She Took Credit, I Took Everything

Synopsis

There were only two hours left before the Riverdale University grad school application portal closed. I logged into the academic database, only to discover that the first author of the core journal paper I had poured half a year of painstaking effort into had been replaced by Lily Summers, the girl who flunked her major classes. A wall away, Ethan Grant, my childhood sweetheart, was talking nonchalantly on the phone with his roommate. "Joanna's GPA is top of the class. She could get into Riverdale University without this paper. But Lily? This first authorship is her only hope for graduation. "Joanna's so talented. Can't she cut Lily some slack?" He was convinced I'd put up with the injustice for the greater good. He was sure I wouldn't risk my own future by stirring up trouble. And he was more certain I couldn't bring myself to walk away from him. But Ethan forgot one crucial thing. I was a law major. If there was one thing law students excelled at, it was reclaiming what was ours, absolutely detached. As for that dirty garbage? I won't bother to look at it again.