Let's Read Her Mind

I could hear the thoughts of the poorest girl in the entire school.

At our campus ball, she deliberately ate food that contained nuts to give herself an allergic reaction and blame me for it.

With tears streaming down her face, she cried, "I know you don't like me! I know you look down on girls as poor as me, but you can't bully me like this!"

Everyone believed her and turned on me, including my fiancé, Mark Hawkins, who was expected to form a political alliance with my family through our engagement.

He pinned me in place and demanded that I apologize to the 'victim'.

I shook my head, trying desperately to explain that it was not me who put the nuts in her food.

That was when I heard the thoughts of that 'poor' girl, Alice, ''So what if she's the mafia don's daughter? I still brought her down. Being defended by her rich, clueless fiancé feels incredible!'

I was stunned.

Before I could react, Mark pushed me to the floor and said firmly, "Helen, apologizing won't kill you."

A disbelieving laugh slipped out of me.

I wondered if he would still say the same thing if he could hear Alice's thoughts.

When I finally gained the ability to share the thoughts I heard with someone else, I chose Mark without hesitation.

Midway through the ball, Alice suddenly cried out in alarm. Everyone knew her as a penniless student. Something was wrong, and her skin was flaring up in an allergic reaction.

Her face and arms were covered in itchy red bumps. With a plate in her hand, she cried out, "Who did this? Who put nuts in my food?!"

All eyes fell on me.

I was on the student council and in charge of the food.

I told everyone that there were no nuts in any of the ball’s snacks.

However, they later found bits of nuts in my coat pocket.

Alice looked terrified. She trembled a little, like she was trying to be brave, before looking straight at me.

"Helen, what did I ever do to you? Why would you deliberately trigger an allergic reaction for me? Are you trying to stop me from becoming the Belle of the Ball so you can keep all the glory to yourself?"

I was totally confused, trying to figure out what was going on.

Alice kept on accusing me, "You might think you're better than me because I'm poor, but that doesn't give you the right to hurt me! I'm not trying to compete with you. I just want to win the Belle of the Ball title for the $450 prize!

"That might be nothing to you—not even enough for a new purse—but it's all I’ll have to live on for a whole semester! And I could use the extra money to buy medicine for my sick mom!"

She started to cry as she talked, "I wasn't born into the Clark mafia family like you. I've never stolen or taken anything that wasn't mine. I got into this fancy school on a scholarship, and I work hard. What did I do to deserve this?

"Is it a crime to be poor? Do I deserve to be picked on by people like you, Helen Clark?"

Her tears fell, and she looked so sad that the other students grew upset too.

"Yeah, what's the big deal? Just because Helen's dad is a mafia don doesn't mean she can look down on the rest of us!"

"She's probably just like me, someone who got into the school because her family has money. A rich kid who's done nothing on her own bullying hardworking Alice? That's not impressive at all! "

The crowd against me was growing, and things were getting out of hand. I shook my head quickly, trying to clear things up in my panic.

"Alice, I've never looked down on you. I've never looked down on anyone because they're poor!

"I don't know how the nuts got into my clothes, but I promise I didn't put any in your food. There's been some kind of mix-up!"

That's when I heard what Alice was really thinking: 'You have no idea, because I'm the one who put the nuts in your pocket!'

'What good is all this clueless rich kids’ money? They're all my pawns, so easy to manipulate. They're all idiots!'

The first time I saw Alice, back when she was the new girl, I realized I could hear her thoughts.

It was her thoughts that revealed the truth about the setup.

I was so mad I could barely think straight. I could not believe she had staged the whole thing!

However, Alice just cried harder, tears streaming down her face. "A mix-up? Are you claiming I ate nuts on purpose to make it look like you did something to me?"

Her friend whispered in her defense, "Helen is so shameless. There's proof and witnesses, yet she still won't admit it."

Watching Alice's act, I was close to exploding.

I defended myself without holding back, "Alice, you know what really happened better than anyone! You're the one who ate the nuts, yet you’re trying to pin it on me. I'm the one who should be crying!"

Alice's tears stopped suddenly.

She must have been wondering how I knew about her scheme.

Right then, a loud shout came from the edge of the dance floor.

"Stop it!"

There was Mark Hawkins, my fiancé and childhood friend, making his way through the crowd of students toward me.

"Helen, haven't you caused enough trouble?"