All Chapters of Scammed by Chatbot University: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The splitting pain in the back of my skull still seemed to linger at every nerve ending. I snapped my eyes open and gasped for air.The classroom was drowning in cheers."Phoebe, that's insane! You barely passed your exams and still got into Pemberton? You're literally our savior!""Only the prettiest girl in class could have such an exclusive insider connection like that!""Please, please, please take me with you! I want to get into Pemberton too!"I sat drenched in cold sweat, staring at the scene unfolding before me, familiar yet completely absurd.Phoebe Jones, a girl who could not even solve a quadratic equation on her best day, held up her brand-new iPhone from the classroom podium with a look of smug triumph plastered across her face.On the screen was an AI chatbot interface.I had returned to the past, two hours before my death. "Line up, everyone! One at a time!" Phoebe basked in the adoration, her voice dripping with sweetness."I paid top dollar to unlock Babble'

I looked at the mob closing in on me and took a deep breath.If I pushed back now, I was sure what had happened in my last life would happen again.This time around, I did not just want to watch them crash and burn. I needed to keep myself safe while it happened.Besides, none of them knew that students on national scholarships had their records handled outside of the regular application system.As the gold medalist in this year’s National Physics Olympiad, I had been personally selected by Pemberton's dean for guaranteed admission. My file had been pulled into Pemberton's system long ago.Even if I put Cloverfield Community College in the portal, my records were already sitting safe and sound in Pemberton's admissions office.I put on my best frightened look, bit my lip, and let a flicker of ‘surrender’ cross my face."Fine, I'll change it. But I can't bring myself to do it. Gavin, you do it for me."I gave him my username and password.Gavin let out a smug, triumphant scoff,

My acceptance letter, decorated with Pemberton's signature purple, shone brightly under the sunlight. Every single one of my former classmates flinched at the sight of it.I paid no attention to the looks on their faces, each one staring at me as though they had seen a ghost, and handed my letter and ID to the senior volunteer who had been sweating through his shirt moments ago.He took the letter and ran it under the scanner.The scanner beeped once, and the screen flashed green.The exhaustion on his face vanished, instantly replaced by an eager smile. "Oh, you're Maren Caldwell! Your advisor already told us about you. You're a guaranteed-admission scholar, so there's a priority lane set up for you. Follow me!"The security guard dropped his mocking expression just as fast, pulled back the barrier rope for me, and even gave me a respectful nod.This seamless, red-carpet treatment left all 42 people on the other side of the barrier standing in stunned silence.The air went comp

"What’s going on here? It's the first day of the semester, and you've already turned the front gate into a circus?" Chancellor Edmund Hollister frowned slightly as he surveyed the students sprawled on the ground in their knockoff t-shirts.Gavin was the first to rush at him, carrying himself like a loyal subject who had suffered a grave injustice."Chancellor Hollister! Thank God you're here! You have to help us!"He snatched Phoebe's phone and shoved the chatbot interface in the chancellor's face."Look at this! This is the evidence we have! There's a mole in your admissions office who transferred all forty-two of our internally approved spots to one person, Maren Caldwell!"Phoebe threw herself into the performance right behind him, sobbing. "Chancellor Hollister, we're all outstanding students. You can't let some hacker and thief destroy a hundred years’ worth of Pemberton's reputation!"Chancellor Hollister squinted at the Babble chat window on the screen, then looked at the

Just as that boy's father had said, someone had filmed the entire scene at Pemberton and posted it online. It hit the top of the trending page that same day.[Unbelievable! 42 High School Students Storm Pemberton with AI Chat Logs, Claim System Was Hacked!][The Tragedy of Modern Education: They Trust AI Gibberish Over Acceptance Letters!]Every major news outlet picked it up and ran with it. The comment sections were flooded with mockery from one end of the internet to the other.They had not just lost their shot at college. They had become the biggest joke in the entire country.A few days later, the so-called ‘future Pemberton freshmen’ were dragged home from the city by their parents, tails between their legs. What awaited them was the wrath of every adult in their lives and a bottomless pit of despair.The Jones household had already been reduced to a war zone.A brick sailed through the floor-to-ceiling window of the Jones family's villa, and glass exploded across the floo