Chapter 1

My eyes snapped open.

The ceiling was familiar, too familiar.

It was the dorm room ceiling, the one with the faint water stain shaped like a crooked smile.

My head throbbed, a dull ache behind my eyes.

I sat up, the thin university mattress creaking under me.

Across the room, Brianna Jones hummed softly, applying makeup.

She was wearing a blue sweater, a cheap copy of my cashmere one.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

This wasn' t right.

This was weeks ago.

The Paris program acceptance letter, the "going away" party, the bitter taste in my mouth before everything went black.

Brianna had poisoned me. I remembered the smirk on her face as I collapsed.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Brianna chirped, her reflection smiling sweetly in her compact mirror.

Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard to my memory, but here, now, it was just...Brianna.

The ambitious, "struggling" girl from a small town.

My roommate.

The one who wanted my life.

"You okay, Ava?" she asked, her head tilted. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

I stared at her, the image of her malicious triumph at my party seared into my brain.

"Just a bad dream," I managed, my voice raspy.

The date on my phone confirmed it.

Several weeks before the party. Before she tried to kill me.

I had a second chance.

And this time, I wouldn' t be naive.

I wouldn' t be kind to the snake in my room.

My parents always told me I was too trusting, too eager to see the good in people.

They were right.

Brianna was meticulously copying my "clean girl" makeup, the one I' d perfected from a TikTok tutorial.

She' d even bought the same drugstore dupes I' d once pointed out as affordable alternatives for her.

Back then, I thought I was being helpful.

Now, I saw it as her studying me, cataloging me.

"Love that look on you," I said, my voice surprisingly steady.

Brianna preened. "Thanks! Just trying something new."

Liar.

I remembered her Instagram, captions almost identical to mine, her poses mimicking photos I' d taken weeks before.

The subtle digs, the way she' d imply I was the one copying her when she wore her fast-fashion knock-offs of my designer pieces.

She' d played the victim so well, isolating me.

Even Liam, the hockey captain I actually liked, had started looking at me differently after Brianna' s whispered manipulations.

No more.

The kindness was gone, burned away in the hospital bed I now only remembered.

A new resolve hardened within me.

This time, Ava Miller wouldn't be a doormat.

This time, I would fight.