Chapter 3

Ever since then, Natasha and I barely ever interacted. To her, I was a love-addled fool who refused to listen to others.

She often belittled me in front of our classmates while talking herself up. She said I was frivolous with my money, spending all of it on a guy. I was unlike the virtuous and hard-working her who spent all of her part-time earnings on herself.

Natasha also said I dressed provocatively, unlike her who made herself look decent and sophisticated. She claimed I spent all my time obsessing over a guy while she focused all her effort on her studies.

Eventually, the gossip got back to me. According to her, I was a rebellious, love-addled fool who stayed out all night and acted domineering toward others.

Outraged, I left William and went back to my dorm room. I flung the door open, the loud bang drawing the attention of the surrounding classmates who carefully stole peeks in my direction.

Natasha was the only one in the dorm room. I walked up to her and held my phone up to her. On the screen was a forum post she had made to rant about my various lifestyle habits and dating life. Although it had been made anonymously, I instantly knew she had posted it.

However, contrary to what she claimed, I didn't spend all my time and energy on going out with William. As the class representative, I had been entirely preoccupied with orientation-related work. It was Elaine Irving, the student council academic affairs representative, who told me about what happened and reminded me to clear my name.

Natasha was a little intimidated by how furious I was, but when she saw how many people were spying on us, she stubbornly insisted she did it for my own good.

I threw all of the work I had been doing lately at her and lashed out at her loudly enough to ensure that the onlookers outside could hear me.

"This whole time, I've been busy helping our student advisor, Ms. Allen, with all the work needed for orientation. Every night, I stay up late in our dorm room working on the proposals and documents! Were you too blind to notice me?

"I'm warning you. Stop trying to interfere with my life! If you create any more rumors about William and me, I'll report you to Ms. Allen!"

After I confronted Natasha, she deleted her post. Once our other classmates heard the truth, they started distancing themselves from her too.

I thought things had finally been settled for good, but Natasha only managed to lay low for two days before she started causing trouble again.

During the last night of orientation camp, William went up on stage with a guitar and sang a love song dedicated to me. It sparked a round of applause, and everyone cheered us on encouragingly too.

Natasha was the only one who remained indifferent the whole time before proclaiming with a snort, "All he did was sing a song. What a tacky display. Only dumb and inexperienced young women like you will think this is a sign of love."

I was in too good of a mood to let her mockery bother me.

That night, she abruptly came up to me and said with a meaningful expression, "I'll tell you the truth, Tamara. I'm actually proficient in physiognomy, and William's face has every marker for a textbook cheater. He's got a ton of romantic entanglements, and he's unreliable too. He can't stay loyal to you. You should take my advice and cut your losses before it's too late."

I couldn't figure out what Natasha was up to this time. Seeing how serious she seemed, I instinctively refuted her, "That's not true. He treats me very well and keeps me informed of everything he does. He has never done anything to arouse my suspicions."

Natasha sneered as if she had predicted my response from the start. "And you didn't believe me when I called you a love-addled fool. So what if he hasn't betrayed you yet? He'll cheat on you in the future. You shouldn't be so hung up on a guy."

The more she said, the more emphatic she became. She called him petty and superficial, claiming he only asked me out on dates because he was possessive and wanted to gaslight me.

Frowning hard, I couldn't take it anymore. I called her a lunatic.

Alas, not even two days passed when I became the victim of cyberbullying.