Chapter 1

One minute before the interview, my roommate’s hand suddenly jerked, dumping an entire cup of iced latte all over the resume in my hands.

"Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I’m so, so sorry!"

I stared at the coffee-soaked paper, saying nothing.

She hurriedly yanked out some napkins, but the smirk at the corner of her lips was impossible to miss.

"It’s completely ruined! How are you even going to interview without a resume?"

Right after she said that, she raised her voice, making sure everyone around could hear:

"Honestly though, you failed three classes in college anyway. Going in there would’ve just been an embarrassment. You might as well give the slot to me."

With that, she got up to walk toward the door.

"Wait."

I reached out and grabbed her wrist.

She turned back, her eyes dripping with smugness.

"The resume you just ruined... was your own."

She froze. The smirk on her face instantly calcified.

Slowly, I stood up and pulled another crisp, pristine resume from my bag.

"I was just about to hand yours back to you. You didn't even give me the chance."

Her face went pale in a second.

I smiled, grabbed my bag, and walked straight toward the interview room.

Behind me, the hallway was dead silent.

My grades had always been in the top three of our major, and I had never lost my scholarship. Failing classes? I didn't even know what that felt like.

The interviewers were thorough, but I had already prepared for every single question.

Fifteen minutes later, I pushed the door open and stepped out.

She was still sitting on the bench in the hallway, clutching that soggy ball of paper in her fist.

The moment she saw me, she jerked her head away.

Looking at her, a wave of disgust washed over me.

This interview had been arranged through an alumnus referral I earned myself.

When she heard about it, she begged me for three straight days to put in a good word for her.

The interviewer only agreed out of courtesy to my referral, saying she could sit in just for the practice.

I had even stayed up all night helping her rewrite her resume, polishing her terrible GPA into something presentable.

I honestly thought having a friend in the same company would be nice for both of us.

And this was how she repaid me.

Just as I was about to leave, she jumped to her feet and chased me to the exit.

"Harper, stop right there."

I paused, but didn’t turn around.

She circled around to block my path. Her eyes were rimmed with red, but her voice trembled with rage:

"Did you do that on purpose? You knew that was my resume all along, didn't you?!"

I laughed.

"You didn't bother checking whose it was before you dumped your coffee on it."

"You did it on purpose! You've always looked down on me, so you deliberately switched them to humiliate me!"

"Chloe."

I said her name, enunciating every syllable coldly.

"Search your own conscience. Who begged for days to tag along today? Who begged me to fix her resume? And who threw iced latte all over someone else's hands?"

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.

"And another thing—I have never failed a class."

My smile vanished completely.

"You know my grades better than anyone. Who cheated off my final exam last semester just to pass?"

Her face drained of what little color it had left.

"You talk about me giving up my opportunity to you. Is dumping coffee on my work how you show your gratitude?"

I took a step forward. She took a step back.

"Chloe, someone like you wouldn't stand a chance in that room anyway."

I turned and walked away.

By the time I got back to campus, it was almost noon.

When I pushed open the dorm room door, Mia and Emma both looked up at me simultaneously.

Their expressions were strange.

"What's wrong?" I asked, setting down my bag.

Mia hesitated. "Harper... Chloe posted something in our group chat earlier..."

She held out her phone.

I looked down. Chloe had typed out a massive paragraph in our dorm's SnapChat group:

"Girls, I’m literally crying right now. Harper purposely poured coffee all over my resume today so I couldn't interview. She just wanted to eliminate me as competition. I thought we were best friends, but she's so snakey."

Attached below was a photo of the coffee-soaked resume.

I stared at the screen, genuinely speechless.

She actually had the nerve to twist the story like this?

Emma asked timidly, "Harper, did you... really do that?"

"Do you two honestly believe that?" I looked at them.

Mia shook her head instantly. "No. You're not that kind of person."

Emma visibly relaxed.

"I didn't think so either. You spent hours fixing her resume so she could go. Why would you ruin it?"

A little warmth returned to my chest.

Just as I was about to explain what really happened, the door swung open.