. Why were only Elodie’s pictures leaked? Maybe someone’s targeting her.”