?Chapter 505:


    Tremors rattled through Katie as panic and fury twisted inside her. Tears blurred her vision, and her knees threatened to give out. No matter how hard she tried, the slides on the screen refused to disappear. Why couldn’t she stop this? Who had turned her presentation into a spectacle?


    Katie’s voice quivered as she said into the microphone, “Please, Professor Wright, you have to believe me. I’m being framed. Someone faked those chat logs! My family saw how hard I worked. I would never disrespect you like this.” Her words rushed out in a desperate plea. “Give me a chance to find the person who did this. Please don’t trust those screenshots—they’re nothing but lies!”


    Katie’s voice cracked with emotion, each word a desperate attempt to deny the authenticity of the chat logs.


    On the other side of town, Christina snapped herptop shut, a faint smile ying at her lips. She had just posted a screen recording of the chat history between Katie and Thea, taken from Thea’s screen.


    The video caught fire almost instantly, rising straight to the top of the trending lists.


    Katie’s teary protests echoed around the auditorium, but across the inte, the recording had already spread far and wide. People who caught the video early wasted no time sharing it. The news zipped from phone to phone in a matter of minutes. Within moments, nearly everyone in the auditorium had seen the video.


    Disbelief spread among the students. “I can’t believe I trusted a single word she said. She was lying to all of us.”


    Another student’s voice rang out. “She looked so aggrieved up there, but not a single thing she said was true. The second she called the logs fake, boom, this video dropped.”


    “Katie’s always been arrogant and entitled, shing her family name around. This was bound to happen.”


    Anger simmered among the students. The tears they once believed now looked like nothing more than a performance. Any sympathy for Katie vanished in an instant, reced by open scorn. Suddenly, every stare in the room carried the sting of betrayal. A few people even looked ready to drag her offstage themselves.


    Confusion clouded Katie’s mind as she struggled to process what had just unfolded. Her phone vibrated nonstop, each buzz ratcheting up her anxiety. She snatched it from her pocket, fingers shaking.


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    A message from Ynda shed on the screen. “Katie! You’re in serious trouble! Your chat got screen-recorded and posted online!” A single link followed.


    Sniffling, Katie tapped it and nearly let her phone slip through her grasp. The video yed in full view, showing the entire conversation between her and Thea, all from Thea’s device. Panic set in. Why would Thea throw both of them under the bus? Wouldn’t this hurt her too? What could possibly be Thea’s motive? If Thea hadn’t recorded it herself, then how had it even gotten out?


    Burning with anger, Katie fired off a message to Thea without a second thought. “Thea, what’s with that video? Are you out to ruin my life?”


    A reply came back almost instantly. “I was about to say the same to you! Who did you piss off, Katie? Now I’m getting dragged down with you! People are gonna realize I’m involved too!”


    Katie retorted, “You’re the only one who could’ve recorded it. Why would I even do that?”


    Thea’s response was sharp. “Why would I risk everything? Your speech blew up before anything else did! Think for a second—who did you crosstely?”


    “I didn’t make any enemies,” Katie responded, though doubt was creeping in. “Maybe you’re the real target and I just got caught in the middle…”


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