Chapter 1

Photos of me and some old guy, both of us with our arms full of luxury shopping bags as we stepped out of a Bentley, blew up online.

The school's queen bee sniped, "So young and already hooking up with a sugar daddy for clout. You're an embarrassment to our school."

Later, my dad turned up all grimy and exhausted to see me, and the queen bee snapped a pic and tossed it on the school forum with the caption: [Gold-digging girl and her blue-collar dad.]

The photo went viral.

The entire school started calling me a fake rich girl, and the guy I'd been crushing on for four years blocked me.

But what none of them realized was that my dad had rushed over that day just to tell me that the apartment building he'd gifted me was officially topped out.

As graduation neared, my mom, who was off vacationing overseas, wired me some cash and told me to go on a shopping spree to celebrate.

Not long after, Marco White showed up in a white Bentley to pick me up.

He'd been our family driver for fifteen years, so he knew the way to my mom's favorite mall like the back of his hand.

We went on a two-hour shopping spree, loading up on clothes, bags, shoes, and jewelry.

We bought so much that Marco ended up lugging all my shopping upstairs for me.

But it was that exact moment—Marco and me stepping out of the Bentley, both of us weighed down by shopping bags—that got snapped by a random passerby and posted online.

The account that posted the photo belonged to a guy, and his caption was pure clickbait.

He wrote: [As long as a man's got money, the women around him will always be twenty.]

It wasn't until one of my classmates spotted the photo trending on a local hot topic feed that I realized I was suddenly famous online.

My bestie, Rayne Woodward, sent me a screenshot on WhatsApp.

Rayne teased, "So all the money you spoil me with was scammed off some old sugar daddy? Damn, I'm touched! Next life, we're totally sisters again."

I never really showed off how rich I was. Even that little house right by the school—I always told everyone I was just renting it.

So I never mentioned to Rayne that Marco was actually our driver. I just said he was some man I'd known since I was a kid.

But I never expected the school's queen bee, Laylah Roy, to spot the photo too.

She even tagged me directly in her comment.

Laylah scoffed, "Aryana, so young and already using vanity to cozy up to a sugar daddy? Honestly, you're such an embarrassment to our school."

After that, everyone in the comments started gossiping, trying to figure out who Aryana Murray really was.

My bestie Rayne was so mad, she was ready to start a comment war with Laylah on my behalf, but I pulled her back.

I said, "Hey, we all go to the same school. If this turns into a mess online, it'll just make us all look bad."

But I never expected Laylah to turn around and repost the tweet straight into our school's main group.

The group blew up instantly.

People who barely even knew me started jumping in, tossing out rumors and talking crap about me under that post.

Someone said, "So it's Aryana? Figures. I used to have class with her, and she was always looking down on everyone. No wonder she's mooching off some rich guy now."

Another wrote, "Isn't she supposed to be crushing on Matthew Jenkins? Always playing the innocent girl, but turns out she's got herself an old sugar daddy behind the scenes."

Someone else chimed in, "Come on, you guys have no clue. She's just spending the old guy's money on some young boy toy. This girl really knows what's up."

Rayne jumped in to back me up in the comments.

Rayne fired back, "Ever think maybe that's her uncle or something? Do you even know the real story? So now you're making up crap just from one random photo?"

But those people only believed what they wanted and soon started targeting Rayne as well.

Someone chimed in, "Well, look who's getting all worked up. What, are you Aryana's sock puppet now?"

The waves of hate from total strangers just kept rolling in. Nobody really gave a damn about the facts—people just wanted to let out their feelings.

I was at a loss for words.

Rayne hit me up with one of those super sad memes.

Rayne said, "What if Matthew sees all this? How will you ever get with him now?"

I rubbed my nose, and couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy inside.

I said, "Come on, he's known me for four years. He wouldn't fall for all those rumors."

But honestly, I was really just telling myself that.

But the truth was, I'd already tried calling Matthew—and he didn't even pick up.

Not long after, my dad came rushing over to the school to see me.

He showed up in his construction gear, covered in dust and sweat—he looked just like he'd been hauling bricks all day.

I quickly grabbed a wet wipe and gently wiped the sweat off his face.

I asked, "Dad, why'd you come all the way here like this? What's got you in such a rush?"

My dad was grinning from ear to ear, looking like a total dork—so genuine and goofy.

He said, "Sweetie, the building I got you is finally topped out! I just got back from the construction site inspection and rushed here just to tell you the good news myself."

Right then, Laylah walked by us.

She looked as proud as a peacock, chin held high and giving me a few sideways glances like she owned the place.

But I was way too caught up chatting happily with my dad to even care.

However, I never expected to go viral at school all over again later that same night.