Chapter 8: All-In
I rolled my eyes, picked up a shard, and flashed the cup’s logo and barcode at him.
“Genuine or not, scan it and see. After you scan, buy me a new one from the official store. If you don’t know where to buy, I can recommend a place.”
He hesitated, his bravado draining away as he realized I wasn’t bluffing.
Then he tried to pivot, acting like this was beneath him.
“Riley, you just want my attention, right? This trick is way too obvious. If you keep refusing to apologize to Kayla Lin, don’t blame me for exposing you on the forum.”
I shrugged, deadpan. “Go ahead. I didn’t do anything wrong. If your idol ever clarifies the truth, I’ll make you pay for this.”
Tyler glared, jaw tight, and turned to leave.
“Wait.”
“What?”
He thought I’d cave, but I stuffed the barcode shard into his varsity jacket pocket.
“Trying to act tough and leave? Not so fast. Don’t forget to pay for my cup. I’ll get my hand bandaged at the nurse’s office, and I’ll give you the bill tomorrow.”
Tyler shot me a look like I’d just spoken another language—disbelief, annoyance, maybe even a little fear that I really would chase him down for the money.
But I’d underestimated him. Tyler posted on the campus forum, exposing me as the girl who went off on Kayla Lin in-game.
Within minutes, Kayla’s most rabid fans swarmed the forum, dredging up my old student photos, photoshopping them into memes and fake memorials, plastering them everywhere. The whole forum was a wall of threads demanding “Riley apologize to Kayla Lin.”
Things snowballed so fast, the school called me in, demanding I fix it—now.