And when she went to confront Lyra Grant, Lyra arrogantly said, "You say the novel is yours, do you have any evidence? Do you know that by saying this, I can sue you for false accusation! My dad is a senior executive at a big company, he doesn't like it when I suffer any grievances. If you continue with this nonsense, just wait to be expelled!"
But she was not willing to accept it, she didn't want her work to bear someone else's name, so she took her outline drafts, the original concepts, and chat records of discussions about the story direction with her friends online to show her teacher, hoping for a chance to have her novel rightfully acknowledged.
However, the teacher didn't even glance at the "evidence" but impatiently said, "Mabel Quinn, Lyra Grant wrote such a lengthy novel and got it published. You think you can just claim the novel is yours with these? Accusing a fellow student is inappropriate. If the novel was really written by you, why is Lyra Grant the one who published it, not you?!"
The teacher didn't believe her at all, she had no avenue for complaint with the publisher, and various rumors spread around the school saying she was jealous of Lyra Grant, saying she wished to be famous. Even her own mother, after being called into the office by the teacher, slapped her in public, scolding her for disgracing the family.
As for Soren, the boy she once liked, he looked at her with disgust and said, "Mabel Quinn, you really have no shame, to actually do something ."
After graduating high school, she heard that Soren and Lyra Grant were dating. She really wondered, if one day he found out the shameless person was actually his girlfriend, what he would think.
"Alright, you've handed over the gift, since you're working, just focus on your job," Evelina said, not wanting her daughter to stay any longer.
Mabel Quinn watched her mother walk with her brother to toast other tables, feeling bitter inside. Her mother always favored her brother, always feeling that he was her future dependence, while she, as a daughter, was nothing.
From childhood to adulthood, her mother always protected her brother unconditionally. Whatever her brother wanted, her mother would buy him without a word, but no matter how much Mabel wanted something or how she begged, her mother remained unmoved. So gradually, she stopped asking, knowing she wouldn't get anything.
She was about to leave when a voice spoke from behind, "Mabel, it's been years, how have you been?"
Mabel Quinn turned around to see Lyra Grant smiling as she walked over, but her eyes were full of mockery.
"It's been years, and you're still so fake," Mabel Quinn replied coldly.
"And you're still so not smart, no wonder you're so pitiful now. Your mom and brother's celebration party, yet there's no place for you."
"Since you think I'm not smart, why did you publish my not-smart novel as your own back then? Oh, right, maybe you're even less smart than me. It seems like your later novels didn't sell well either."