Terrified I’d get us more trouble, my parents borrowed fifteen grand and sent me abroad. That trip lasted ten years.
Until one day, my mom called me, crying. “Your sister got into Horizon University, but those kids at school made up nasty rumors about her. They took nude photos of her and even pushed her down the stairs, causing her to hit her head. Until now, she’s still unconscious.”
Right after that call, I immediately bought a ticket and flew home.
With my twin sister’s student ID tucked in my pocket, I walked through the gates of Horizon University.
If the small-town test-prep kids had tormented the town nerds, they weren’t about to come after me, the town gossip queen.
——
But no sooner had I entered the classroom than someone dumped a bucket of red paint over me.
“Oh look, our famous ‘jumped-off-the-building’ influencer is back! I thought you were dead.” Renee Whitmore pushed forward with a cluster of friends, dipping a fingertip in the red paint on my sleeve and mocking, “So tell me, which is redder, this paint, or the blood from that night when a few big guys took her virginity?”
The crude comment set the boys laughing.