Chapter 2

I quickly stepped back, dodging her.

She paused, then her face crumbled into a look of hurt.

“Don’t you like my gift?”

“But I saved up my allowance for half a year, penny by penny.”

“Never mind. I guess I’m just not someone people like, and my gifts are trash, always getting rejected.”

Hearing this, my roommates immediately felt sorry for her and started scolding me.

“Cassidy, this is her heartfelt gesture! How cold-blooded are you to ignore her feelings?!” Chloe cried.

“I totally misjudged you! Fine, then we won’t give you presents either.” Ashley chimed in.

…

I could only say that I appreciated her intention and accepted the gift, but I already had a necklace on.

Brittany’s eyes welled up. “Mine is more expensive than yours. Doesn’t it deserve to be around your neck?”

Just then, my brother Tyler’s gruff voice boomed from downstairs.

“Sis! C-come down!”

I suddenly remembered that my family had planned to take me out for a dinner party tonight to celebrate my twenty-second birthday.

I used it as an excuse to slip away downstairs.

But Brittany followed, grabbing my arm.

“Cassidy, just try it on! You’ll definitely love it!”

Even though I’d already accepted it, she wouldn’t give up until she’d put it around my neck.

Tyler’s eyes widened, and he abruptly shoved Brittany away.

“She said she doesn’t want to wear it! Stop bothering her!”

Brittany was startled, standing rooted to the spot.

I quickly made an excuse that we had to go and pulled my brother away.

But I never expected that same night, she’d post my brother on the campus gossip page.

The accompanying picture, taken by a passerby, showed her face full of panic when my brother pushed her away.

“I was just kindly giving a gift, but her brother yelled at me. Was I really in the wrong?”

Below, several comments were clearly instigating trouble.

“That guy has XYY Syndrome; there’s something wrong with his head. That girl is sweet and kind; her best friend should stay away from her.”

“Isn’t that the Miller guy… honestly, every time I see her brother, he looks terrifying.”

“Why are XYY people even alive? They should just be snuffed out!”

…

The post’s popularity soared, clearly boosted by paid promotion.

Hundreds of comments piled up instantly, all attacking me and my brother.

I clicked on a few and realized they were Brittany’s alt accounts.

And the third comment, the one advocating for strangling XYY people, was from Brittany’s boyfriend, Jason.

I trembled with rage.

During my mother’s prenatal check-ups, nothing had shown up. It was too late when Tyler was born with XYY Syndrome.

Even with all the challenges of his condition, our family had never given up on him.

But now, manipulated by Brittany and her boyfriend, he was subjected to this kind of online abuse.

I looked at that life-swapping longevity lock and a thought, sudden and chilling, began to form.