You Mocked Me I’m The One You Fear Chapter 12
The next afternoon, an anonymous post appeared on the campus forum.
THINGS PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MAYA QUINN BEFORE TURNING HER INTO A HERO
It ran for several thousand words and included screenshots of private messages.
According to the post, I was cruel in private, bullied roommates because I thought I was smarter than everyone else, skipped group activities, treated professors and classmates badly, and flirted with other guys while dating Ethan.
The supposed “witnesses” in the screenshots had blurred profile photos and claimed to be roommates and classmates.
The post climbed fast.
Before it could fully take over the campus feed, someone replied.
The username was MAYA’S #1 TECH FAN.
“Delete this before you embarrass yourself any further.”
A second comment appeared.
“How long did you spend faking these screenshots? The font rendering and UI versions don’t even match. Did you seriously assume nobody here knows what metadata is?”
Then:
“Yes, you used a VPN. I don’t care about chasing your IP.”
“But you uploaded the original image files without cleaning the metadata. Device name and local account name are still there.”
“I’m an admin in the security lab. The file-creation username is very clear.”
“Vanessa Reed, do you want me to post the screenshot too?”
After that, old stories started resurfacing.
People remembered seeing Vanessa wedge herself between Ethan and me, linking her arm through his while laughing like they were the couple.
Others dug through old Instagram posts where she had made vague little comments about “friends who were too average to keep up.”
The forum thread kept growing until REMOVE VANESSA FROM CYBER TEAM reached the top of the campus page.
“Losing a competition is one thing. Faking screenshots to smear someone is another.”
“If she forged those messages, Cyber Team has to act.”
“How is anyone supposed to trust her handling evidence or data after this?”
Vanessa shook when she read the posts.
After that, her position in the department changed noticeably. People who had once volunteered to partner with her kept their distance. Cyber Team removed her from the core project channels. Several professors who had agreed to write recommendation letters told her they’d wait for the investigation to finish.
No one needed to publicly harass her.
No one had to stage some dramatic social boycott.
In security, if people stop trusting your judgment and your integrity, the damage is already done.
She came to see me once.
I didn’t let her upstairs.
“Maya, I know I was wrong. I was jealous. I wasn’t thinking—”
“You don’t have to apologize to me.”
Hope flashed in her eyes.
I finished calmly.
“Because I’m not going to forgive you.”