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Chapter 125
Chapter 125
[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!
[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.
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.
N
“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?”
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 morning, when you showed up at school, I smelled medicine on you.”
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Chapter 125
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?”
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