"Just be careful. Sloane has a lot of loyal followers," Priscilla warned.
College was like that. Beautiful, high-achieving students naturally drew a crowd and enjoyed endless privileges.
But then again, wasn't Claire incredibly beautiful too?
Sloane had undeniably lost face today, becoming prime cafeteria gossip.
Little did Claire know, the story of her turning down the invitation would quickly morph into something completely unrecognizable.
Someone very calculating had flipped the narrative—instead of Claire declining the invite, the rumor became that Claire had begged to attend and Sloane had rejected her.
Now everyone was whispering that Claire had weaponized her status as the top- ranking freshman to demand an invitation from Sloane.
Only to be ruthlessly shut down.
While Claire didn't usually care about rumors, the sheer maliciousness of this one was a bit nauseating.
Even Priscilla's three dormmates cornered her to ask if Claire had really begged for a ticket.
"Who told you that?"
Priscilla was stunned. How had the story gotten so warped?
"Is it not true? That's what everyone is saying."
The rumor had evidently spread like wildfire in just one afternoon.
"No! Sloane invited Claire, but she was too busy to go!" Priscilla was utterly exhausted.
Lily Lowell looked at her in disbelief. "You're not seriously trying to claim that Claire rejected Sloane's invitation, are you?"
As if anyone with a brain would believe that.
"Because that's exactly what happened."
Who would buy that?
"Priscilla, you don't have to make up lies to save her face."
Wasn't it obvious who the real liar was?
"I'm not." Priscilla realized that no matter what she said, she was fighting a losing battle.
The entire student body was dead set on the narrative that Claire had been rejected from the party of the year.
Frustrated, Priscilla left the room to find Claire.
Back in her own dorm, Claire was currently getting the exact same scoop from her
own roommates.
Skylar Sommers, a fellow med student, was the one breaking the news.
"A ton of people are saying you begged Sloane for an invite in the cafeteria and she turned you down."
Priscilla walked in just in time to chime in on the subject.
"Who has this kind of talent for twisting the truth?" Claire mused.
"My three dormmates wouldn't shut up about it. They claimed
confirmed it
from the cafeteria
Priscilla grumbled.
"Claire, I can clear this up for you, but when I tried explaining it in my room, no one believed me."
Priscilla felt completely helpless.
Why was everyone so blindly convinced that Claire was desperate to attend?
It all traced back to the Sterling family's legendary patriarch, Dr. Solomon Sterling.
Throw in the fact that her father was Vice President Sterling, and it made perfect
sense.
Naturally, everyone assumed that even a genius like Claire would be desperate to kiss up to Sloane.
Even if Claire stood up and cleared the air herself, she would likely just get laughed
at.
Even more ridiculous, if Sloane publicly admitted she was the one who initiated the invite...
People would just coo over how merciful and kind Sloane was.
They'd think she was graciously falling on her sword just to save Claire's dignity.
So, this was the harsh reality.
"It's totally normal that no one
believes it," Claire said evenly. "It just
means im not powerful enough t
The truth was dictated by whoever held the most power.
Priscilla was speechless, and the rest of the dorm was stunned into silence.
If Claire thought she wasn't powerful enough, what did that make them?
They were practically dust compared to her.
Did that mean they were destined to just swallow whatever rumors were thrown at them?
"By the way, the cafeteria has security cameras, right?"
Claire dropped the question
It didn't sound like she was
aking them, but rather thinking out
loud
The others caught it instantly.
"Yeah, it has cameras, but the administration won't pull the footage for petty drama
like this."
That was Priscilla's educated guess.
Zara, however, was fiercely loyal. "Are you sure you want the footage? I'll have my people get it for you!"