Professor Burned Me, Then Kissed Up to the Chair's Daughter - So I Went Nuclear

They said I plagiarized, then the school kicked me out. Until my research report rocked the National Science Foundation – now the president's begging me to come back.

Seeing the school president's face, all sweaty and panicked...it was priceless.

"That groundbreaking researcher the school trashed? Are you kidding me?”

1.

When my research proposal got a $200,000 grant, the whole school was buzzing.

But the next day, the head of the department's daughter, Brittany, waltzed into our lab. My professor announced, "From now on, Brittany will lead the research team. She’ll be taking charge of this project.”

Everyone turned to look at me. Some were sympathetic, some looked sorry for me, and others were just plain smirking.

Brittany looked right at me, a sly grin spreading across her face.

"Heard you were the team lead. Sorry, but I’m taking over now."

I slammed the folder on the desk, "So, you use me and then ditch me? Is that how it works?"

My professor looked a little uncomfortable. “Look, Sarah, this project is just getting to the tricky part. Your background in theory is great, but Brittany has a lot more hands-on experience with technical stuff.”

Total BS. The research plan was detailed, step-by-step. Any monkey could follow it.

I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed. "What did the department head give you to pull this kind of stunt?"

His face went red. "That’s out of line, Sarah. Brittany earned her spot as team lead. She passed my evaluation, okay?"

“So, you’re saying you didn’t show any favoritism?”

I scoffed, “Come on, professor, you know better than that.”

He was practically purple. Brittany frowned, looking annoyed.

"Sarah, I know you're upset about losing your lead, but there's no need to be disrespectful to the professor."

The professor gave her a grateful look.

She smiled sweetly and pulled out a document from her bag, pushing it in front of everyone.

"Take a look. This is my research paper. I published it a week before Sarah's report was submitted."

"Which means she completely plagiarized me!"

That set off a firestorm.

My classmates were passing it around, gasping and staring at me with these weird, suspicious looks.

Comparing the two documents, it was true: they were 80% identical!

2.

In academia, plagiarism is the worst offense.

But my research direction, my thought process…only I and my professor knew them inside out.

Brittany smirked, "I was going to let you save face, Sarah, but you didn't play nice."

"The professor wanted to be kind because of our working relationship. He asked me to just quietly replace you, let you stay on the team. But you’re denying everything, so I had to make it public.”

I flipped through her paper, pointing to the data and conclusions. "These are identical to what I gave the professor. How do you explain that?”

He looked uncomfortable, trying to smooth things over. “Sarah, I'll find a new project for you…”

He was just going to take my work, use it for his own glory?

I sneered....