Chapter 2
Maya was a total serial bully.
Back in high school, she used the same cruel methods to torment more than a dozen girls.
She and her little gang even kept a hit list of their victims.
Some girls were beaten so badly they were covered in bruises, left with barely any clothes on.
They'd be forced to hold a cardboard sign over their chest, with their "crime" written on it: stuff like outfit clash, username clash, or even just accidentally saying the same catchphrase as Maya did.
They'd get beaten up, forced to take these so-called "copycat mugshots," and have them plastered all over the school forum, basically shaming them out of school.
My phone kept blowing up with warning messages.
[That whole crew is bad news. One of them has an uncle who's the head of student affairs, so they basically run the place. Take my advice, just stay out of their way.]
[If you want to survive here, you'd better change your profile pic ASAP.]
Just then, my assistant sent over the results of the investigation.
Turns out, Maya was actually Maya Holcomb, the very girl my family had been supporting all this time.
Back then, Maya was just a poor kid stuck out in the countryside with no one to look after her. When my dad went to do a charity donation, she grabbed onto his leg, tears all over her face, crying, "Sir, please, let me keep going to school!
"If I study hard, maybe I can finally escape this place!
"I swear I'll work hard and pay you back someday!"
My mom saw Maya was about my age, and her heart softened. She talked my dad into sponsoring her.
Maya came out of the mountains and became the poor student our family supported.
We even set aside a room for her at the Thomson family's old house, so she'd have a place to stay whenever she came back.
But I'd been studying abroad for years and only came back for college.
It was all part of the plan to take over the family business after graduation.
So Maya only knew my dad had a daughter around her age, but she had no idea what I actually looked like.
My assistant also sent me all the links to Maya's social media pages.
I clicked through each one, and I couldn't believe that online, she was putting on a show as some rich-girl influencer.
She'd flaunt designer bags and luxury lipsticks, then immediately raffle them off to her fans like it was nothing.
As I scrolled through her posts, I suddenly spotted a few photos that looked uncannily familiar. It was enough to make my blood boil.
I quickly pulled up my own social media feed to compare.
Turns out, almost every single one of Maya's posts was stolen straight from my feed. She just pasted her own face over mine.
She even reposted my coming-of-age party photos as soon as I posted them.
In those pics, she'd photoshopped her eyes to look twice as big and made her flat nose ridiculously perky.
The comments were flooded with nothing but praise for her.
[Maya is so gorgeous! People always say love is like tending a flower. She must be living a charmed life.]
[I'm so jealous! Maya is not just beautiful, but also super kind. I go to the same school as her, and even when I asked for a selfie, she was so sweet and said yes right away.]
[Is this what it's like to be born rich? I'm just a humble fan bowing before the queen! Hope I win your next giveaway.]
That comment made something start to dawn on me.
Since I was living abroad, I'd refresh all the designer goods in my room like clockwork, every month.
I'd just throw the old stuff up on eBay for dirt cheap, basically giving it away to whoever happened to snag it first.
But every single time, it was always the same person grabbing my bags, like they were camping out for my listings.
Anyone with half a brain could guess who it was.
Who would've thought? She was the one snatching up my bags on eBay, and now she was straight-up copying my whole vibe online.
Thinking about it, I just smirked and deactivated my account right then and there.
Let's see how she kept up her rich-girl persona without my luxury goods propping her up!
No way was I changing my profile pic.
I even mocked Maya in the group chat, saying: [If this is really your signature photo, maybe you should go patent it.]
[Then you can sue me and cash in for real.]
Maya had clearly never run into someone who wouldn't back down before. She was absolutely fuming.
She said: [Wannabe, how dare you talk to me like that? I've got cash to burn!]
[Do you even know who Reuben Thomson is? He's my uncle, the richest guy around. Who do you think you're fooling, trying to act all tough with me?]
I let out a cold laugh. [And who exactly are you? Reuben Thomson is my dad. Funny, I've never seen you around.]
Maya didn't buy it for a second.
Maya scoffed: [Since when did Reuben have a daughter like you? Maybe some old guy's been messing with you, taking advantage of how clueless you are!]
[Are you seriously delusional? Copying me so much you actually think you're some kind of heiress?]
The group chat was flooded with insults aimed at me.
[You think you're Reuben's daughter? Then I must be Reuben! Let's hear you call me Daddy, princess.]
[The Thomson family always keeps things on the down-low. No one's ever seen anything about his daughter online, so you're just trying to ride their coattails for clout, huh? Seriously, have you got no shame?]
[Copycat loser, just get lost already! Having you at our school is straight-up bad vibes.]
It was a one-sided online mob attack. Everyone was just trying to tear me down to kiss Maya's ass.
Maya was absolutely gloating, and she didn't even bother hiding it. She just tagged me right in the group chat.
She threw down a challenge, daring me to compete with her.
She said: [Aren't you always copying me? Well, here's your chance to do it out in the open. Let's see you try.]
[Let's see if a broke loser like you can even afford to keep up with me!]
[Since you say you're Reuben's daughter, let's see who's really rolling in money at tonight's freshman bash!]