Part 2The Girl Behind the Screen

When Lisa transferred the money to me on her phone, the girls around her were sizing me up with critical eyes.

Their gazes carried undisguised disappointment.

“Oh, so it’s her. She looks way too ordinary.”

“Lisa, are you sure someone like Bobby, that unreachable flower on a mountaintop, was chatting with her every day for three months?”

Lisa shook her head and smiled sweetly at me. “Give me your phone.”

My palm was covered in cold sweat, sticky and damp. At this point, what else could I say?

Lisa took the spare phone, opened the chat, and casually scrolled up and down.

“You didn’t talk about anything special.” She frowned slightly, troubled. “So how exactly did Bobby fall for me?”

A girl beside her burst out laughing and nudged her with an elbow. “Please, Lisa. You’re the school beauty of Westwood High, okay? Last time in the art building, I personally saw him leaning by the window drawing you. Thirteen pages of sketches. Be a little more confident in that face of yours, would you?”

California sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell across Lisa’s face, making her cheeks look rosy and vivid. Not far away, a few boys playing basketball had already started whistling at her.

My heart clenched.

I suddenly remembered a joke Bobby once made in our chat.

[You’re so pretty. Are you really afraid no one will chase you?]

Oh.

So he had probably liked Lisa for a long time already.

Then I truly had nothing to feel unwilling about. Even if I had approached him using my real identity, he might not have spared me a second glance.

People are always drawn toward light and beauty. Even I was no exception. Who could be blamed for that?

I handed Lisa every detail I had learned about Bobby over the past three months without holding anything back.

He liked sour cherry gelato. He liked playing chess online. He had an uncle who was a professional race-car driver.

We started talking because of a litter of stray cats behind the gym, and later became closer because of AP Calculus competition problems.

And today, this online dating game officially came to an end.

In total, there had been fifty-six meaningful exchanges. That was everything between him and me over these three months.

Lisa carefully recorded those details in her notes app and nodded at me.

“Thanks, Ruby. Five hundred and sixty thousand dollars. You made a fortune.”

They walked away laughing and chatting.

Only after a long time did I hear my own dry voice drifting into the air.

“You’re welcome.”

I clenched the heavy black card tightly in my palm, its edge digging painfully into my bones.

This meant I no longer had to face the desperate choice of dropping out and waiting tables. My family’s mess of debt was finally cleared.

But so what?

I had taken someone else’s money and personally helped someone else win the boy I had loved in secret for ten years.