Chapter 1Spoiler Alert: The Side Character Wins

My boyfriend was sitting next to me while I got my nails done. I asked for the $20 basic manicure, but the technician "accidentally" covered all ten fingers in Swarovski crystals that cost $25 a pop. When I went to pay, she told me I owed the difference: $800.

I was about to argue when glowing text suddenly floated across my vision like a Twitch live stream: [OMG, Lila is so smart! The villainess is too embarrassed to make a scene in front of the male lead. She'll just pay up.] [Carter is totally going to fall for Lila's gritty, survivalist vibe!] [That stupid side character has no idea. Lila is going to spend her money, sleep with her man, and even raise her kids!]

* * *

Lila held up the card reader, a smug look on her face, waiting for me to tap my card.

The floating comments kept scrolling: [Lila is a genius! Now her tuition for next semester is covered.] [Poor Lila. Her dad is a gambler and she's broke. She has to skip class to work. If only she met Carter sooner!] [Does anyone else think this is kind of... illegal? If that happened to me, I wouldn't pay.] [Yeah, isn't this basically fraud?]

Seeing I hadn't moved, Lila raised her voice. "What? Are you trying to dine and dash on a service?"

It was rush hour at the mall. People started staring, whispering. They clearly thought I was some entitled Karen trying to stiff a worker.

I ignored the stares and said calmly, "Since you applied the wrong product, just take them off one by one and put on the basic rhinestones I asked for."

I sat back down and extended my hand. earlier, when she was trimming my cuticles, she nipped my skin. I was bleeding, and she didn't even apologize—she just rolled her eyes and said I was moving too much. I thought she was just a stressed college student trying to make ends meet. My patience, it turned out, was just an opportunity for her to scam me.

"We're out of the cheap ones," Lila said, crossing her arms. "Look at you. Your bag is worth like two grand. This $800 is nothing to you, but for people like me, it's life-saving money."

The text stream accelerated: [Exactly! Just pay up, you rich witch. Don't stop Lila from securing the bag!] [Boohoo, Lila is so tragic. I want to donate to her GoFundMe.] [Carter needs to step in so the villainess pays up immediately!] [Am I the only one who thinks the heroine is gaslighting her?]

Bystanders started chiming in. "Just pay the difference, miss. It's already on your hands." "Yeah, look at her. She spent two hours gluing those tiny diamonds on. Give the girl a break."

Emboldened by the crowd, Lila threw shade. "You're just trying to get free stuff. These crystals are obviously real. You didn't stop me, so that means you agreed to the upgrade."

I checked the time. My evening lab session was starting soon. "Fine," I said, my voice ice cold. "Remove them. All of them. I'm not paying for the diamonds."

"Sure. removal fee plus lost wages comes to $400. Venmo or cash," she said, thrusting the QR code in my face again.