The gleeful smile on Rachel’s face froze.

I didn’t spare her another glance as I pushed open the KTV room door and strode out.

My phone started blowing up with messages from Silas as soon as I left.

“Sonia, what did you mean by what you said before you left?”

“What are you trying to do?”

“I told you it was just a prank. Did you really have to get this upset?”

I didn’t reply. I blocked both Silas and Rachel on WhatsApp. Still, I’d underestimated just how persistent they could be.

…

Two days later, my parents had just left for work when the doorbell rang. The moment I opened the door, I saw Silas and Rachel standing outside.

“Sonia, what exactly are you trying to do?”

Silas stepped forward, his brows knitted tightly together as he glared at me. “Why did you block us? And what did you mean by what you said at the KTV room?”

I leaned against the doorframe and crossed my arms. “I meant exactly what I said.”

Rachel’s face turned pale.

“Sonia, we really didn’t do it on purpose. If you really don’t want to go to that community college, then you can just repeat your senior year and apply again.”

She bit her lip, putting on a patronizing expression. “Don’t worry. My family can pay all of your tuition while you retake the year.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her face. “Drop the act. It’s disgusting. Keep your money and buy yourself something to boost your brain cells.”

“Sonia, you’ve gone too far!” Silas immediately stepped in front of Rachel and glared at me.

“Yeah, I changed your college application. Regardless, none of this would have happened if you weren’t so lazy. If you’d just logged in and checked your application before the deadline, you could’ve changed it back.”

The more he talked, the more self-righteous he became. In the end, he even acted as if he were a victim in this scenario.

“When you really think about it, isn’t this all your fault for not paying attention? So, why are you blaming everything on us?”

I looked at the face that was somehow both familiar and unfamiliar to my eyes. The sight of him made my stomach turn in revulsion.

“Get out.” I couldn’t be bothered wasting another word on these two lunatics as I slammed the door right at their faces.

Silas pounded furiously on the door, but I ignored him and went back to my room.

…

Half a month later, the admission results were officially released.

The “Benjamin-Free Zone” group chat was flooded with messages. Everyone was enthusiastically sharing where they’d been accepted.

Not long after, Silas posted a screenshot. It was his Bradford University admission page. Rachel immediately posted an identical screenshot.

The chat was instantly flooded with congratulatory stickers and messages celebrating the two academic stars.

Silas replied with a smug grinning emoji.

Rachel then sent a long voice message.

“Thanks, everyone. Some people are just too lazy. They couldn’t even be bothered to double-check something as important as their college application. Then, when things go wrong, they start blaming everyone else.

“Even a good university wouldn’t help an attitude like that.”

A few people in the group awkwardly chimed in. After all, everyone knew she was taking shots at me.

I didn’t even tap the screen. Instead, tossed my phone aside.

The main class group chat suddenly came alive at 8 p.m. Our homeroom teacher, Benjamin, started posting the admission announcements.

“Congratulations to Silas and Rachel on being admitted to Bradford University!”

“Congratulations to Brandon on being admitted to Westbridge University!”

As Benjamin kept posting admissions to prestigious universities, the smaller group chat got even livelier.

Rachel still wasn’t done with her passive-aggressive remarks. “Seeing everyone end up somewhere great really makes me feel sorry for a certain someone.”

Just then, Benjamin posted another message in the main class group.

“Congratulations to Sonia on being admitted to the Aerospace Engineering program at Defense Technology Institute!”