Saint No More, Canceled Now

I was canceled online. All because I used my own money to open a subsidized meal line in the university cafeteria for students on financial aid.
They said I was a phony philanthropist, that I was insulting them with pig slop.
But the meal I offered was three dishes and a soup for just three dollars.
When I burst into the dining hall, a scholarship student named Lila Thorne was slamming her tray down on the counter. Braised pork and gravy splattered everywhere.
Martha, the woman who ran the counter, just stood there, her face a pale sheet of shock. The same hands that always gave students in need an extra scoop of rice were now trembling uncontrollably.
I walked past Lila, went straight to Martha, and gently wiped the hot spray of gravy from her cheek with a napkin.
Kindness, it turns out, is the cheapest thing in the world.
And if that's the case, then this counter is permanently closed.

1
"Isn't three dollars still money?" Lila's voice was a piercing shriek. "How come they get to eat seared tuna while we're stuck with this greasy, fatty pork!"
She spat the words "greasy, fatty," her phone's camera aimed squarely at Martha's face, livestreaming the whole thing.
The comments on the stream were flying.
"Lila's right!"
"So poor students aren't even human?"
Martha was so flustered she could barely speak. "This this pork was bought fresh this morning. I picked out the best cuts myself, and it stewed for a full two hours"
"Stewed in what? Grease?" Lila shoved the tray away, and chunks of meat tumbled to the floor. "Look at this fat! It's practically oozing oil! Are you trying to poison us with this pig slop? Do you even have a conscience?"
Pig slop. The words stabbed into me.
Martha's eyes instantly filled with tears.
"Lila!" My voice trembled as I pushed through the crowd of onlookers.
She immediately whipped the camera around to face me. "Well, look who it is!" she announced with manic glee. "Our beloved campus princess, Scarlett Vance, has finally decided to grace us with her presence!"
"Go on," she taunted, "tell everyone right here, right now. Did you set this whole thing up just to humiliate us with your garbage food?"
I fought to keep the rage from boiling over. "Martha went to the market before dawn to hand-pick every single one of these ingredients"
"Oh, spare me the phony, bleeding-heart routine!" she screeched, cutting me off. Spittle flew from her mouth. "If you really cared, why isn't the food the same at every counter? We want the seared tuna! Why are we being treated like second-class citizens?"
I was shaking with fury, my nails digging so deep into my palms I thought they might draw blood.
The same? Was she insane? She wanted seared tuna for three dollars? Why not just rob the kitchen while she was at it?
The number of viewers on her livestream was skyrocketing, the comment section a cesspool of vile insults.
And that's when I saw it. The one that cut the deepestposted by Ethan Cole.
"Support Lila! Break the privilege!"
Ethan. The same Ethan whose tuition I had paid for three straight years.
I remembered when he first arrived on campus, he barely had a decent coat to his name. I paid his tuition. I gave him money for living expenses. I even covered his mother's surgery last year.
And now, here he was, leading the online mob against me.
Suddenly, my phone started vibrating violently, a relentless flood of hateful messages from unknown numbers.

2
"Go die!"
"Think your money makes you special?"
"People like you belong in hell!"
On the campus forum, my photo had been photoshopped into a black-and-white funeral portrait under the headline: SHE HAD IT COMING.
My name was trending on Twitter, the hashtag #ScarlettTheHypocrite a searing brand next to it.
What broke my heart was seeing how many of the profile pictures in the comments were familiar. The freshman girl Id stayed up all night helping with her financial aid application. The senior guy Id pulled strings to get an internship for.
Now, they were all kicking me while I was down, attacking me with the most vicious words imaginable.
I looked at Lila, still putting on a show, dabbing at her dry eyes. I looked at the gleeful mob in her livestream, at Ethan's treacherous comment.
In that moment, something inside me went cold and dead.
I turned and walked away.
The mocking laughter of the other wealthy students followed me.
"Told you not to get involved."
"See? That's what you get for being a bleeding heart."
"She thought she was some kind of savior. Turns out they didn't want to be saved."
I finally understood. Tossing kindness to wolves was the stupidest mistake you could make.
You think this food is disgusting?
Fine.
From now on, no one gets to eat it.
Back in my dorm, my phone wouldn't stop buzzing, a constant stream of toxic DMs popping up on the screen.
"You think you can do whatever you want just because you're rich?"
"Why don't you just kill yourself already?"
I shut it off. The world finally went quiet, but the insults kept echoing in my head.
Then, a knock on the door.
"Ms. Vance? This is Dean Evans from Student Affairs." His voice was muffled. "The university administration requires you to come to the main office immediately to explain today's events. You've created a significant negative impact on the university's reputation!"
I remained silent.
When he got no response, his tone hardened. "Scarlett, if you continue to evade this, the university will be forced to take disciplinary action."
A cold laugh escaped my lips. They weren't going after the people who started the riot, they were coming after me. Did they really think I was that much of a pushover?
After his footsteps faded, I turned my phone back on and made a call.
"It's me." My voice was ice. "I need you to look into a few people. Lila Thorne, Ethan Cole, and the main agitators from that livestream. I want to know everything about them."
The voice on the other end was prompt. "Understood. How deep do you want us to go?"
"As deep as you can," I said. "Especially Ethan."
After hanging up, I opened my laptop. The campus forum already had a dedicated thread for my takedown, with titles more venomous than the last.
Exposing the Dark Secrets of the Vance Family
The Dirty Deals Behind the Anchor Initiative
The True Face of a Hypocrite
The most laughable part was seeing students I had personally sponsored adding their own fabricated stories to the pile. A guy whose medical bills I'd helped cover was now claiming I'd harassed him. A girl I'd found a job for was accusing me of docking her pay.
I never knew the human heart could be so vile.
The next morning, I was jolted awake by a violent pounding on my door.
"Scarlett Vance, get out here! We demand justice for all the students on financial aid!"
Through the peephole, I saw Lila with a mob of about twenty people, all of them livestreaming.
"See, everyone?" she cried into her phone. "She's hiding in there like a coward!"

3
Lila was wailing for her audience. "This is what the rich are really like! They do something awful and don't even have the guts to face us!"
I took a deep breath and yanked the door open.
"You finally came out!" Lila shoved her phone right in my face. "Explain yourself, right here, in front of everyone. Why did you try to poison poor students with your disgusting food?"
I stared at her, my expression unreadable. "Are you done?"
She was clearly taken aback by my calm demeanor. Her face froze.
"Because if you're done," I said, taking a step forward and looking directly into her camera, "it's my turn."
"Lila, why don't you tell your audience how much that simple, 'humble' little dress you're wearing actually costs?"
A murmur went through the crowd.
I turned to face all the cameras, my voice clear and steady. "Three days from now, I will be holding a press conference in the main dining hall. Then, the whole truth will come out."
With that, I slammed the door shut.
The show was just getting started.
The online frenzy escalated, and it even started to affect my father's company's stock price.
The night before the press conference, I was reviewing my materials when there was another knock on my door.
It was Lila again, a triumphant smirk plastered on her face.
I opened the door before she could speak. "Oh, Ms. Thorne! To what do I owe the pleasure? Did you come to deliver my final ultimatum?"
I feigned a shudder. "I've seen what everyone is saying online and my family's stock! Oh, I'm so scared."
Lila was clearly not expecting this. She blinked, then her eyes filled with contempt. "So you're scared now? A little late for that, don't you think? Let me give you some advice for tomorrow, Scarlett. You'd better do exactly as we say."
"A public apology, and then you'll make our meals the same standard as everyone else's! Or else" She scoffed, her threat hanging in the air.
I kept up the act, my eyes wide with fake panic. "Or else or else what? You'll really ruin my family?"
"Hah, what do you think?" Seeing my apparent cowardice, Lila grew even more arrogant. "You have no idea how powerful public opinion is. Be smart, Scarlett. Just bow your head, say you're sorry. It's better for everyone, isn't it?"
She even took a step closer, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "Besides, Scarlett, your family is loaded! What's the difference between five million and fifty million to you? If you get us better food, we'll even be grateful!"
I suppressed a cold laugh, forcing a look of terrified gratitude onto my face. "R-really? Thank you for the advice, Lila I-I'll think about it I really will"
"That's more like it." Lila nodded, satisfied, then turned and sauntered away.
The second the door closed, the mask dropped from my face.
Did she really believe I would just surrender?
Tomorrow, when the truth came out, I couldn't wait to see that smug expression of hers shatter into a million pieces.
I was actually looking forward to it.
On the day of the press conference, the dining hall was packed. People were standing in the aisles, and a wall of reporters had set up their cameras.
Before I could even get to the podium, Lila rushed ahead and grabbed the microphone.

4
Her voice broke as she began. "Fellow students, members of the press, I stand here today with a heavy heart."
"We, the students on financial aid, have never asked for a handout. We are only asking for fairness!"
Tears streamed down her face. "Why do some people get to eat seared tuna while we're served braised pork? Is being poor a sin?"
A wave of applause erupted from the crowd. Several other scholarship students started crying along with her.
Seeing her effect on the crowd, Lila doubled down on her performance. "Today, all we want is an explanation from Scarlett Vance. Our demand is simple: we want the menu to be the same at every food counter"
I watched her performance in silence. Only when she had finished did I calmly walk up to the podium.
Lila shot me a triumphant glare, as if victory was already hers.
"Ms. Vance, what is your response?"
"Do you admit to discriminating against students on financial aid?"
"How do you plan to compensate these students for the emotional damage you've caused?"
The reporters' questions came like machine-gun fire.
I lightly tapped the microphone, and the hall fell silent.
"First, I want to thank Lila for her speech," I began, my voice even. "She has helped me see my error more clearly than ever before."
A victorious smile spread across Lila's face. She even flashed a peace sign at a livestream camera.
"My biggest mistake," I continued, "was, in fact, treating students on financial aid and other students differently."
"I shouldn't have assumed that students in need required special assistance. I shouldn't have assumed they would appreciate this kindness."
Lila's smile froze. She could sense something was wrong.
"Therefore, I'm correcting that mistake." I scanned the entire room, enunciating every word. "Effective today, the Anchor Initiative is permanently closed. All students will be treated equally and will dine at the standard market price."
"Since you all consider a three-dollar pork stew an insult, by all means, please enjoy the fifty-dollar seared tuna."

5
The room exploded.
The students on financial aid swarmed Lila, their faces contorted with rage.

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