The manager glanced at the salesgirl. The girl lifted her chin, stubborn as ever. "I already said, I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?"
Claire gave a cold laugh. "You called us country bumpkins. Isn't that discrimination?”
“Do people have to buy something just because they walk into your store?” Claire pressed, her voice steady. "Or is this your store? Is that why you get to make these rules?"
The manager looked stuck, clearly caught in the middle. After checking the security footage, even she had to admit her employee had crossed the line. "Jane, just apologize to the customers. You were out of line."
Jane rolled her eyes. "How was I wrong? I was just being nice, telling them to check the sale rack. I was thinking about them. And then that old lady has the nerve to say our clothes are cheap."
"If you can't afford something, just say so. Why make up excuses?" Jane added, getting louder. "If you ask me, they're just here to stir up trouble."
Stir up trouble? Claire almost wanted to laugh at that. She was definitely learning something new today.
“Jane, just listen to me..." The manager tried to reason with her, but suddenly a man's voice boomed from the entrance.
"Jane, what's going on? Who's bothering you?" The mall manager swept into the store, his eyes locking straight onto his niece. He was obviously playing favorites, and if anything happened to his niece on his watch, his whole family would never let him live it down.
"Uncle, they're bullying me,” Jane said, her voice trembling just enough to be convincing. “I was just trying to help them out, telling them if they couldn't afford the expensive stuff, they could check the sale rack. But they got all offended, said the sale stuff was last season and started complaining about the quality."
"They wanted the new arrivals but couldn't pay, so they started trash talking our clothes. I couldn't just stand there and take it, so I spoke up, and now they're making a scene."
Talk about twisting the story. Claire could hardly believe the nerve.
The mall manager didn't even bother to check with the store manager. He just glared at Claire and Pandora, his expression icy. "Are you two here to cause trouble on purpose?"
"If you are, I'll have to ask security to show you out."
Claire's face turned cold. She hadn't expected a mall manager to be this blatantly biased.
"So you're not even going to find out what really happened before taking her side?" Claire said, refusing to back down.
But the manager had no interest in talking anymore. Maybe he felt guilty. Maybe he just wanted them gone. He pulled out his phone and called security.
The guards showed up almost instantly.
"Escort these two out of here," the manager ordered.
Right then, a group of girls nearby started livestreaming the whole scene.
"Everyone take a look. Claire, who used to be the queen bee, is getting
thrown out of the mall by security.
by security.
because she can't afford a single dress," the girl doing the livestream said, her tone gleeful.
The stream's title was pure clickbait.
She shared the link in her rich-kids group chat, and soon enough, people started flooding in.
Holy crap, is that really Claire?
Wow, I can't believe she's fallen this far. The James family must really hate her for taking their real daughter's place.
Here's a theory: what if Claire's
family planned the baby swap? They were poor, so they switched her with the real James heiress to give her a better life.
Maybe Claire and her grandma were trying to steal clothes. Why else would security get called?
"They weren't stealing. They just got into a fight with a salesgirl..." the livestreamer explained, giving her own version of what happened.
"To be honest, don't think the salesgirl did anything wrong. She told them to look at the discounted stuff but they didn't want it and insisted on the new arrivals bet they couldn't afford it, so they started complaining about the quality."
Claire ignored the whole scene. Instead, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
"Jenny, about that VIA Metropolis invitation? Turn it down. Right now."