The first thing my best friend did was threaten me with our old chat logs. "Hey girlie," she texted. "I've gone through three phones, but I never deleted our conversations. I was waiting for a day like today." "Don't you forget where you came from. You promised that if you ever made it big, you'd take care of me for life." "So, let's start with a new apartment. Your secrets are my insurance policy, after all." I smiled and agreed. But even after I bought her the apartment, she leaked the chat logs anyway. She said she needed to expose my "dirt" to launch her own channel. I was cyberbullied into a deep depression and fell from a rooftop. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I decided to become a content creator. 1 "Claire, my bestie! Are you really going to do it? Start your own channel?" When I heard Lily’s familiar voice, I knew. I had been reborn. In my past life, from the moment I started creating content, Lily became exactly like all those "best friends" you see in the comments online. Just waiting for me to go viral so she could live off my success. "Our chat history is the most valuable thing we have now," she'd said. "I won't delete a single word. When you're famous, this is all prime dirt." "If you dare forget about me," she'd joked, "your downfall will be swift. Career announced in the morning, receipts leaked by noon, and you're canceled by evening." At the time, I thought she was just kidding. She was my only real friend, after all. If I made it, of course she’d share in the rewards. And I did make it. I went viral, just as I'd dreamed. I treated her like family, showering her with cars, apartments, and cash. But at the absolute peak of my career, she went live and broadcast our private conversations to the world. "Claire," she’d said, "you’ve hit the social media jackpot. Surely you won't mind letting me get a piece of it?" "Don't worry, I'm just using you to get my channel off the ground. Once my follower count is stable, I'll help you clean up your image." The moment those chats were leaked, my reputation was destroyed. The online hate was relentless. I developed severe depression and ended my life on that rooftop. But now, I'm back. This time, I looked at Lily's excited face and smiled. "Yeah, I am. But my phone's dead. Can I borrow yours for a sec?" She eagerly handed it over. "Of course! Use it for whatever you want." "What's mine is yours!" she chirped. "Just don't forget me when you're famous!" I took her phone, found my own contact, and opened our chat. Then, I deleted the entire history. Lily sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Claire! What are you doing?!" I handed the phone back to her, my face a mask of innocence. "Oh my god, Lily, I'm so sorry. My hand slipped." I shrugged. "It wasn't anything important anyway. Deleted is deleted." Lily fumbled with the phone, her face paling. "What do you mean, not important? That was years of my hard work!" "If you get famous, those were my leverage." I fought back a cold laugh and wrapped my arm around her shoulder affectionately. "Lily, what's all this talk about leverage? You're my one and only bestie. You think I could ever forget you?" She seemed to calm down, her expression softening. She took my arm in return. "I knew you were the best. Then it's settled. I'm your number one." My number one? Heh. A backstabbing snake like you? You like launching your career by tearing others down? This time, just watch how I ruin you. 2 Back home, I immediately started filming my first video. I already had the experience of going viral once; recreating my own path to fame wouldn't be hard. After posting my first transition video, the likes hit over 10,000 that same night. Lily saw it and messaged me instantly. "Claire, your video has 10k likes! I have a feeling you're about to blow up!" "So, listen, I saw this bag today… maybe you could just buy it for me?" "I mean, with numbers like these, it's like a small advance on your future earnings, right?" Before I could even reply, she sent a payment link. I clicked it. The bag was nearly five thousand dollars. Just like last time, the moment she saw a flicker of success, she was already demanding her cut. I didn't reply. I didn't pay. Late that night, another message came through. "Claire, long night. Wanna see some… spicy videos?" My guard went up immediately. She realized the old chat logs were gone and was now trying to manufacture new dirt. This time, I was smarter. I replied with two simple words. "Not interested." But Lily persisted, sending a flurry of links. "I've vetted all of these. Total eye candy!" "All top-tier guys. You're missing out if you don't look~" Honestly, there's nothing wrong with a girl enjoying a little eye candy. But for a public figure, it's a liability. In my past life, all of our private, girl-talk moments became tools she used to climb on top of my ruin. My face was grim as I typed back. "Lily, I don't watch that stuff. Please don't send it to me again." She sent back a string of question marks. "Claire, who are you kidding? You used to beg me for this stuff." "What, one viral video and suddenly you're a saint? Give me a break." Her wording was clever. I thought for a moment before replying. "Lily, how could you think that of me?" "When have we ever gone out to eat and I didn't pay? When you were sick in the middle of the night, didn't I drive across town to take you to the hospital?" "I've never done you wrong. This aggressive attitude of yours is honestly breaking my heart." Checkmate. Furious, she called me. "Claire, are you insane?" I suppressed my anger and quietly started a voice recording on my other phone. "What's wrong, Lily? Why are you so angry?" Her shrill voice pierced my ear. "Are you on something? What's with this saintly act? Have you read the crap you just sent me? Are you possessed?" "And you didn't buy me the bag I sent you. Didn't you promise you'd take care of me when you got famous?" "Don't you forget where you came from." I faked a sob. "Lily, I've had one video do well. I don't even have a brand deal yet. Where would I get the money?" "You have savings, don't you? You can afford a five-thousand-dollar bag." I laid it on thick, playing the victim. "But if I buy you the bag, I won't have enough money for food." "You're so cruel. How could you do this to me?" Lily was losing her patience. "You'll be earning way more soon! A single brand deal is worth tens of thousands." I made sure to reinforce my own persona. "Well, even then, I'd have to choose carefully. I can't just take shady sponsorships." She blurted out, "Pfft! You and your high horse. If I got famous, I'd take any ad that paid. Money is money!" Hearing that, I was incredibly grateful I had hit record. Seeing that her guilt trip wasn't working, Lily backed off. "Fine. You're just starting out, it's not easy. I'll let you off the hook this time." "But the second you land a sponsorship, I'm coming to collect." 3 After that first taste of viral success, Lily pestered me daily to post new content. This time, I was planning to recreate the video that had garnered tens of millions of likes in my past life, so the prep work took longer. She was impatient. "Ugh, you could post anything and it would go viral. Who takes half a month to make one video?" "At this rate, I'll be waiting forever for you to support me!" I ignored her and stuck to my own schedule. Three days later, the video was finally edited and ready. The moment I hit "post," a wave of relief washed over me. After two weeks of exhausting work, I could finally get a good night's sleep. The next morning, I was woken up by a barrage of calls from Lily. "Claire! Why are you still sleeping? You've blown up! Do you know?" "Your video got 5 million likes overnight! You have over a million followers now!" Her voice was electric with excitement. "You're a real influencer now! You can't have any more excuses to say no to me!" "Okay, here's the plan. First, you're buying me that bag. Then this afternoon, I'm going to go look at cars. What do you think?" I cut off her greedy monologue by hanging up. The next second, I moved her contact to my block list. Phew. The relief was incredible. After I blocked her, she started trying to contact me through our mutual friends. I told them to stay out of it, that it was between me and Lily. One of them messaged me, "Lily says if you don't respond, she's going to expose you. She's saying you forgot your friends the second you got famous." "She claims she has a lot of dirt on you and that you should watch yourself." I'd deleted everything. What dirt could she possibly have? She was bluffing. To my surprise, that evening, I stumbled upon Lily's livestream. The title was: [Spill the Tea! My Influencer Bestie Got Famous and Ditched Me!] For whatever reason, she wasn't showing her face, hiding behind a virtual avatar mask. "I'm just here to give a warning today," she said to the camera. "To a certain someone who forgot where she came from. Don't force me to leak the receipts!" Viewers poured into the stream, the audience growing by the second. The chat was on fire. [Who is it? Can you just drop the name?] [I bet it's that new girl who just blew up. I saw one of her videos, she looked shady!] [I'm staying neutral. I get burned every time I pick a side in these things.] [Spit it out! If you don't name names, I'm calling it fake.] Lily waved a dismissive hand. "We were friends for a long time. I don't want to be too cruel." "I just hope she sees this stream and has a change of heart. And maybe unblocks me." The keyboard warriors went wild. [What? Blocked you after getting famous? If my bestie did that, I'd slap her into next week!] [She was never your real friend. You were the first person she cut off when she made it.] [Your 'bestie' is probably so high on her main character energy she doesn't know which way is up.] [If my friend did that to me, I wouldn't just leak dirt. I'd ruin her so badly she could never make a comeback.] I used to read comments like these and laugh. Now I knew the truth: the first person to resent your success is often the one closest to you. The moment you stop catering to their every whim, they accuse you of changing, of forgetting them. They take the trust you gave them and turn it into a weapon, hoping to bleed you dry for the rest of your life. Lily continued her performance, her voice dripping with false sincerity. "I was with her through everything, through her toughest times. Now that she's finally made it, I just… I can't bring myself to hurt her." The chat erupted in sympathy. [Girls are always too kind. Your friend treats you like this and you're still protecting her!] [OMG, be my bestie! If I got famous, I'd spoil you rotten.] [Don't be so soft! You have to expose toxic people like her!] Lily sighed dramatically. "I know, I'm just too soft-hearted." "If I wasn't, I'd be dropping all her secrets right now. She has a closet full of skeletons!" I was getting angrier by the second. I switched to my burner account and typed in the chat. [How do we know any of this is real?] [You're probably just using this drama to launch your own channel!] A few other viewers still had their wits about them. [Yeah, where's the proof? It's just you talking to a camera. You could be making it all up.] [Show the receipts or we're out. I've got other drama to catch up on.] [I got played by someone like this last time. I'm not saying a word until I see proof.] But many were completely on Lily's side. [She already said she doesn't want to ruin her! What more do you vultures want?] [You're defending her friend so much, you're probably the friend herself, aren't you?] [Big enough to block someone, but too scared to show up on your main account?] [My heart breaks for you, girl. Getting blocked by your ungrateful bestie and still trying to protect her, only to have these people demand proof.] That was the last straw. I pulled Lily out of my block list and sent her a message. What the hell do you think you're doing? On the livestream, Lily picked up her phone and gasped theatrically. "Oh my god, you guys! My bestie just unblocked me!" "Do you think she's watching the stream?" The chat flew by. [Was that commenter from before actually her?] [What did she say? Did she apologize?] [Don't forgive her just like that! She's not sorry, she's just scared of her career being ruined!] [Exactly! We support you! Don't back down!] Lily gave a bitter smile. "You want to know what she said to me?" She covered my profile picture with her thumb and held the phone up for everyone to see. "My 'bestie' is demanding to know what the hell I think I'm doing." As she spoke, tears started to stream down her face. "I thought our friendship of over ten years was unbreakable. That we were more like sisters. But I guess I was the only one who felt that way." "To her, I was just someone she could throw away the second she got famous." The chat filled with messages of comfort. [Baby, don't cry. She's not worth it.] [You're so much prettier than her anyway. You should make your own content, you'd be way more successful. I'm your first fan!] [Even after all this, you still didn't drop her name. You're such a good person. My heart hurts for you.] [+1. We can't let ungrateful people succeed. We'll make you the next big thing!] Lily sniffled, her voice thick with fake emotion. "I'm going to end the stream here for tonight. I need to go talk to her." "I'll see you all next time, guys." She even teased her next stream, a clear ploy to gain followers. Her desperation to be famous was practically leaking through the screen.
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