Chapter 3
People around us started whispering and pointing.
"That teacher is way out of line," one of them said.
"No wonder she drove someone to jump," another chimed in.
"I'm posting this online, exposing her! She has no professional ethics!" someone spoke angrily.
I was satisfied.
When fairness and justice were missing, I had to fight for them myself.
Even if the methods weren't entirely honorable.
Just then, my mom arrived with a red-eyed Sophie in tow.
Without even asking what happened, she started yelling at me. "You wretched girl! What are you causing a scene about now?
"Get down here this instant! Stop causing trouble for the school and your teacher! So ungrateful! I've wasted my life raising you!"
The homeroom teacher quickly complained to my mom. "Mrs. Carter, you have to back me up here. I was just a bit strict with her. But she holds a grudge.
"Didn't you ask me to keep a tight rein on her? Now this happens, and it's all my fault? This is so unfair."
My mom grew even more furious, practically spitting as she yelled. "If you have the guts, then jump. Stop embarrassing us here.
"How did I give birth to such an unfilial child? If you were even half as well-behaved as Sophie, I'd thank my lucky stars.
"There's a reason I only dote on Sophie and not you. It's because your personality is so warped and unpleasant."
For a moment, I genuinely felt like ending it all.
But I squashed that thought immediately.
I could stop all this.
Sophie also put on a show of concern. "Joanne, please don't make Auntie angry. Come down.
"If you die, what will people think of Auntie and Uncle?
"You have to think about them too. You can't be so selfish."
Peak hypocrisy.
I was utterly disgusted.
"See? Sophie is so thoughtful. Why can't you be more like her?" my mom snapped.
She added, "I'm counting to three. If you're not down by then, I no longer have a daughter."
The police officer had heard enough. He pulled my mom back. "Are you here to help or to make things worse?
"What kind of mother are you? Your daughter is about to jump, and all you do is yell at her? No wonder she wants to die.
"With a mother like you, I'd want to die too."
My mom was stunned for a moment, then flushed with anger. "She's my daughter. I can yell at her if I want to. What's it to you?
"You cops are making a mountain out of a molehill. If nobody paid her any attention, I bet she'd come down on her own.
"She's just using this jump to scare everyone. Watch, she doesn't have the nerve—"
Before my mom could finish, I smiled and let myself fall backward.
The screams around me were almost deafening.
I squeezed my eyes shut. The feeling of weightlessness made my heart feel like it would explode.
I landed heavily on the air cushion they'd deployed.
It felt like my insides were splitting apart. The pain made my vision go dark.
"Get her to the hospital!" someone yelled.
I wasn't seriously injured. I was kept in the hospital for observation for a few days and was fine.
I had calculated the angle and my posture precisely.
I knew I wouldn't die.
The school suspended the homeroom teacher and demanded she write a self-criticism.
Her teaching career would now be permanently marred by the record of "driving a student to attempt suicide."
Online, the initial wave of criticism was directed at the teacher and my mom.
But soon, Sophie started livestreaming.
My mom cried pitifully for the camera, saying she only had one daughter and would never mistreat me. She was just being strict, and she never imagined I was so emotionally fragile.
She claimed she'd been so worried since my jump that she couldn't eat or sleep and had fallen ill.
Sophie also cried on camera, looking beautiful and vulnerable. "Auntie is really a good mom. She's always cared about my cousin.
"She even gave up a high-paying job to take care of her.
"After my parents died, none of my other relatives wanted me. Only Auntie took me in.
"Please, everyone, stop blaming her. It breaks my heart to hear it."
She and my mom hugged and cried together, acting more like mother and daughter than we ever did.
The female lead halo worked its magic again.
After her tearful performance, public opinion online did a complete U-turn.
No one blamed my mom anymore. They either praised Sophie for being pretty and kind, or praised my mom for her "great love," reasoning that someone so good to her niece couldn't possibly be bad to her own daughter.
Strange comments started appearing, claiming to be from my classmates, "exposing" that I jumped because of the scholarship, that I insulted the teacher first, prompting her to throw my phone, and that I was the one bullying Sophie at school.
Soon, a storm of online abuse came crashing down on me.
[Jumping over a scholarship? This girl is crazy!]
[She insulted the teacher; no wonder the teacher got mad and threw her phone.]
[Even her own mom won't stick up for her. She can't be a good person.]
[Just let her die. Why bother saving someone like that?]
[She looks like a troublemaker. Bullying her own cousin? How evil.]
Reading those comments, I found it all laughable.
I had only put up a little resistance, and the "author" was already pushing back.
Even though the female lead hadn't really lost out, I, the villainess, dared to disobey the plot and demand the scholarship. That was way out of line.
I guess I would be taught a lesson.
Fortunately, I wasn't famous. Being cyberbullied didn't really matter.
But when I returned to school, I found my photo on the honor roll had been scratched up.
Someone had spray-painted the word "BITCH" in huge letters across it.
I took out my phone to take pictures as evidence. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head.
I turned around. A basketball was rolling on the ground. A few guys stood across from me, smirking.
Leaning against the wall not far away was Andrew, holding a drink bottle, watching the show.
Clearly, these guys were acting on his orders.
"Sorry, nerd. You're not gonna jump over this again, are you?" They jeered as they went to pick up the ball.
I moved faster, grabbed the basketball first, and hurled it back at them with all my strength. "Of course not."
The ball hit them, and they scrambled away, clutching their heads. Then they turned and stalked toward me menacingly. "You looking to get hurt?"
I looked up coldly. "What? You wanna fight?"
Then I turned my gaze to Andrew, my tone full of challenge. "Andrew, sending your lackeys to bully me? What kind of move is that? If you've got the guts, do it yourself.
"You won't even take the heat for bullying someone for your precious Sophie? Some true love that is."
His eyes turned dangerous instantly. He threw his half-finished drink bottle at me.