Mark's eyes darted around nervously before they finally landed on me . He jerked his chin in my direction and said , " You got it wrong . Nicole's like a sister to me . That's my girlfriend right there . " The whole table went dead silent . You could've heard a pin drop . Somewhere in the back , I swore I heard someone whisper , " Seriously ? That's his girl ? Honestly , Nicole and Mark would make a better couple . " For a second , the awkwardness was too much to breathe through . Then Nicole leaned in as if she was saving the moment , looping her arm around my shoulders with this fake - friendly smile . " Oh , come on . Don't be mean . Kelsey is basically the computer science queen of Arkenville University ! " But instead of helping , that just made everyone look at me differently . Their eyes were filled with a mix of doubt and disgust , as if they'd just uncovered something nasty . " So she's the one who plagiarized Nicole's work ? Damn . Didn't expect that . She's not even cute , and on top of that , she plays dirty . " " Exactly . Ugly on the outside , shady on the inside . I can't believe Nicole still invited her . That's what you call a real angel . " The words stabbed at me one after another . My skin itched as if I was sitting on needles . I wanted to get up and walk out so badly . But if I ran , it'd look as if I was guilty , and everything they said was right . Nicole's smug little smile told me she knew that , too . She just sat there , watching me squirm . I dropped my head , forced my fork to scrape at the pasta on my plate , and tried to look unbothered . Inside , my thoughts were spinning . What could I do ? How could I prove the truth ? Then I noticed Nicole's laptop , sitting right next to me on the booth seat . My heart pounded so loudly that I could barely hear the chatter around the table . Maybe if I opened it , I'd find some kind of proof . Everyone else was busy clinking glasses and laughing , so I slid the laptop toward me and carefully lifted the lid . I pulled up her program history . And my stomach dropped . Her process was identical to mine - every step , every idea . Even the bug fixes matched mine . Something was seriously wrong . That was when a voice , low and sharp , cut right into my ear . " Kelsey , are you snooping through my code ? " Support Share