Chapter 1

Before the scholarships were announced, Victoria Sterling, counting on her dad's position on the school board, shamelessly snatched the top three spots in our comprehensive evaluations for herself and her two cronies.

"So what if your grades are good? Connections are what truly matter. Showing you the harsh truth is only helping you grow," Victoria sneered.

The student advisor even called us in for a talk, hinting that we were no match for the people with real power.

After Victoria strutted out, Olivia Bennett, the top student, shot a message to William Grant, who'd been begging her to be his last student. William immediately cancelled the exchange student spots he'd promised the school.

Emily Carter, the research prodigy, only made one call, and the company that had been funding the school's scholarships for years cut ties immediately.

As for me, I scrolled through my contacts and called my mom. "Mom, let's put off donating that lab building to the school for now."

What a joke. If she wanted to throw her weight around, at least make sure she actually had the weight to throw.

*****

When the results for the scholarship dropped, I was totally floored.

Emily Carter, Olivia Bennett, and I were clearly at the top of the rankings—Olivia was even the first in our year to pull off a perfect GPA.

Yet, the scholarship ended up going to Victoria and her two sidekicks.

If memory served, Victoria barely scraped by thanks to some shady tricks, and her two sidekicks weren't even close to the top of the list.

We shot each other a look, and we all got the picture.

Just then, the dorm door slammed open. Victoria stepped in, followed by her two sidekicks, her latest designer bag slung over her shoulder.

All three of them wore their triumph like a badge, talking so loudly it was like they wanted us to hear every word.

"Victoria, you're the best! With just a few words, you made those bookworms hand over their scholarship," one of her sidekicks gushed.

Victoria shot us a smug look. "I've said that grades mean nothing. Without connections or a powerful family, you're just someone else's stepping stone."

Her sidekick chimed in, "Exactly! Victoria, you're the school board member's daughter. What can't you get? Unlike someone who busts her ass for the first place, only to end up with nothing. Pathetic."

Victoria's chin lifted even higher as she soaked up the praise, a cocky grin spreading across her face. "Obviously. Connections are what really matter. Some people better wake up and smell the coffee."

Seeing that we didn't react, Victoria walked right up to us and looked down her nose at us. "Messing with me? Bad idea. If you've learned your lesson, play nice and follow my lead.

"You will benefit a lot from it. Otherwise, trust me, your life will be hell."

The three of us just stared at her, speechless. That childish, arrogant attitude was so ridiculous that none of us even felt like arguing.

Olivia pushed up her glasses, her voice calm and steady. "Victoria, I won't make a fuss about you snatching our scholarship this time. Whatever your reason for coming after us, I hope you won't repeat it. Otherwise, I won't let it slide."

Emily and I exchanged a look and nodded in agreement.

Honestly, scholarship meant not that much to us. We just wanted to keep things drama-free.

Emily crossed her arms and added coldly, "Also, no more uninvited guests, please. This is our room, I mean, the four of us. I'm not cool with people just showing up whenever."

Victoria's smug expression instantly vanished.

Her face darkened, brows furrowing as she fired back with a mocking sneer. "Who do you think you are, making demands? I messed with you and took your scholarship, so what? What are you gonna do?"

Her two sidekicks quickly chimed in, backing her up with sarcastic comments. "Yeah, Victoria calls the shots around here now. She can let whoever she wants in. That's none of your business.

"If you don't like it, then hit the road. Nobody's begging you to stay. If you're so tough, go find somewhere else to live."

At first, it was just the three of us in this dorm, and we soon became good friends.

Victoria pulled strings to get into our major, and her arrogance was off the charts. On her very first day, she bragged about being the school board member's daughter and started bossing us around, acting like we were her personal staff.

She even tried to order Emily to carry her suitcase, but Emily shut her down right then and there.

Victoria got pissed and tried to boss Olivia and me around next, but we turned her down flat.

Her face went bright red with rage. Thinking back, maybe that was the moment she started plotting payback against us.

Olivia watched Victoria's face get even uglier and asked flatly, "Can you actually do what I just said? If not, you'll regret it."

Victoria snorted like Olivia had just cracked the funniest joke ever. "Regret? That word's not even in my vocabulary."

The three of us exchanged a glance, not even bothering to argue with her, and walked out of the dorm in perfect sync.

Since talking things out privately was pointless, we headed straight for the office of Patricia Thompson, the student advisor. We deserved some answers.