I Let Her Steal My Name

Chapter 2

The moment the words left her mouth, the classroom fell completely silent. Everyone's gaze shifted to focus entirely on Camilla.

"She's right! An estate would definitely be way cooler than some restaurant!" one student shouted. Another quickly chimed in, "Camilla, you should take us to the estate and show us around!"

The smile froze on Camilla's face. She clenched her fingers, her nails digging into her palms. The estate? She wouldn't even dare walk through the front gates on a normal day, let alone bring a massive group of people there to throw a party.

Forcing herself to stay calm, she let out a stiff, dry laugh. "The estate isn't usually open to guests."

"But these are all your friends," Harper said, watching her with a calm expression but an unwavering seriousness in her tone. "You wouldn't refuse to host your own friends, would you?"

Camilla was so completely cornered that she couldn't find the words to reply. The collective gaze of the entire class pinned her down like needles, leaving her no way out but to brace herself and nod. "Fine. I'll make a phone call and arrange everything, and we can go to the estate this weekend," she agreed before practically fleeing the classroom.

Harper watched her frantic retreat and let out a soft sigh. She didn't want to completely destroy the girl. She only wanted Camilla to realize that there would always come a day when a lie couldn't be covered up anymore, and admitting the truth early was far better than crashing down and losing everything in the end. She thought Camilla would recognize the impossible situation and back down, but she had severely underestimated the depths of human vanity.

By noon, the cafeteria was bustling with deafening noise.

Harper carried her tray while searching for an empty seat, but just as she walked down the aisle, her foot caught on a backpack someone had deliberately placed on the floor. She lost her balance and pitched forward as her tray crashed against the ground with a loud clatter. Her spaghetti marinara, carrots, and broccoli scattered everywhere, splattering sauce all over her clothes. Her left knee hit the hard tile, throbbing with a sharp, burning pain. To make matters worse, Brittany purposefully stepped on her dropped student ID card, grinding her heel into the plastic.

Instead of helping, the boys sitting at the surrounding tables erupted into a chorus of mocking laughter.

Harper pressed her hands against the floor to push herself up, but a foot wearing a high heel suddenly planted itself firmly on her shoulder and shoved her back down.

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry," Camilla's voice drifted down from above, dripping with fake apology. "I didn't even see you down there. You blend right in with the rest of these losers, making you completely unnoticeable."

Harper's shoulder throbbed under the heavy pressure. She lifted her head to look up at Camilla towering over her, and her expression turned ice-cold. "Move."

"What, are you mad?" Camilla bent down, leaning close to her ear to drop her voice to a harsh whisper. "I suggest you be smart about this. Keep your mouth shut, and I might just let you survive this school. Otherwise, I have plenty of ways to get you expelled."

Harper stared right back at her. She had stepped back time and time again out of consideration for old ties, not wanting to push things to an absolute extreme. Yet the other girl had taken her kindness as an open invitation to trample all over her without consequence.

Harper reached up, clamped her hand over the foot pinning her shoulder, and applied slight pressure. "I said, move," she repeated softly, her voice carrying an unquestionable strength.

A sharp pain shot through Camilla's ankle from the tight grip, forcing her to instinctively pull her foot back.

Harper pushed off the ground and slowly got to her feet. She dusted off her hands, ignoring the slight trace of blood seeping from the scrape on her knee and the messy sauce staining her white hoodie. She looked completely disheveled, but as she stood there with her back perfectly straight and her eyes clear and open, her presence somehow made the overbearing Camilla look incredibly insecure.

"Camilla," Harper said, enunciating every single word while holding her gaze. "If you want to enjoy the perks of that identity, I can turn a blind eye. But what you don't get to do is bully people over and over again."

"Bully you?" Camilla laughed as if she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. "Do you even think you're worthy of that? You're just a broke bottom-feeder, and you really dare to negotiate with me? Know your place, country bumpkin."

"My place?" Harper let out a soft laugh, her eyes sweeping over the girl's painfully deliberate designer outfit. "And where exactly is your place? From where I'm standing, you're nothing more than a cheap imposter dripping in designer knockoffs, stealing someone else's life to survive."

"You're speaking nonsense!" Camilla's face instantly flushed bright red, reacting exactly like someone whose deepest nerve had just been struck.

Harper didn't bother wasting any more words on her. She bent down, scooped up a massive handful of sauce-soaked spaghetti from the floor, stood back up, and firmly slammed it right into Camilla's face.

The wet smack echoed loudly as the thick red sauce began to slide down her forehead, over the bridge of her nose, and past her chin, dripping in sticky globs into her perfectly styled curls. The entire cafeteria instantly fell into a dead silence, with everyone staring in absolute, slack-jawed shock.

Harper let the pasta drop, pulling a napkin from a nearby table to calmly wipe her fingertips.

"That was to teach you how to respect other people," she said evenly. "If you ever put your hands on me again, it won't just be pasta sauce."

It took a full 3 seconds for Camilla's brain to process what had just happened. She let out an ear-piercing shriek and frantically clawed the sauce off her face, completely ruining her heavy makeup in the process as she screamed hysterically, "Are you insane?! You absolute b***h!"

Harper didn't give her another ounce of attention. She picked up her backpack and her dirty student ID card, turned around, and walked right out of the cafeteria.

She didn't care at all about the gasps, insults, and furious gossip exploding behind her. She never went out of her way to start trouble, but she certainly wasn't afraid of it either. Kindness needed to have a sharp edge, and compromise had to have a hard limit. That was the exact lesson her father had taught her all her life.

Meanwhile, Camilla had hidden herself away in a restroom, scrubbing her face frantically while gritting her teeth and dialing her mother's number.

The phone rang for a long time before it connected, bringing Martha's exhausted voice through the speaker. "Camilla? I'm right in the middle of working. What is it?"

"Mom, you have to help me this weekend," Camilla demanded, keeping her voice low but laced with aggressive urgency. "I'm bringing my classmates to the estate for a party this weekend. You need to figure out a way to distract the other staff and sneak us in."

"What?!" Martha's voice instantly spiked in panic. "No! Absolutely not! I'm just the cook. I can't just let strangers wander into the estate! If Mr. Sterling finds out, he'll fire me on the spot!"

"Then let him fire you!" Camilla interrupted impatiently. "Having a servant for a mother is already humiliating enough. I finally managed to build a reputation for myself here, so do you really want everyone to mock me? Just tell me if you're going to help me or not!"

A long, heavy silence stretched across the line. When Martha finally spoke, her voice was thick with helplessness and sorrow, having ultimately caved to her daughter's demands. "I'll try to figure something out. But this is the absolute only time we are doing this, do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Camilla beamed, her mood instantly brightening as she hung up the phone.

She stared at her messy reflection in the bathroom mirror, a toxic gleam flashing through her eyes. So her name was Harper, huh? They would just have to wait and see. She was going to make sure that girl couldn't survive another day at Oakhaven University.

When the weekend arrived, a soft layer of golden twilight draped over the Sterling Estate in Bayside Bluff.

The heavy wrought-iron gates slowly swung open, allowing a dozen sleek sports cars to roll through one after another. The students inside peered out their windows at the perfectly manicured rose garden, the glowing white fountains, and the sprawling coastline in the distance, letting out collective gasps of pure amazement.

"Oh my god, this is completely insane!" one student yelled, while another quickly agreed, "This really is the Sterling family for you. This place is practically a castle!"

Camilla stood at the entrance of the manor house in a stunning white gown, a practiced smile plastered on her face as she welcomed her arriving classmates. She was the only one who knew her palms were entirely slick with nervous sweat. This was her very first time standing here openly, and she couldn't even clearly remember the layout of the living room.

Madeline and Brittany flanked her on both sides like two dedicated handmaidens, constantly helping her field the endless wave of compliments from the crowd.

Right at that moment, a minor commotion rippled through the back of the crowd as Harper walked up the path.

She wasn't wearing an extravagant gown, dressed only in a simply tailored black knit dress with her hair pinned up in a loose, casual style and zero jewelry. Yet, as she strolled across the stone pathways of the estate, her confident, relaxed posture made it look exactly like she was taking a walk through her own backyard. In reality, it literally was her home.

"Why is she here?" Brittany frowned, lowering her voice to speak to Camilla. "Who actually sent her an invitation?"

Camilla stiffened for a second before letting out a cold scoff. "Let her come. She probably just wanted to sneak in and do some freeloading. Actually, this is perfect. Today, we'll give her a front-row seat to what a real class divide looks like."

Completely ignoring their sour expressions, Harper walked straight into the parlor and casually swept her gaze across the room.

The party slowly came to life as students wandered around with champagne flutes, endlessly admiring the immense luxury of the estate. One guy leaned close to Camilla, asking with a flattering smile, "Camilla, is that painting on the wall authentic? It looks incredibly famous."

Camilla followed his pointing finger and glanced at the impressionist coastal landscape. She didn't have the faintest idea who painted it, so she just offered a vague smile and said, "Yeah, it's just something we casually hung up."

"Even your casual decorations are this amazing!" the guy praised, clicking his tongue in awe.

Standing nearby with a glass of sparkling water, Harper suddenly spoke up. Her voice was quiet, but it was just loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear clearly.

"It's Shores of Cresthaven by Julian Vance, painted in 1882. I recall Mr. Sterling acquired it for twelve million dollars at Galloway's autumn auction in 1998, and it's been hanging in the east parlor ever since. What's wrong, you don't even remember the origins of the art in your own home?"

The moment she finished speaking, the surrounding area grew noticeably quieter.