Reborn To Ruin Her Rivals - Chapter 76: Chapter 76

They sized her up, not pretty, but passably cute. Every piece of clothing she had was obviously cheap.
'Broke!' someone sneered inwardly.
The four girls closed in around her, cutting off any escape.
Phyllis cast timid glances at them, too intimidated to speak.
She came from an ordinary family, and her deeply ingrained timidity kept her from meeting the eyes of these young socialites.
She'd already noticed these four. They were from Peterborough High School.
One look at their designer outfits told her they were from high society, people far beyond her league.
"So, you're Arielle's bestie?" Samantha sneered, her gaze dripping with contempt.
Seeing how her was shaking, they felt she thought they were about to eat her alive.
Phyllis fidgeted anxiously, at a loss for words.
At the neighboring school, she didn't have it easy. Girls would constantly bully her.
They poured water into her shoes, vandalized her textbooks, and isolated her.
She'd hoped to make Arielle her protector.
But looking at the girls in front of her now, she couldn't tell if they were friends or foes.
If she answered wrong and got dragged into trouble, it just wouldn't be worth the risk.
Mya looked at Phyllis's timid form with utter disdain.
She patted Phyllis's cheek with mocking condescension, meeting her eyes with a brazen, taunting stare.
"Relax, we're not gonna eat you," she said with a cruel chuckle, "Just answer what we ask, what's your deal with Arielle?"
Phyllis glanced around. She thought, 'Either way, I can't afford to mess with them. Might as well just do as I'm told.
'No way I can handle people like this. They're clearly not to be trifled with.
'I'm just an ordinary girl, no way I can compete with them.
'Why is life so unfair? Why did I have to be born into a poor family?'
She looked at the group of glamorous girls in front of her and thought, 'If only I had rich parents too, I wouldn't have to put up with this kind of humiliation.'
Resentment and inferiority flooded her heart.
She closed her eyes, as if steeling herself, then parted her lips.
"Arielle and I used to be close friends, we met when we were ten. But lately... I don't know why, she just doesn't seem to talk to me anymore," Phyllis said, her voice trembling as a single tear slipped down her cheek.
Samantha sneered, "Look at you, your whole outfit is so cheap. You just reek of poverty. If I were her, I wouldn't want anything to do with trash like you either."
Mya's eyes lit up. 'They've known each other since they were ten and are good friends? We can confirm all those rumors about Arielle online with her!' she thought smugly.
She pressed on, "So, you're also from that backwater village, Cloud Town?"
Phyllis wanted to shake her head. She thought, 'It's not that bad to me, but to these rich girls, Cloud Town must seem like some impoverished backwater.'
Reluctantly, she nodded.
Lynn's eyes lit up as she slung an arm over Meredith's shoulder. "So, you really know her well?"
Phyllis nodded mechanically, without a second thought.
"Spill it, what kind of shady stuff has she been up to? Especially the juicy details about her private life," Samantha pressed, barely able to contain her excitement.
Mya saw the scheming glint in Phyllis's eyes and instantly decided she couldn't be trusted, so she threatened her.
"If I catch you making up a single word, I swear I'll ruin you!" Mya warned coldly.
Phyllis nodded timidly. 'No way I'd dare, these rich girls don't even see people like me as human,' she thought, fear gripping her.
She kept her account of everything about Arielle as brief as possible, desperate to get away from them.
'Standing next to girls like them just makes me feel even more worthless,' she thought.
She said, "Arielle has a nasty temper, always hitting people. She mixes with those lowlife gangsters, seduces married men, and gets beaten up by their wives. And... rumor has it she was even raped, got knocked up, and had to get an abortion."
Meredith and the others stared at Phyllis in utter shock, their eyes wide as saucers.
'What did we just hear?' they thought, barely able to process it.
Each word from Phyllis hit like a bombshell.
"Are you serious?" Meredith asked eagerly, barely able to contain her excitement.
Phyllis stammered, her voice hesitant. "It's... true. But I'm not completely sure.
"That's just what everyone back home says. As her 'close friend', I couldn't exactly ask her about it.
"But I did see her once arguing with a woman, and that woman actually called her a homewrecker."
After Phyllis finished speaking, she noticed the intense excitement in their eyes.
'They're definitely at odds with Arielle,' she realized, her confidence growing.
The more she spoke, the more animated she became.
She went on, "Arielle was also close with a pair of siblings next door, Cassandra and her brother Phil. The three of them were very tight, and honestly, those two probably know even more about her than I do.
"But I have no idea where they are now. Rumor has it they were sold off somewhere. And as for the man who violated Arielle, he's an old bachelor from Cloud Town. If you're not sure, you can go ask him yourself."
Phyllis quickly racked her brain, trying to see if she'd left anything out.
Lynn and the others exchanged glances, their barely contained glee practically radiating off them.
"Holy shit, this is mind-blowing!" one of them blurted out.
This news was just too damn perfect for them.
"Does she really hang out with those thugs a lot? And when she was with that old creep, where exactly were they, did anyone actually see them together?" someone pressed.
"Yeah, all the time," Phyllis replied, her voice dropping. "They were up in the mountains. No one saw them, but when Arielle came down, her pants were soaked with blood..."
By the end, Phyllis's voice was barely a whisper. She thought, 'Did I go too far? What if Arielle comes after me for this?'
"Let me ask you one more thing, how were her grades?" Samantha pressed.
Phyllis was completely thrown by the question. 'Grades? What does that even mean?' she wondered, flustered.
Confused, she looked up and stammered, "Grades? She's never even been to school..."
Phyllis lowered her head, a flicker of glee hidden in her eyes.
'I don't even know why I'm so happy... Maybe the great Miss Bradford isn't so special after all. She's filthy, rotten to the core. Without her money, she's nothing but a tramp. After the way she treated me yesterday, not caring about our past and making me a laughingstock at school... What's so great about her anyway? She's just damaged goods.'
"Get lost. We're done with you," Samantha said, waving her hand dismissively.
She fanned the air near her nose as if warding off some foul odor.
Phyllis showed no sign of leaving. She had just called a ride, and the pickup location was right here. She couldn't leave.
Seeing her still rooted to the spot, Mya snapped coldly, "Why are you still here?"
"I... I'm just... waiting for my ride... to go... see Arielle..." Phyllis stammered meekly.
"Looking for her? You know where she is? Why do you want to find her?" Lynn zeroed in on the key point, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. She thought, 'Is she planning to snitch to that bitch about what we forced out of her?'
Phyllis immediately caught on to their suspicion and waved her hands frantically. "No, no, don't get me wrong! She hit me, I just want to confront her about it, I…"
She said this to play the victim and win their sympathy. After all, she could tell these girls disliked Arielle just as much as she did.
Meredith exploded in anger. "What? You're saying you're going to the Bradford mansion?"
Phyllis still had no idea who Meredith was, but seeing such a strong reaction, she thought, 'Maybe I guessed right, she probably wants me to go stir up trouble at the Bradford family too.'
She nodded emphatically and stammered, "She hit me so hard without even saying a word. I just want to ask her why she did it, that's all."