Chapter 3

The whispers started a week later.

"Did you hear about Sarah Miller?"

"Someone said she' s totally losing it, all this pressure."

"I heard she' s not even writing her own code for that tech competition."

It was like a replay of my first life, but the delivery system was new.

"Campus Confidential," a new anonymous gossip forum that had sprung up online.

The posts were vicious.

"Is Sarah M. really smart enough for MIT, or is she getting 'help' with her projects? Sources say she' s been seen looking at other people' s code."

"Concerned classmate here: Sarah M. seems really unstable lately. Talking to herself. Is she cracking under pressure? Maybe those big schools should do mental health checks."

My stomach twisted. This was their MO. Defamation. Character assassination.

They were escalating.

I wanted to scream, to cry. The old panic threatened to surface.

But I took a deep breath. Not this time.

I wouldn't let them break me.

I was walking down the hall, head held high, when Mark and Tiffany appeared, flanking me.

"Tough break, Miller," Mark said, a fake sympathetic tone in his voice. "Heard some nasty stuff is going around about you."

Tiffany giggled. "People can be so cruel. But you know, where there's smoke, there's usually fire."

"Really, Tiffany?" I said, my voice cold. "Is that what you tell yourself?"

"Just saying," she chirped. "Maybe you should, like, take a break? All that studying must be frying your brain."

"My brain is fine," I said, stopping and facing them. "Unlike some people's ethics."

"Ooh, feisty," Mark said, stepping closer. "You still think you're better than us, don't you?"

"I don't think, Mark," I said. "I know."

I walked away, their laughter echoing behind me.

But this time, I wasn't alone.

Leo Martinez found me in the library later that day.

He sat down across from me, quiet for a moment.

Then, he slid his laptop around.

On the screen was the admin page for "Campus Confidential."

And a traced IP address. An IP address linked to a device frequently used at Tiffany Vance's house.

"They're sloppy," Leo said, his voice soft. "Used a public Wi-Fi at a coffee shop Tiffany frequents, but didn't mask their device's MAC address properly when setting up the forum. Easy to cross-reference with social media check-ins."

I stared at the screen, then at Leo.

"Why are you helping me?"

He shrugged. "I don't like bullies. And your project idea is good. It deserves to be judged on merit, not... this."

A small smile touched my lips. "Thank you, Leo."

"Don't thank me yet," he said. "Get them."

And I knew exactly what I had to do.