My Girlfriend and My Best Friend Were Stealing My Life's Work

The day I submitted my college applications, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize.

Don't go to Kingsley. Your girlfriend has connections there. She's going to steal your research and use it to make your buddy look good.

You'll be accused of plagiarism. Not just expelled you'll go to prison.

"Go to Fairmont instead. The ranking is lower than Kingsley's, but your program there will become the best in the country."

I asked warily, "Who is this?"

The line went dead with a flat beep.

On my phone, a message from Ina Fox blinked.

"Babe, I know it's break, but don't slack off on your research!"

"I had a dream last night that your computer crashed and all your files were gone. Why don't you send me a copy so I can back it up for you?"

Remembering the warning from that call, a chill crawled up my spine, and I quickly beefed up the security on my computer.

I stared at the word "Kingsley" on the application page, my finger hovering over the mouse.

Right as I was hesitating, my buddy Cyril Dickerson called.

"Orson Delgado, you put down Kingsley for sure, right? I'm counting on us sticking together in college!"

I kept my tone as easy as I could. "Kingsley, of course. I couldn't stand being apart from you either."

""

Cyril's excited whoop came through the receiver.

"The usual spot. Let's celebrate we're going to be together in college again!"

His voice was as warm and close as ever, warm enough to make me wonder if I'd imagined that phone call.

I agreed quietly and headed to the coffee shop, still uneasy.

I'd barely sat down before Cyril clapped a hand on my shoulder, all concern.

"How's the research coming along? You look worn out."

His concern felt real. I just couldn't tell whether he cared about my research, or about how hard I'd been working.

"It's wrapping up. Just needs proofreading."

The words were barely out when my phone blared an alarm.

*One attack successfully blocked.*

Someone was trying to break into my computer.

"What kind of notification is that? The sound's terrifying."

While Cyril leaned in, I switched the phone to vibrate and locked the screen in a show of fumbling but not before he got a clear look at the words on it.

"Just my alarm clock. Anyway, something came up I have to run."

Cyril blocked me, exactly as I'd expected. "You just got here and you're leaving? No way I'm letting you."

The phone buzzed wildly in my hand. I stole a glance at the screen. The block log was still refreshing, but the security held.

When the buzzing finally stopped, Cyril waved toward the door.

"Ina, over here!"

He let go of me and sat down across the table. "What a coincidence, Ina's here too."

I nodded mechanically and scooted farther in.

But Ina sat down right beside Cyril.

Only then did I realize our seating had quietly shifted a long time ago.

At first, I sat next to Cyril, and Ina sat across from me.

Later, Ina started sitting across from Cyril.

Then, every time, the two of them would end up beside each other as if by chance, leaving me alone on the other side.

And because I trusted them so much, I'd never once questioned it.

Once Ina settled in, she leaned close to Cyril, her lips moving faintly.

The shape of her mouth looked like: His computer's protected. I'll think of another way.

A flicker of disappointment crossed Cyril's eyes.

Ina finally turned to me, as if she'd only just noticed I was there.

"Orson, send me a copy of your research files. I'll hold on to them for you."

"If your computer ever dies, all that work would be for nothing, right?"

I took a sip of my coffee. "There's this thing called cloud storage."

"Cloud accounts get hacked too. Wouldn't a second copy with me be double insurance?"

I didn't answer that. Instead I asked her, "You're going to Miami?"

Ina froze for a second.

"No. Why would I go to Miami by myself?"

I gave my phone a little shake.

"Not just you. You and Cyril. The two of you."

"Your booking app is linked to my number, so the confirmation text came to me. Forget about that?"

Ina's brows drew together. "Orson, you've actually been spying on me?"

Cyril jumped in to smooth things over. "Orson, don't blame Ina."

"I wanted to get away for a bit, and I didn't want to interrupt your research, so I asked Ina to come with me."

"You're not upset, are you, Orson? How about the three of us go together some other time?"

I looked at the two of them and said it slowly, one word at a time.

"Sure. Let's go once I've finished my research, then."

That answer stuck in Cyril's throat, and his smile froze on his face.

After a moment, he lowered his head and sighed.

"I should've held off on booking the hotel. The place says it's nonrefundable now. Ugh"

Ina held his hand and soothed him gently. "Booked is booked. We'll go as planned. Just ignore Orson. All that research has rusted his brain."

Cyril curled his fingers back around hers, easy and automatic, like a gesture he'd done a hundred times.

So familiar that Ina didn't even register she'd crossed a line, and instead her face went cold as she scolded me.

"Orson, how can you be like this? You won't go yourself, so you block everyone else from going?"

"Cyril and I will go first this time. Once your research is done, the three of us can go together. Simple, right?"

I tapped the message on my phone.

"The tickets are for first thing tomorrow morning."

"If I hadn't found out, when exactly were you planning to tell me?"

"Or were you never going to tell me at all?"

The grief froze on Cyril's face, and Ina's hand stopped in midair, cup and all.

I stood up from my seat.

"When you asked me out today, was it because you wanted to see me? Or did you have something else in mind?"

I'd barely gotten home when Ina called.

"Orson, what was that today? What was with all the passive-aggressive sniping?"

"You don't get it?"

Ina lost her temper on the spot.

"You're not jealous of Cyril, are you? I only went with your buddy on that trip so you could focus on your research!"

"Fine, so you don't appreciate everything I've done. But now you're jealous over nothing too!"

"And your research. I've told you how many times I'd back it up for you, and you never send it. What's that about? My good intentions, and you treat me like a thief?"

I hung up on her.

I opened my laptop and pulled up the college applications system again.

Fairmont. This time, not a shred of hesitation.

Cyril started posting the trip on his feed.

Scenery shots. Food shots. Photos of him and Ina together.

Someone commented: Handsome guy, beautiful girl, perfect couple!

Cyril replied with a smug little emoji.

Ina sent me one message every day.

Don't let jealousy get in the way of your research. Cyril and I just didn't want to hold up your big project, that's the only reason we didn't bring you along.

The research. She really cared about my research.

I opened my laptop and casually added a stroke to it.

A week later, the acceptance letter from Fairmont arrived.

I'd just torn open the envelope when Ina and Cyril came rushing in, travel-worn.

"What was that, ignoring our messages these past few days? Trying to make us feel guilty on purpose?"

"Is the research all finished?"

I took out the acceptance letter.

"It's finished."

"You two looked like you were having such a good time, I didn't have the heart to interrupt."

The moment Ina heard my research was done, her whole expression relaxed.

"I hear Kingsley lets you submit your research now. Send it to me, I can submit it for you!"

I gave the letter in my hand a shake.

"Why would my research go to Kingsley?"

Ina's eyes went wide, and she snatched the acceptance letter right out of my hand.

"Fairmont? How did you end up at Fairmont?"

Cyril's face changed too.

"Orson, we agreed we'd go to Kingsley together"

I took the acceptance letter back. "I changed my mind. I don't feel like going with you two anymore."

Ina grabbed my wrist.

"Go register for another admissions cycle. Even if it takes another year of exams, you have to get into Kingsley!"

She caught herself, then softened her voice.

"I'm saying this for your own good. Your research only has value if it's published through Kingsley."

Over the past few days, I'd dug up the truth: Ina's uncle was a professor at Kingsley.

The reason she was so set on Kingsley was that her uncle could work it from the inside, help swap the credited author on my submitted research over to Cyril's name.

"Ina, I think I have the right to choose my own school, don't I?"

Cyril gave Ina's arm a light tug.

"Let it go. As long as Orson's happy."

"Just a shame about his research, though. If only it could've been taken to Kingsley."

Cyril leaned on the word "taken."

Ina understood exactly what he meant, and led him away.

At eleven that night, the alarm for an attack on my computer went off again.

Now that they knew I wasn't going to Kingsley, they were even more desperate to steal my research.

The system flagged over a hundred intercepted attacks before it finally stopped.

Ina sent me a message.

I can't find my bracelet. Do you think it's at your place? I'll come look tomorrow.

The remote attack on my computer had failed, so now she wanted to walk into my home and steal it in person.

I tapped the keyboard and replied, "Sure."

A lie that clumsy, and she'd still come up with it. If I told her not to come, wouldn't that make me the rude one?

Early the next morning, Ina rang my doorbell with dark circles under her eyes.

"Look around yourself. I'm going out for breakfast."

Hearing that I was leaving, Ina's eyes lit up. She nodded eagerly.

"Take your time. Don't worry about me!"

I went down to the restaurant on the ground floor of my building and ate my breakfast slowly.

Better to hand them what they wanted myself than let her get cornered and pull something I couldn't guard against.

Half an hour later, a message came from Ina.

I'm leaving now.

I knew it. She'd gotten what she came for.

For the rest of the summer, I didn't reach out to either of them again.

In September, I dragged my suitcase to Fairmont alone.

I'd just walked into the dorm when my phone buzzed.

It was Cyril.

Shame you didn't come to Kingsley. You won't get to see me take the place by storm.

Take the place by storm? Take it by storm with my research?

Just as I was about to block him, Cyril sent another photo, the two of them posing beside the Kingsley crest.

His hand was on Ina's shoulder, her arm around his waist. Like a couple.

I replied, A hundred years of happiness, may you grow old together, and dropped them both into the blocked list.

I brought my research files to my mentor's office.

Professor Whitney read through it and lit up. "This is perfect! With this research, our department can make a run at number one in the country!"

"Do you have any thoughts about the presentation?"

The voice from that mysterious call circled back into my ears.

"Don't go to Kingsley! On September twenty-ninth, at ten in the morning, Cyril is going to steal your research and publish it!"

I said, "I'd like the presentation to be at ten in the morning on the twenty-ninth."

On the twenty-eighth, Kingsley and Fairmont posted announcements on their official sites at the same time.

Tomorrow at ten a.m., we will unveil groundbreaking research by one of our incoming freshmen. Stay tuned.

The whole internet went into a frenzy.

Kingsley and Fairmont releasing new research on the same day? Both from freshmen? Is this a battle?

Fairmont's biting off more than they can chew, picking the same day as Kingsley. They'll probably get crushed to dust in seconds.

An unknown number called. I picked up. It was Ina.

She didn't ask why I'd blocked her, didn't explain the silence of the past days. Her tone was easy, like nothing had happened at all.

"Orson, the research Fairmont's announcing tomorrow, that's yours, isn't it?"

"Listen to me. It's the start of the semester, you shouldn't show off too much. Push it back a week first"

I played dumb. "What are you talking about? I haven't submitted my research yet."

Ina let out a breath. "Then it's fine. I'm just worried about you, that's all. It'd be a shame for such good research to get held up."

She wanted Cyril to publish first. So that I'd be the one branded a thief.

I didn't call her out. I just hung up.

The next morning at ten, Kingsley's and Fairmont's presentations went live at the same time.

When the two titles appeared onscreen, the whole internet lost it.

The research topics were identical.

The papers were identical.

The submitted research process files were identical.

Down to every last punctuation mark.

Wait, what the hell? How is everything the same except the author's name?

Somebody copied, obviously. One of these two stole from the other.

The professors at Kingsley and Fairmont saw the comments and pulled the livestreams in a hurry.

The presentation became an open mystery, and the internet blew up.

To keep it from spinning out of control, a panel of academic experts formed an investigation, working through the night.

Professor Whitney called me into his office.

"Orson, what on earth is going on?"

"This research, are you certain you did it on your own?"

"I'm certain."

"Then what about this Cyril from Kingsley? Why are his files exactly like yours?"

"He stole my research."

"Do you have proof?"

"Professor, I can't say right now."

"But don't worry. I won't embarrass the university."

Professor Whitney narrowed his eyes at me.

"You picked today to publish on purpose. You knew Kingsley's timing, didn't you?"

I said nothing.

His assistant knocked at the door.

"The panel has rented a conference room at the Seaview Hotel. They want you both there immediately."

Inside the wide conference room, the five panel members sat at the table, faces grim.

To give the public an accounting, three official-media reporters had already set up livestream cameras in the room.

Cyril and Ina sat in the chairs facing the panel.

The moment Cyril saw me, his eyes went red.

"Orson, why would you do this, why would you steal everything I worked for"

"I trusted you so much"

The panel motioned for me and Professor Whitney to sit, then asked Cyril, "You completed this research on your own?"

Cyril nodded. "I slaved over it for a whole year."

"Then why does Orson Delgado have an identical copy?"

The question seemed to break something loose in Cyril.

Tears rolled off his jaw, and his voice went thick.

"He's my best friend. I never had my guard up around him. He knew all my passwords."

"He came to my place all the time and used my computer. I never imagined he'd steal my research."

"Orson, take whatever you want, anything, but this research is everything I worked for. Just give it back to me, please"

I looked at him, all innocence.

"I never took anything of yours. What would I be giving back?"

"I'm not a thief. Not with things, not with people."

Ina frowned and cut in, her voice shrill.

"Orson, what's with the snide act? You think I don't know? You're doing this to get back at Cyril on purpose!"

"Professors, Orson is my boyfriend. He ended up at the same university as me because of me, and he's been jealous and bitter about it the whole time."

"I never thought he'd actually do something like steal someone's research."

"I can testify. Orson only ever cared about goofing off. There's no way he could have produced this project."

On the livestream, the comments ran almost entirely one way.

Put Kingsley and Fairmont side by side and I'll still believe Kingsley

Right, a Kingsley student stealing from a Fairmont student? That'd be a joke.

Agreed. If he really had it in him, why didn't he get into Kingsley?

Even his own girlfriend can't stand it. Shows how rotten he is.

Professor Whitney couldn't sit still, and pressed me, his expression tight.

"Orson, stop dragging this out. Explain, now!"

The panel spoke up too, just as grave.

"Mr. Delgado, do you have anything to say to Mr. Dickerson's accusations?"

"I do."

I raised my hand and pointed at the two identical files on the big screen.

Every eye in the room followed my finger.

I turned to Cyril and spoke each word slowly.

"Cyril, since you're the one who did this project"

"then you tell everyone. Where's the watermark hidden in the document?"