My Reborn 18-Year-Old Revenge Scam? Bankrupting Bullies! - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

I moved into the school dorms.
Since I refused to apologize to Vivian and Maya, Dad said I couldn't come back to my room until I did.
"Fine then," I smiled. "I'll move out."
Dad was stunned.
"I'll live in the dorms."
Vivian rushed out of her room. "Jess, don't be rash! It's almost SATs—if you live at school now, you definitely won't rest well."
Right. Almost SATs.
She didn't dare let me move out.
Moving out meant losing control, and she needed to keep me firmly in her grip.
"I don't have to move out," I said. "But only one of us can stay in this house. Me or Maya. Dad, pick one."
Dad was completely speechless. "Jess, you…"
Yeah. How did I suddenly become so unreasonable?
I looked at Vivian. "Let me move out, or I'll get up in the middle of the night and strangle Maya."
Horror flashed in Vivian's eyes.
I looked possessed.
But if becoming a psycho was the only way out, I didn't mind playing the part.
Finally, Dad gave in. "Fine! You want to move out? MOVE OUT!"
"I see you think you're all grown up now. Let me tell you something—if you leave, I'm not giving you a single penny. Think about that."
I glanced at him and snorted.
Eighteen-year-old Jess might have been intimidated by his threats.
But not me.
I packed my stuff that very night.
I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
Leaving home was definitely the smartest choice.
Even though dorm life wasn't exactly pleasant.
My roommates were from different classes. They looked down on me, isolated me, and seemed to gossip about me behind my back.
I didn't know why, but I didn't care.
In the final two months before SATs, my brain was focused on one thing: studying.
For the sake of ultimate victory, my tolerance was incredible.
Until my water cup got thrown in the toilet again.
I looked around the room. "Who did it?"
Three girls in the dorm. Nobody confessed.
"Not talking?" I snorted, grabbed all three cups from the sink counter, and shoved them in the toilet.
If we were gonna be dirty, we'd all be dirty together.
Delia screamed, "Jess, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"Do it again, and I'll return the favor."
I'd been putting up with their petty crap just to keep things quiet, not because I was scared.
Delia was all bark, just loud and obnoxious.
The other two, Zoe and Harper, were quieter. Zoe said, "It wasn't me."
Harper said, "Wasn't me either."
Only Delia left.
She stuck her neck out stubbornly, refusing to admit it. "So what if I did it? Jess, we all KNOW you're a thief who lies and deliberately seduces Tyler."
I narrowed my eyes. "Who told you that?"
"None of your business who told me. We all know anyway."
Tyler?
I looked her up and down. Delia was a dancer.
What a coincidence. So was Maya.
"So Maya told you."
Delia's face flickered with panic before she recovered. "Yeah, Maya told me. So what? You gonna deny it?"
Whether it was true or not, why should I explain anything to her?
I'd deal with Maya directly.
She dared to slander me. I wouldn't let it slide.
After all, in this world, I hated Maya most of all.
I hated her casual cruelty, her breezy evil.
Behind closed doors, in the room that belonged to just us, she'd mock me relentlessly, put me down, hurt me, laugh at me... She gave me all her malice.
But I wouldn't take it anymore.
The next day, I dumped a bucket of red paint over Maya's head.
"Dear sister," I said cheerfully. "Welcome to being a drowned rat."
Silence. Complete silence.
The forty-person classroom was like someone had hit the pause button.
One second, two seconds, three seconds, then the screaming started.
Maya covered her face and shrieked hysterically while her classmates gathered around, but nobody dared touch me.
BANG.
I threw the paint bucket on the floor and walked away.
It was the first time I'd felt genuinely happy since being reborn—the happiest moment yet.
Until I saw Tyler—persistent as a ghost.
"You shouldn't have done that," he said.
"What do you know?" I mocked him.
Playing the good guy now.
He had no idea what I'd been through in the dorms.
He had no idea what I'd been through at home.
I wasn't about to keep the peace.
No surprise—Ms. Rodriguez called me to her office again.
She wanted me to write an apology letter.
I said, "Aren't you calling my parents?"
Ms. Rodriguez said, "I called your father, but your stepmother answered. She said she understood, that this was all a misunderstanding, and she doesn't blame you."
"Jess," Ms. Rodriguez said, "I think maybe you have some prejudices against them."
I made a noncommittal sound.
Vivian was so clever. She was trying to lure me back home.
She wanted to use this magnanimous gesture to rebuild her image in my mind, to coax me back.
Once I was home, behind closed doors, she could destroy me all over again.
I wouldn't fall for it.
I said, "Since there's no problem, I'm leaving."
I was busy.
So as long as Maya left me alone, I had zero interest in seeing her.
With SATs countdown in full swing, I was more anxious than anyone.
I knew Vivian hadn't given up. She was scheming to make sure I couldn't get into college.
She definitely had plenty of tricks up her sleeve.
So I couldn't let my guard down.
I had to stay alert and ready—I couldn't blink for even a second.
But Maya was still only eighteen.
She didn't have that kind of deep cunning.
I'd humiliated her.
So now she wanted to destroy me.