I wanted to say something, but I promised
Grandpa Stern I wouldn’t breathe a word about
my decision until the lawyers had the
paperwork ready.
Oh well, they’d find out soon enough.
I ignored them and went upstairs.
A maid knocked and gave me a gift box.
“Mr. Zack sent this, to congratulate you on
graduating, and to wish you and Mr. Cody a
happy marriage.
I opened it. It was a rare edition of old sheet
—
music for the harpsichord – something I’d been
searching for ages.
Zack Stern, what a thoughtful guy.
The gift showed he’d put real thought into it,
and he was so savvy that Cody would never
think he had feelings for me.
He’d always been like that, kind and
considerate.
I touched the notes on the sheet music, happy.
I could hear Cody and Britney laughing like
hyenas outside my door. The party was over,
and Cody was walking Britney upstairs.
It grated on me, so I got out my harpsichord
and played something from Zack’s gift.
After a while, the two of them got quieter, then
stopped altogether.
I waited until Cody was gone to get a glass of
water.
Britney saw me in the hall. Cody and my
parents weren’t around, so she dropped the
sweet act and shoved the gift I threw away
back into my hands, sneering.
“Britney, you’re only good enough for trash like
this.
“Don’t think you’ve won just because you’re
marrying Cody.
“He loves me. He’s only marrying you because
he felt sorry for you, being his simp for ten
years.”
I stared at her, forcing a smile, all fake
sweetness.
“If he loves you so much, why doesn’t he just
give up his inheritance and marry you? I guess
a billion dollars is more important than you,
huh?”
She was speechless for a second, then hissed:
“You’re only forcing him because the old man. gave you some special privilege!
“Britney, I’m gonna make sure you know that
not only is Cody’s heart mine, but everything he has will be mine, too!”
I said, “Oh, good luck with that.”
She huffed and stormed off.
I tore the pendant off its chain, cut the box to shreds, and threw it all back in the trash.
Cody and Britney were stirring up trouble.
People kept reporting that Mr. Cody and Ms. Britney were seen everywhere, on romantic
stargazing dates at the top of the mountain,
buying up whole stores.
Everyone figured the big announcement would
be about Cody and Britney.
I knew Britney was feeding that info to the
media.
She wanted to show me that even if I married
Cody, I’d be a laughingstock.
I kept quiet, waiting for the day.
4
On the day of the announcement, I went to the Stern Corporation meeting room early, waiting for the result.
Britney rushed in with my parents, looking
frantic.
She ran to the table and slammed down a stack
of photos.
I leaned over to look.
It was a pile of intimate selfies of different guys
with the same woman, in bed. The pictures
were pretty explicit.
And all the pics were of me.
“Britney, how could you do something so
disgusting!
“If I hadn’t had a friend at the paper who
stopped this story, the Smiths and the Sterns
would have been ruined!
“Cody’s been nothing but good to you, and
you’ve been sleeping with other guys!”
Cody was strolling in, hands in his pockets, but when he heard Britney, he rushed to her side.
“What are you talking about, cheating on me?”
Cody reached for the photos, but Britney
stopped him, stammering.
“Nothing, it’s just that… Britney… Cody, don’t
look, please, I don’t want you to be upset.”
Cody saw her acting shady, and he got serious.
He tried to grab the photos from her, but she
kept hiding them.
The more she tried to hide them, the more he
wanted to see them. He pushed her aside and
looked at the photos.
Britney told him not to look, but she kept
looking at me, smirking.
