Chapter 29 Even though Josie already knew Aiden wasn’t as nice as he seemed, hearing Zoey’s story still caught her off guard. She finally realized that maybe the reason she had no close friends before time had turned back wasn’t all her fault.

Josie took a deep breath and looked at Zoey. “So, you thought I said something to Aiden that made him think you were stuck-up and bullied me, right? And when he said those things at the end, you thought I liked him?”

Allison nodded. “I was with Zoey that day. If she hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve come right back and asked you about it. Since when was Zoey ever stuck-up? When did she bully you? Why would you talk bad about her to Aiden? What were you thinking?”

Adeline, who was hearing this for the first time, gasped. “You should’ve asked Josie back then. Maybe all this drama wouldn’t have happened.”

Zoey took a deep breath and looked at Josie. “So you really never said anything bad about me to Aiden, and you don’t like him, right?”

“Never,” Josie said, shaking her head. “When we first met, you gave everyone gifts and treated us to meals. I knew you did it because of me. I’m not ungrateful—I remember everything you did, and I was really thankful. I even told Aiden once that meeting you was one of the best things that happened to me. Meeting him after that just felt like another stroke of luck. I thought you were both genuinely kind people. He asked what you did for me, and I told him honestly. I don’t think I said anything that could be taken the wrong way.”

Adeline frowned. “Could Aiden have misunderstood? Guys can be clueless sometimes. Maybe he just didn’t get it.”

“That’s a pretty big misunderstanding,” Allison said, clearly upset. “Either you’re not telling the truth, or Aiden twisted your words on purpose. But why would he do that? Before Zoey told him how she felt, everything he knew about her came from you, right?”

Josie knew she couldn’t explain it in a way that would make perfect sense. “I don’t know why Aiden said those things to Zoey. But I never said what he claimed I did. Believe me or not, I know I didn’t do anything wrong. But there’s something else I need to say. I left Professor Lawson’s team because I wanted to look into why Natalie’s paper was so similar to mine. Then, all of a sudden, people at school started saying Natalie copied my paper. Professor Lawson thought I was making a big deal out of it and embarrassing him. We were both his students, and he believed none of his students would cheat. Aiden and the other four sided with Natalie. They said she’d never do something like that. They thought I was picking on her and told me to apologize and let it go. Later, Aiden even went to Professor Lawson and said I should apologize to Natalie in front of everyone and say it was all just a misunderstanding. I agreed to the apology, but I didn’t want to stay on a team that didn’t trust me. And honestly, I still don’t think the whole thing was just a misunderstanding.”

The three of them looked at each other, stunned. Zoey asked, “Wait. You’re saying it was Aiden who told Professor Lawson to make you apologize? He believed Natalie over you?”

Josie nodded, her face falling. “I used to think Aiden was fair. I didn’t expect him to take my side no matter what, but I at least thought he’d look into the truth before choosing a side. But instead, he just…”

She didn’t finish, but they all understood.

Adeline let out a long sigh. “So Aiden’s not as great as everyone makes him out to be. He’s clearly defending Natalie, and that’s just not fair to you.”

Allison chimed in, “We saw what happened on the school forum. You wrote that paper in the dorm—we all knew you didn’t cheat. You were totally right about that. But this whole thing with Zoey feels different. We don’t know why Aiden might’ve backed Natalie, but he had no reason to treat Zoey that way. If what you said is true, then Aiden’s just a bad guy. He was trying to stir up drama between you and Zoey, trying to turn us against you. But back then, you’d just joined their team. Everyone was saying you were the favorite. All five of them were always around you. A ton of people were jealous. Why would Aiden want us to hate you?”

“He had a reason.” Adeline suddenly stood up. “Don’t you remember? When Josie first joined Professor Lawson’s team, before we started avoiding her, she was always helping Aiden and the other four. She didn’t even have time to join any of our dorm stuff.”

Allison frowned. “Now that you mention it, I remember when she turned down one of them when they asked her to copy some notes, that person got pissed and yelled at her.”

“Yes! I remember that,” Adeline said, nodding hard. “I even joked that if being on Professor Lawson’s team meant running around like that, I’d rather not get in. Josie was swamped back then, always running errands. One second it was for this person, and the next for someone else. She was so busy that she barely had time for her own work.”

Allison clapped her hands. “So Aiden wanted her to completely cut ties with us—just so she’d be stuck doing stuff for them all the time.”

The more they thought about it, the more it freaked them out. If that theory was right, then Aiden wasn’t just manipulative—he was downright scary.

Talking about it brought back memories for Josie. She felt like such an idiot for never questioning how fake Aiden and the other four had been. If time hadn’t turned back, she might’ve never seen through Aiden’s act.

“Zoey, do you believe me now? I never said those things about you,” Josie said, looking her in the eye. She just wanted Zoey to stop liking Aiden; he really wasn’t who he seemed to be.

Zoey looked torn. She shook her head and took a step back. “If you didn’t like Aiden, then yeah, I believe you wouldn’t have badmouthed me. But Aiden…” She just couldn’t believe Aiden would hurt her on purpose. She didn’t think he’d set Josie up like that either. In her opinion, Aiden had always come across as the perfect guy. Everyone in their department liked him. People only ever said good things—he was humble, respectful, and always acted like a gentleman.

“It has to be a misunderstanding,” Zoey said, grabbing Josie’s hand. “I’m sorry. I got too caught up in liking him and ended up misunderstanding you. I should’ve trusted you more. I shouldn’t have shut you out or ignored you. That was on me.” But Zoey hadn’t really done anything wrong.

Josie remembered that in the timeline before everything rewound, Zoey still liked Aiden even after he got engaged to Natalie. Josie knew that one incident wasn’t going to change how Zoey saw Aiden now.

“Don’t be dumb, Zoey,” Allison said, taking Josie’s diary from her hands. “If Aiden lied about this, who knows what else he’s lied about? A guy like that is not worth liking.”