Maisie and Zinnia got to their classroom. Zinnia glanced over at her usual spot. Someone was already sitting there quietly.”
Lydia was actually in class today. Ethan had his head turned, excitedly telling Lydia all about their crazy adventure from yesterday. Lydia just listened quiet as ever.
A faint smile finally softened Lydia’s usually calm face as she saw Zinnia walk in through the door. “Zinnia,” she called out.
“Morning, Zinnia. Morning, Maisie.” Ethan turned around with a bright grin, looking at them.
“Morning.” Both girls replied.
“Zinnia, I’ll catch you during the break, okay?” Maisie said. Her desk was two rows behind theirs, so they weren’t sitting together.
“Hey, Lydia,” Zinnia greeted softly as she sat down. Something felt off about Lydia today. It was summer, but Lydia was wearing a long–sleeved, high- necked black shirt. Her long hair was draped over her shoulders, hiding her whole neck.
“Hey, have you finished your homework? I can help if you want.” Lydia’s voice was barely there, even softer than usual.
Zinnia frowned with concern. “Are you feeling okay?”
Lydia froze for a moment, taken aback by the question. Instinctively, she hunched her shoulders and pulled her neck in slightly.
“I’m fine.” Lydia shook her head lightly.
“What the heck? Someone on Facebook is already back to defending Betty,” Ethan grumbled, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
After two classes, the extended break finally arrived. As seniors, they had hardly any downtime and even fewer chances for entertainment. Hanging out wasn’t really an option.
Ethan was brain–dead from sitting through classes, so he mindlessly scrolled through the Facebook school discussion group, hoping to clear his foggy
mind.
It definitely worked. Somehow, people were defending Betty again online. Half the class pulled out their phones to check Facebook when they heard
him.
There was a post going viral in the school’s Facebook group. The title read: [Zinnia Shaw: Using her “real daughter” card to bully Betty Shaw. Here’s the dirt.]
The post basically made a hit list of all the ways Zinnia supposedly tortured Betty at home.
First, Zinnia smashed Donald’s vase, denied it, and tried to pin it on Betty.
Second, Zinnia swiped a necklace Maelis loved, wrecked it, and then totally framed Betty for it.
Zinnia was jealous of how nice Timothy was to Betty. So, she slipped laxatives into the soup for Timothy, which had him glued to the toilet all day. T she set Betty up to look guilty.
Fourth, Howard had this huge racing competition coming up. Zinnia snuck into his garage while he was sleeping and loosened a bolt on his car, nearly getting him killed in a crash. When confronted, she played dumb and tried to throw Betty under the bus.
Fifth, while Yosef was away negotiating a crucial bidding contract, Zinnia allegedly snuck in and secretly tore it up, causing him to lose the bid. Furious, he confronted her, but she flat–out denied it and once again pinned the blame on Betty,
Points six through nine were just more stories about Zinnia supposedly setting Betty up.
Tenth, not long ago, because Zinnia didn’t get her cake at the birthday party, she tricked Betty into going to the pool to set her up. But Betty saw right
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Chapter 96
through her scheme and turned the tables on her before Zinnia could make a move.
The post made Betty out to be a poor, innocent victim who finally got gutsy enough to stand up for herself. Zinnia, on the other hand, was painted as nothing but a scheming troublemaker and the black sheep of the family.
The comments section was going crazy. [Damn, Zinnia’s not nearly as sweet as she acts. Look at all this crazy stuff she’s been doing. She’s actually insane.]
(Betty’s put up with Zinnia’s bullying for so long. Of course she’d fight back eventually. If it were me, I’d totally do the same thing.]
[Betty was probably just looking out for Zinnia. But seriously, why was Zinnia even by the pool? She was totally baiting Betty into doing something.I
[Come on, everyone knows the Shaw family spoils Betty rotten. Last time, there was only one birthday cake just for Betty.
[I bet Zinnia was green with envy and tried to set her up. Betty probably saw right through Zinnia’s little game, tried to play along, and then ended up walking right into Zinnia’s trap anyway.
”
[Seriously, are people really this gullible? Just one short video and everyone gets misled. Besides, Betty’s been framed a million times, so what’s the big deal if she fights back once?]
[Gotta admit, Zinnia’s quite the schemer. That strategic retreat of hers really worked. She’s successfully won the Lynn family’s sympathy. What can I say? She’s a master manipulator.]
[OMG, I’m literally gonna scream. I can’t believe Zinnia’s actually like this. And here I was feeling sorry for her before.]
[Am I the only one who thinks something’s off? Last time, everyone was ganging up on Zinnia, and we ended up eating our words. Now it’s happening again–like someone’s out to ruin her.
[What if it’s just another misunderstanding? If so, we’ll really have egg on our faces.] But this comment got buried among thousands of others.
Facebook was now flooded with Team Betty supporters trashing Zinnia. Truth didn’t matter anymore–some bought it, some didn’t. But the mob had decided Zinnia was public enemy number one.
But Zinnia was totally clueless about all this drama. She was in the restroom. She heard muffled whimpers and faint, ragged gasps echoing from one of the stalls. It sounded exactly like Lydia. Zinnia’s grip tightened on her cream jar.
The moment Zinnia stepped in, the sounds instantly cut off. Whoever was in the stall had clearly heard her.
Zinnia decided to play dumb. She opened and closed an empty stall door, then, after a brief pause, opened it again, deliberately making some noise.
A toilet automatically flushed in a nearby stall, followed by quick footsteps. Moments later, the stall door creaked open. Zinnia quickly ducked behind the main restroom door, just outside the entrance.
The restroom on their floor was usually deserted, only ever used by a handful of girls from their class, which worked perfectly for her plan.
Zinnia watched as Lydia swept the long hair from her neck, then unbuttoned her shirt, revealing a neck covered in angry red marks. As she did, the sleeve she’d just unbuttoned slid down her wrist, exposing a mass of raw, purplish bruises.
1
Lydia twisted open her cream jar and was about to dab some on her neck while looking in the mirror. She winced from the pain. Zinnia’s eyes went wide.
“Lydia…” Zinnia couldn’t just stand there anymore and stepped out.
“Z–Zinnia…” Lydia stammered, startled by Zinnia’s sudden appearance. With a flustered motion, she swept her hair forward from behind her shoulders, trying to hide the marks on her neck.
“I saw it. There’s no need to hide,” Zinnia said, pressing her lips together, her voice thick with worry.
Lydia looked into Zinnia’s worried eyes and gave up with a sigh. “You’ve known something was off with me for a while, haven’t you?”
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Chapter 96
Lydia looked at Zinnia, who was already opening her own cream jar and gently dabbing cream onto Lydia’s neck.
“Yesterday, when you sent me that voice message explaining the homework, I could tell your voice sounded off,” Zinnia admitted. “Then this mornin when you showed up at school, I smelled medicine on you.”
Lydia just stared at her, frozen. She couldn’t believe Zinnia had picked up on it that quickly, or that early.
Zinnia asked, “Who did this to you?”
