Chapter 4

Soon, the homeroom teacher called me to the office. Sitting beside her were Mrs. Lane and Ethan.

As soon as Mrs. Lane saw me, she rushed over, hand raised high. But before the slap could land, my dad grabbed her wrist.

"What are you doing!" My dad pulled me protectively behind him.

The teacher sighed. "You know about the forum posts, right? It's a very bad influence, and Ethan's grades have been greatly affected recently..."

Ethan glanced at me, his eyes dark with unreadable emotion. "Lily, what's the point of doing this? I don't like you at all... If my past behavior made you misunderstand, I apologize, but can you please stop making things up about me?"

Hearing Ethan's words, Mrs. Lane became even more convinced that I was the one who posted on the forum. "I knew you had bad intentions! Last time it was lingerie, this time spreading nonsense online! If my son doesn't get into MIT, I'll kill you!"

Both my parents spoke at once. "Our daughter would never do such a thing!"

I pressed down my angry parents and spoke directly to the teacher. "Teacher, the post has such high visibility now that the whole school knows about it. The impact is huge. This could be prosecuted. Why don't we report it to the police and have the cyber police trace the IP? Whoever posted it gets arrested."

Mrs. Lane froze, then immediately nodded. "Yes! Call the police!"

Now it was Ethan's turn to look pale.

"We can't call the police." Ethan suddenly stood up.

Mrs. Lane glared at him. "Ethan, how can you be so confused! The most important thing now is to root out the real vixen. You can't let this affect your studies!"

Ethan avoided her gaze. "Mom, we're all classmates. Making this bigger will affect my studies even more. Let's just drop it. I promise I'll definitely rank first in grade next time."

The homeroom teacher didn't want things to escalate either. If this somehow made the news and went viral, her meager salary wouldn't be enough to cover the deductions.

She quickly tried to smooth things over. "That's right, Mrs. Lane. They're just kids having little squabbles. If this gets out, Ethan will be pointed at wherever he goes in the future. Don't worry, our school will definitely investigate thoroughly and won't let other people affect your child's studies."

Mrs. Lane looked at him suspiciously, then at me.

Finally, she left through gritted teeth.

Only Ethan and I remained in the hallway.

He leaned down, lowering his voice. "What's going on with you lately? Changing seats, getting into fights, now you want to call the police. Do you have to give me trouble?"

I laughed.

"Ethan, get it straight. We're just ordinary neighbors. Your mom wrongly accused me, you gave false testimony for Madison, and now you want to pin the blame on me. I'm not allowed to fight back?"

His face turned iron-blue. He couldn't say a word.

"Stop putting yourself on a pedestal." I picked up my backpack. "I have no interest in causing you trouble. Don't disgust me either."

As I walked past him, Ethan grabbed my hand. "Lily, you weren't like this before..."

I laughed coldly. "Ethan, I once thought you weren't this kind of person either."

This time, I shook off his hand and didn't look back.

Mrs. Lane still didn't trust me.

She installed surveillance cameras in the hallway just to monitor what time I came home.

She even stalked all my social media accounts. Even if I posted about going out to have fun, she'd immediately screenshot it and ask my mom if I'd brought her son along.

My mom was afraid it would affect my mood, so she just endured Mrs. Lane's harassment.

But I couldn't stand it.

Friday evening study hall, I glanced at Ethan's seat. He wasn't there again.

I heard he'd taken sick leave, but Mrs. Lane was the type who would make him go to school unless he was dying. I didn't believe he was really sick.

I took out my phone and snapped a panoramic photo of the classroom.

Ethan's seat was in the lower left corner. Most people wouldn't notice, but I was sure Mrs. Lane would spot her precious son's absence at a glance.

I clicked send and added a caption: "Another day of hard work studying. When will the SAT come!"

Less than ten minutes after posting, hurried footsteps echoed through the classroom hallway.

Mrs. Lane rushed into the classroom, out of breath. "Where's Ethan?"

I didn't even lift my head, focused on my work. "No idea, Mrs. Lane. Maybe check wherever there aren't many people around?"

Mrs. Lane seemed to think of something. Her expression changed, and she turned and ran.

I leaned against the window ledge, watching her figure disappear toward the far end of the field.

Before long, a piercing scream came from the direction of the small grove.