My Biggest Lie Was Leaving You Chinese Drama

I was the scholarship kid at Westbrook University, dating the star quarterback, Gage Barton. Everyone on campus thought I was living a fairytale, the brilliant girl from the wrong side of the tracks who had captured the prince's heart. My roommate, Cayden, was my best friend, the one I trusted with all my secrets.

But my fairytale was a lie. My prince was a cruel narcissist who saw me as his pet project, and my best friend was a snake who secretly slept with him, seething with jealousy over everything I had earned.

Their betrayal culminated in an act of pure evil. Using my own laptop, Cayden permanently deleted my entire thesis-one hundred and twelve pages of research that represented my only ticket out of their world. My future was gone in a single click.

When I confronted them, they laughed. "It's just a stupid paper," Gage sneered, accusing me of deleting it myself to save face. They stood together, a united front of privilege and cruelty, believing they had finally broken me.

But they were wrong. I calmly walked over to Cayden's desk, where her own laptop was open, her final project displayed on the screen. Next to it sat a full glass of water. I picked it up and poured it directly onto the keyboard.

The screen sparked, then went black.

As she shrieked in horror, I repeated his words back to her, my voice cold as ice. "It's just a stupid project. Why are you making such a big drama out of it?"

Chapter 1

Aracely Adkins knew her place at Westbrook University. It was a place paid for by a scholarship, earned through years of sleepless nights and relentless study. It was a place she clung to with the desperation of someone who had seen the alternative. Her relationship with Gage Barton, the star quarterback, was supposed to be a different kind of place-a fairytale. At least, that's what everyone on campus seemed to think.

Gage came from new money, the kind that shouted its existence with flashy cars and buildings named after his father. The Bartons were major donors, and Gage moved through the university's hallowed halls as if he owned them. He saw Aracely as his most charitable project. A brilliant, beautiful girl from the wrong side of the tracks, polished by his association. He liked the way it made him look generous.

Aracely told herself she loved him. She ignored the way he dismissed her academic achievements in front of his friends, the way he casually criticized her second-hand clothes, the way his eyes would glaze over when she talked about her thesis-the very thesis that was her ticket to a life beyond Gage's shadow.

Her roommate, Cayden Padilla, was her supposed best friend. Cayden was always there to comfort her after Gage' s latest slight, always ready with a hug and a whispered, "He doesn't mean it. He just doesn't know how to show he cares." Cayden knew all of Aracely's insecurities, all of her dreams. She collected them like precious stones, all while secretly seething with a jealousy that poisoned everything. Cayden wanted Aracely' s intellect, her opportunities, and most of all, she wanted Gage.

And she had him.

Aracely wasn't a fool. She saw the lingering touches, the shared glances that lasted a second too long. But she chose to believe the lies they both fed her. To lose Gage was to lose the fragile social standing she had. To lose Cayden was to be completely alone. So she swallowed the bitter taste of suspicion and smiled.

The Annual Donor Gala was the pinnacle of the university's social calendar, and Aracely felt like an imposter in a borrowed dress.