8
Before long, Brittany was about to get kicked
out again from failing her makeups.
I didn’t cover for her this time. I just gave the
school my parent’s number.
My folks rushed to school.
Outside the lecture hall, my dad laid into
Brittany, while my mom sobbed, unable to get a
full sentence out.
They were making a huge scene. Everyone
walking by was staring.
<
Brittany was humiliated.
Before, she’d been the talk of campus because of her rapper boyfriend, the envy of every girl.
Now, her hillbilly parents were yelling at her in public, and it made her want to die.
“I dropped out, so what?
“You all pressure me to succeed, but I just want
to be in love!”
My parents were about to explode.
“We worked our butts off to send you to school,
and this is how you repay us?!”
Brittany screamed, “Repay! Repay! You don’t
actually love me, you just want a return on your
investment. Screw you, I never want to see you again!”
11:20
934
88
I stood nearby with my hands in my pockets,
watching it all.
One of the students nudged me. “Shouldn’t you
try to break them up?”
I said, “I can’t.”
The student got mad. “You’re so cold…”
“Cold?”
A voice said behind us. It was Tiffany Sterling.
“What’s not cold about it? Taking classes to take care of her parents or taking care of her sister?” Tiffany shrugged. “Don’t judge other people until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. Go to class. It’s better than judging from afar.”
Tiffany was a campus celebrity, and students didn’t want to piss her off. They ran away after the rebuttal.
<
Tiffany came next to me and glanced at my
sister.
“Be careful. She’s a leech.”
Tiffany’s kind.
I replied, “Understood.”
Tiffany’s advice was smart.
My parents had cut ties with Brittany, and were focusing on me.
I brushed them off and sent them back home.
From then, Brittany lost her allowance.
She was never one to save her money, so she
got into financial trouble.
She begged me for money, but I was cold.
<
She got mad after being declined.
She yelled at Justin: “We can’t even pay rent!”
Justin, without looking up, said: “I’m going to be famous soon.”
“You always say that. When is it going to happen?!”
After a few minutes, I heard her say: “I need to
get money.”
“Remember that manager who wanted to
introduce female students to rich old men?”
Justin replied in annoyance: “He wasn’t right in the head…”
“I know! But he said he’d pay a few grand for it…”
Justin looked at her in surpdis
<
11:21
“Not me!” Brittany said with clenched teeth. “If it weren’t for Sarah, I wouldn’t be here.
“If she just let me be and gave me money, then
everything would be okay. Why did she take it away from me?”
Brittany was unaware that I was listening.
While she broke into his room, I was with Justin,
planning his publicity.
Even though Justin hung up on me, everything
was recorded.
Justin texted me: [She was just joking, don’t
worry about it].
I responded with a hip–hop emoji: [We’re
Homies].
He took a breath.
Brittany didn’t get backed into a corner.
Justin went viral 3 days later.
That lame song was popular on social media,
and everyone was dancing to it.
Brittany was happy.
Like before, she started acting like she and
Justin were lovey–dovey.
Justin hesitated and called me. “I want to focus
on music. This is ruining things, right?”
I laughed: “Are you afraid Tiffany will see this,
and lose your chance?”
Justin started stuttering.
I responded: “Don’t worry, I’ll say that it was business. Tiffany won’t believe it.”
<
Justin felt relieved, but then he asked: “Are you
mad that I’m doing this to your sister?”
I laughed: “She wanted to send me off to a
pervert. Why should I care?”
Justin breathed and worked with Brittany.
This is a business world of coldness.
Only Brittany is innocent.
As the lover, she went on shows with Justin and
agreed to commercials.
The price was astronomical.
Brittany came to show me.
“Do you know how much money we get for
this?”
I smiled.
<
I smiled.
I already knew.
Brittany replied: “Do you know how much we
get from TV shows?”
I already knew.
When she was lovey dovey, I was managing the
commercial work.
I recorded everything, and put it under my
company.
She sneered at me: “You’ll never earn this even
if you worked for a lifetime.”
Yeah.
Too bad.
く
I could barely hide my smile. I looked away so
she wouldn’t know.
And then, the media and fans lost interest in
them.
The entertainment world always gets distracted
by new things. Justin had no talent, so he
wasn’t popular for long.
But they did well.
Brittany asked Justin for money.
He looked annoyed and said that the company
already gave him everything.
She got mad and went to the building for
money.
She froze when she opened the door.
It was me at the office.
