Chapter 1

School's varsity football star Liam Davis was away for an away game on his very first day when Chloe Bennett, the school's IT girl and cheer captain, barged into his apartment with a group of her girls.

And there I was, lounging on his couch in my pajamas, looking like a total couch potato.

Chloe instantly lost her mind and posted my photos directly onto the campus forum.

"Aria Vance is not only hooking up with my boyfriend, but she's also a total gold digger!"

"Look, everyone. Here's the proof."

Along with the post, she attached screenshots of my SnapChat history with Liam:

【My birthday is next month. What are you getting me?】

【Don't even think about cheaping out on me!】

【Otherwise, I'll leak your private photos to your fangirls!】

Overnight, I became the most hated gold digger on campus.

I let out a helpless sigh.

Sure, Liam was only three years older than me, but he was my maternal uncle!

On top of that, I had never even heard of him having a girlfriend.

How on earth did Chloe become his girlfriend?

Liam never allowed me to call him "uncle" at school.

"I'm only three years older than you. If you call me uncle, how am I supposed to explain that to my friends?"

He had turned on his heel to leave.

I yelled after him.

"Then aren't you going to pay me some hush money? I need to buy paint and canvases."

Without even looking back, he tossed a debit card at me.

"Let me know when it's empty."

Since then, we acted like casual acquaintances at school.

He was the quarterback and captain of the varsity football team, the dream guy of every girl on campus.

I was just a freshman art major, practically living in the studio.

That was until Chloe Bennett, the head cheerleader, fell hard for Liam.

She immediately painted a target on my back.

Somehow, she got her hands on my SnapChat history with Liam.

She found out he transferred money to me every month, and that I frequented his apartment.

And with that, she completely snapped.

She personally led her squad of cheerleaders to raid Liam's dorm to catch me in the act.

Once the scandal blew up on the campus forum,

Mrs. Gable, my academic advisor, called me into her office.

Mrs. Gable sat behind her desk, looking like she had just swallowed a whole box of chalk.

"Aria, care to explain these chat logs?"

I said, "That's just a normal conversation between me and my family."

"Family?" Mrs. Gable frowned.

"Liam Davis's emergency contact files don't list you."

"He's my..."

But before I could explain, Mrs. Gable cut me off.

"Are you about to tell me he's your boyfriend?"

I didn't realize Chloe had slipped into the office too. She sat down, her eyes rimmed with red.

"Mrs. Gable, a gold digger like her doesn't deserve to study at our university. She definitely doesn't deserve the President's Scholarship."

"We tried to warn her, but she wouldn't listen."

Mrs. Gable looked at her, then back at me.

"Aria, Chloe is the cheer captain. She has no reason to make things up to frame you."

"Go back and write a formal statement explaining this."

"Your scholarship is frozen until further notice."

I walked out of the office, and my phone was already blowing up.

The top post on the campus forum read:

【Shocking! Honors student exposed as a gold digger harassing football star. Chat logs inside!】

The top-voted comment was:

【No wonder she can afford those expensive designer bags. So that's how she gets her money.】

I sent Liam a SnapChat.

【Liam, we have a situation. One of your fangirls put our chat logs on blast for the whole school.】

The message sent, only to bounce back with a red exclamation mark.

His phone had been confiscated for game week.

He was currently completely off the grid.

My uncle was missing in action.

His niece was facing social execution.

Our family was falling apart.