The Ingrate's Punishment

"Wendy, why isn't your card going through?"

Wendy's face froze. "That's strange. This card isn't supposed to have a spending limit."

She took the card back, her expression clearly flustered. "Give me a minute. I need to make a call."

A few minutes later, Wendy came back, her face pale as a ghost. "I'm sorry. There have been too many transactions on the account lately, so the bank froze my card. It won't be unfrozen anytime soon."

Everyone frowned.

"Wendy, you're the one who said you would pay our tuition. I already spent my money on a pair of new sneakers. If you can't pay now, what are we supposed to do?"

"Exactly. I already used my money to buy a bag. If you can't pay, are you trying to get us kicked out of university?"

"Wendy, we've already spent all our tuition money. I don't care what you do, but you have to pay for us first. We don't want to get expelled."

As the whole class started pressing Wendy for an explanation, Ivan stood up and stepped in front of her. "That's enough. Wendy was only trying to help by paying your tuition. It was just an accident, and this is how you're treating her?"

Wendy looked at the professor and nodded apologetically. "I'm sorry, Sir. This is my fault. Can I pay 300,000 first? My parents said that if I win a prize in the creative writing competition next week, they'll give me one million dollars as a bonus. I'll cover the rest once I win. Is that okay?"

The professor nodded. "Alright. I'll explain the situation to the university's management. But are you sure you can win a prize?"

Wendy smiled. "I'll be honest with you. The person in charge of this competition is my uncle. He has tutored me, so I have a very good chance of winning the prize."

Then, she turned to the rest of the class. "Don't worry, everyone. I always keep my promises. I'll pay the rest of your tuition soon."

I could not help wondering where Wendy had gotten that 300,000 dollars from, but I did not dwell on it. After the professor left, I got ready to leave too.

Suddenly, Ivan stepped in front of me. "Nancy, lend me your laptop."

My hand tightened into a fist. In my last life, I had carelessly lent Ivan my laptop. That was how my work got stolen. It left me unable to defend myself, and it even got me killed in the end.

"My laptop has important files on it. I don't lend it out," I told him.

Ivan looked annoyed as he said, "What's that supposed to mean? I'm your boyfriend, and you're still on guard around me? It's not like I'm going to leak your files. Do you even want us to stay together or not?"

I looked up at him. "Let's break up, then. Go be with your childhood sweetheart and have a romantic time."

Wendy immediately put on a hurt expression. "Nancy, my laptop broke, and I need one for the competition. Please help me. Otherwise, I won't be able to compete, and then I won't be able to pay everyone's tuition."

I looked at her coldly. "You don't need to pay my tuition, so why should I help you? There are plenty of people in this class. I'm sure one of them would be happy to lend you one."

Someone pulled Wendy over. "Wendy, I'll lend you mine. Don't beg someone so cold and heartless."

I just smiled and walked out of the classroom.

To be safe, I called my dad. Our company was one of the sponsors of the university's creative writing competition, so I asked him to speak to the organizers and change it to an on-site format with randomly assigned topics.

My dad replied quickly and agreed.

On the day of the competition, everyone looked flustered when the new rules were announced. I looked at Wendy, only to find that she seemed perfectly calm. Did she really have that kind of talent?

I did not have time to think any further. The competition began, and by sheer coincidence, Wendy and I drew the same topic.

An hour later, Wendy turned in her paper ten minutes before I did. After I finished writing, I handed mine in as well.

Just then, one of the judges suddenly shouted, "Nancy, you've got a lot of nerve! How dare you plagiarize right in front of us?!"

The judge threw the two papers down in front of us.

I stared at the two identical papers in shock. I had clearly written mine on the spot, so how did Wendy know what to write and finish before me?