On my way down, I could feel the stares and whispers around me.
Someone even tripped me on the stairs, muttering, “Slut.”
Confused, I limped to the corner, only to overhear Sandy chatting with my two childhood friends.
“I really did see Amelia getting out of the Princeton University board member’s car in the middle of the night, but that doesn’t necessarily prove anything. Maybe she really did get in with her own grades.”
“Sandy, stop defending her. She doesn’t even dare to make her grades public. She must be hiding something!”
“Exactly, Sandy, you’re too kind. She’s so scheming—there’s no telling what she’s capable of.”
After joining the research program, I had signed a confidentiality agreement that required me to keep my grades private.
I never imagined that this would give Sandy the opportunity to slander me.
However, of all the people who knew me, I didn't expect that my childhood friends would think of me like that. They knew how hard I had studied for my grandmother’s sake, yet they still chose to believe Sandy’s lies.
I let out a bitter laugh and consoled myself. It didn’t matter. Once I officially joined the program, all my personal information would be concealed.