15
By now, the Vance siblings finally understood. “Aria, this was your doing!”
Zoe’s face was twisted with malice. “I knew it! I knew there was a reason so many people were suddenly attacking me and my
brother. You hired a troll army! Liam, how could you? It wasn’t enough to steal my brother’s debut spot, you had to hire bots to slan-
der him too!”
My brother, always the honest one, was flustered and didn’t know how to respond.
I shifted on the sofa to face them, my expression cool. “How many mothers do you have, that not a single one taught you any man-
ners?!”
The new viewers in the chat went wild: “DAMNNNNNNN.”
The Vance siblings were stunned into silence.
I patted the spot next to me, motioning for my brother to sit down. Seeing the hurt look on his face ignited a fire in my gut. When he was a little kid, trailing after me everywhere, I wouldn’t have let anyone hurt his feelings for a second. Now, in this cutthroat
industry, he was being kicked around at every turn, and the ones responsible were standing right in front of me.
Chapter 2
10:31
I leaned back against the sofa, my voice dripping with ice. “You’ve been clinging to that ‘he stole my spot‘ line for two years, haven’t you? It’s the little story you tell yourself to feel better.”
Adam’s face flushed. “I have not.”
“It’s the truth!” Zoe insisted.
I let out a cold laugh. “You just can’t figure it out, can you? Why my brother made it and you didn’t? Just look in a mirror. Two years ago, my brother’s singing and dancing weren’t great, but at least he was working his ass off every single day to get better. And you? What have you done besides comforting yourself with that pathetic excuse? As far as I can tell, my brother hasn’t exactly been standing in the way of your career for the last two years. So, have you gotten famous? Have you made any real money?”
Adam was silent.
“The two of you are so dense it’s almost refreshing. The network brought you here for ratings. The sponsors are backing you to create drama with my brother. You didn’t actually think you were the stars of the show, did you?”
Adam: “.
16
wwwy
A recording of that segment inevitably blew up online, causing another massive stir. But this time, something was different. In addition to the usual warring factions of my brother’s and Adam’s fans, a new, mysterious force had entered the chat.
Underneath the fiery back–and–forth between the Serrano and Vance camps, new kinds of comments began to appear:
“I don’t care how harsh Aria is, I have to thank her for sticking up for our Kiki. Kiki is too soft–spoken and always gets bullied. Thank
you, Aria!”
“I want to thank Aria too. Rick may be 35 now, but he was incredibly handsome when he was younger. Who are these people to call
him cringey?”
“Exactly! His agency picks his roles. Why are they attacking the actor?”
“Aria is my online spirit animal. Please, queen, insult them more! We love to see it!”
“Please insult them more +1,000,000. We’ll support Liam and fight off the haters.”
“LOL, because of his sister, I’ve become a Liam fan. Smashed that follow button”
I scrolled through my feed, then showed my phone to my brother. “See? The thing you were worried about? It was never going to
happen.”
My brother’s eyes were wide with disbelief. He couldn’t fathom how my aggressive, take–no–prisoners attitude had somehow resul- ted in a wave of glowing reviews. He looked at me, stunned, and gave me a thumbs–up, “Sis, you’re a legend.”
The living room was filled with our triumphant laughter.
Unfortunately, our victory lap was short–lived.
The first person to publicly diss us was the director of Idol Factor,
Under the hashtag #AriaCallsOutIdolFactor Director, he posted a long tirade condemning both of us:
“I have never seen such ungrateful people. If it weren’t for me providing Liam Serrano with a stage, he would never have had a chance to debut in the first place. And now he bites the hand that feeds him, accusing the show of faking its data. Young people who want to be famous should walk the straight and narrow path, not learn crooked ways from someone with a corrupt moral
compass.”
15
By now, the Vance siblings finally understood. “Aria, this was your doing!”
Zoe’s face was twisted with malice. “I knew it! I knew there was a reason so many people were suddenly attacking me and my
brother. You hired a troll army! Liam, how could you? It wasn’t enough to steal my brother’s debut spot, you had to hire bots to slan-
der him too!”
My brother, always the honest one, was flustered and didn’t know how to respond.
I shifted on the sofa to face them, my expression cool. “How many mothers do you have, that not a single one taught you any man-
ners?!”
The new viewers in the chat went wild: “DAMNNNNNNN.”
The Vance siblings were stunned into silence.
I patted the spot next to me, motioning for my brother to sit down. Seeing the hurt look on his face ignited a fire in my gut. When he was a little kid, trailing after me everywhere, I wouldn’t have let anyone hurt his feelings for a second. Now, in this cutthroat
industry, he was being kicked around at every turn, and the ones responsible were standing right in front of me.
Chapter 2
10:31
I leaned back against the sofa, my voice dripping with ice. “You’ve been clinging to that ‘he stole my spot‘ line for two years, haven’t you? It’s the little story you tell yourself to feel better.”
Adam’s face flushed. “I have not.”
“It’s the truth!” Zoe insisted.
I let out a cold laugh. “You just can’t figure it out, can you? Why my brother made it and you didn’t? Just look in a mirror. Two years ago, my brother’s singing and dancing weren’t great, but at least he was working his ass off every single day to get better. And you? What have you done besides comforting yourself with that pathetic excuse? As far as I can tell, my brother hasn’t exactly been standing in the way of your career for the last two years. So, have you gotten famous? Have you made any real money?”
Adam was silent.
“The two of you are so dense it’s almost refreshing. The network brought you here for ratings. The sponsors are backing you to create drama with my brother. You didn’t actually think you were the stars of the show, did you?”
Adam: “.
