Part 1Replace Me

After my dorm mates found out about my $100,000 monthly allowance, one of them became my personal copycat.

If I dined at a Michelin-starred restaurant, she’d max out her credit cards to order the exact same tasting menu. If my parents gifted me a limited-edition handbag, she’d commission a high-quality replica from a back-alley workshop when she couldn’t buy the real thing.

Everyone told her to stop being a cheap imitation, but she reveled in it.

I was beyond annoyed.

Until the day she chopped her waist-length hair into a wavy bob, identical to mine. That’s when the pop-up comments first appeared in my vision:

[GIRL, WAKE UP! SHE'S NOT TRYING TO COPY YOU, SHE'S TRYING TO REPLACE YOU!]

[ONCE THE IMITATION METER HITS 100%, YOUR ENTIRE IDENTITY AS A WEALTHY HEIRESS WILL BECOME HERS. THE PROGRESS BAR IS ALREADY AT 80%.]

[THE SCARIEST PART: SHE'S INTENTIONALLY TAKEN OUT A NAKED LOAN. WHEN IT DEFAULTS, YOU'LL BE SADDLED WITH THE DEBT, AND THE COMPROMISING PHOTOS WILL GET YOU EXPELLED!]

She wanted to steal my life?

I looked at my reflection in the mirror and made a decision that would make my ancestors roll in their graves.

I was going to take the hair I’d spent eighteen years caring for... and shave it all off.

* * *

Seeing my roommate, Jenna, with her new hair—a perfect replica of my own wavy bob—my best friend Kristen finally snapped.

“Jenna, what is your damage?” she fumed. “You’re a total wannabe! It was bad enough when you were copying Ava’s every move, but now you have the same exact hair and outfit? Who are you trying to freak out?”

Honestly, having someone mimic your every move is deeply unsettling. Our other roommates had tried to talk to her, gently suggesting she focus on her own strengths instead of being someone else’s shadow.

But it was like talking to a brick wall.

This time was no different. Faced with Kristen’s outrage, Jenna just casually fluffed her newly styled hair. “Everyone has the right to pursue beauty. I happen to like this style right now. What’s the big deal?”

“Is Ava Sterling’s name written on this haircut?” she continued, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Can no one else have it? Don’t be so selfish.”

She had twisted it around to make us the villains. That was the last straw for me.

I was about to let her have it when the comments flooded my vision again:

[GIRL, WAKE UP! SHE'S NOT TRYING TO COPY YOU, SHE'S TRYING TO REPLACE YOU!]

[ONCE THE IMITATION METER HITS 100%, YOUR ENTIRE IDENTITY AS A WEALTHY HEIRESS WILL BECOME HERS. THE PROGRESS BAR IS ALREADY AT 80%.]

[THE SCARIEST PART: SHE'S INTENTIONALLY TAKEN OUT A NAKED LOAN. WHEN IT DEFAULTS, YOU'LL BE SADDLED WITH THE DEBT, AND THE COMPROMISING PHOTOS WILL GET YOU EXPELLED!]

I had thought Jenna was just a deeply insecure copycat. I never imagined her intentions were so malicious.

In that moment, a plan formed.

I put a calming hand on Kristen’s arm. “It’s fine. I was getting tired of this hairstyle anyway.”

“But she’ll just—” Kristen started, probably about to say that Jenna would just copy whatever I did next.

“Kristen,” I interrupted, my voice sweet but firm. “Jenna just said, she simply likes wavy hair. She’s definitely not intentionally copying me!”

We were in the crowded campus dining hall, and I made sure to raise my voice. Heads turned. Everyone saw it: Jenna, a dollar-store version of me in every way except for her face. No one said anything, but the looks of disdain they shot her were loud and clear.

Jenna couldn’t stand being the center of negative attention. Her face flushed.

She muttered something under her breath that sounded like, “So smug. Just you wait,” before storming out of the hall.

Kristen poked my arm. “You’re just going to let her get away with that?”

I shrugged. “What else can I do? It’s not like she’s breaking the law.”

“You could at least yell at her! The nerve of that copycat, being so arrogant!”

“Arguing with someone like that is beneath us,” I said, soothingly. “Besides, a gorgeous girl like you can’t risk getting frown lines. It’s not worth it.”

Kristen laughed, but she warned me not to be too nice to Jenna, or she’d take a mile.

I wasn’t worried about her copying me. In fact, I was counting on it.

With no classes in the afternoon, I told Kristen I was off to get a new look. She was all for it.

I left campus and drove to the mansion my parents had bought for me. They were worried I wouldn’t adjust to dorm life, so they’d dropped a cool twenty million on a place nearby.

Thinking of Jenna’s smug face, I didn’t hesitate.

I picked up the electric clippers, took a deep breath, and shaved off the hair I’d spent eighteen years caring for.

The comments went wild.

[WHOA! WHAT IS SHE DOING? IS SHE SHAVING HER HEAD TO GET REVENGE?!]

[DID SHE FIND OUT ABOUT THE PLOT AND DECIDE TO JUST BURN IT ALL DOWN?]

[I MEAN, CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE, THE GIRL HAS A PERFECTLY SHAPED SKULL. SHE EVEN LOOKS GOOD BALD. BUT DAMN, THIS IS JUST HANDING THE VILLAIN FREE PROGRESS POINTS.]