Chapter 2

“Ms. Parker, Emma Hale’s financial aid application cannot be approved.”

Ryan Brooks, the class monitor, stood at the podium and shouted loudly.

The eyes of the entire class instantly landed on me.

I clutched the completed application form, my fingers tightening little by little.

Ryan pointed at me, his tone full of contempt.

“Her parents transfer twenty thousand dollars to her every month for living expenses, and she even posted screenshots on Ins, but now she’s here pretending to be poor to scam financial aid. She’s shameless!”

My homeroom teacher, Ms. Parker, frowned as she looked at me.

“Emma, what is going on?”

I took a deep breath, my voice dry.

“Ms. Parker, I really don’t have any money on my card, and I don’t even have money for food today.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the classroom door was shoved open.

My mom rushed in on high heels.

She walked up to me in a few steps and raised her hand.

A crisp slap rang out.

My head was knocked to the side, and half of my face went numb instantly.

“How did I give birth to such an ungrateful brat like you?”

My mom pulled a bank card from her bag and slammed it hard against my face.

“We transfer twenty thousand dollars to you every month for living expenses, and you still came to school to apply for poverty assistance. Are you deliberately trying to embarrass the Hale family?”

The bank card fell to the ground with a sharp sound.

The whole class erupted.

“Oh my God, twenty thousand dollars a month and she’s still pretending to be poor?”

“This girl is way too vain, right? She would even throw away her dignity just to steal a financial aid spot.”

“That’s disgusting. If I had parents that good, I’d wake up laughing from my dreams.”

As I listened to the whispers around me, a smug sneer flashed across my mom’s face.

I stared hard at the bank card on the floor, my eyes stinging.

Yes, she did transfer twenty thousand dollars to me every month.

But she never once told me the PIN.

I bent down, picked up the card, held it in front of her, and said in a trembling voice.

“You transfer twenty thousand dollars every month, but did you ever tell me the PIN?”

My mom’s expression changed, and her eyes dodged for a moment, but she quickly raised her voice again.

“I told you the PIN ages ago, and you were the one with the bad memory who forgot it! Now you’re blaming me instead?”

“You told me?”

I stared at her and pressed closer step by step.

“I tried my birthday, your birthday, and the home landline number, but every single one came up wrong! Do you dare say the PIN again in front of the whole class?”

My mom was forced back a step by me, then pointed at my nose in furious embarrassment.

“You still dare talk back! The PIN is your brother’s birthday, and I told you so many times!”

“Emma, you’re just used to spending money like water, and once you spent it all, you came here to act pitiful. How did I raise such a useless thing like you?”

After saying that, she turned to the homeroom teacher and put on a heartbroken expression.

“Ms. Parker, this child was spoiled rotten by us, so please don’t approve any aid for her. We can’t afford this shame.”

Ms. Parker’s gaze toward me turned completely cold.

“Emma, you have truly disappointed me, so take your application form back.”

I stood there and watched my mom leave with her head held high, my chest feeling as if someone had clenched it hard.

She was lying.

I had tried my brother Tyler Hale’s birthday.

It was not right at all.

This card was just a leash around my neck.

In outsiders’ eyes, I was a rich girl with twenty thousand dollars in living expenses every month.

But only I knew that I could not touch a single cent of that twenty thousand dollars.