She picked up her phone to find a string of messages from Elizabeth Wilson.

Elizabeth Wilson: "People are losing their minds online again."

Elizabeth Wilson: "Stay off social media for a while, okay? Just focus on the competition."

Elizabeth Wilson: “Seriously, listen to me—don't read any of those crazy posts.”

Elizabeth Wilson: "Wait until after the competition to look. Don't let it mess with your head."

Elizabeth Wilson: "I mean it, please, promise me you won't look."

The moment Emily Blair read those messages, she knew something had gone wrong again.

She thought for a moment and easily guessed who was behind it. It was either Isabella Austin and her crowd, or one of the recently eliminated, bitter contestants who just couldn't accept defeat. Or, more likely, both groups working together.

But Emily had weathered plenty of storms-she wasn't the type to let online gossip get under her skin. She'd been through enough to know that internet rumors wouldn't shake her resolve.

Sure, the Starlight Piano Competition was getting plenty of buzz, but it wasn't exactly the talk of the whole country yet. The contest had only just begun; it was nowhere near the finals, so public attention was still manageable.

Even so, it took Emily a solid two minutes of searching before she found the relevant posts.

She clicked into the hottest thread-the one racking up the most likes and comments—and began skimming through at lightning speed.

Of course, it was a post from that same man who'd been eliminated earlier.

In his rant, he accused the Starlight Piano Competition's organizers, judges, and even some contestants of rigging the results—claiming they'd manipulated the rankings so that a certain contestant just barely scraped into the semifinals. According to him, this contestant didn't have the skill, had even played a wrong note in the preliminaries, and never should have advanced. The only reason she got through, he claimed, was because the judges had been bribed-stealing a spot from a more deserving contestant.

Naturally, the comments section exploded, with everyone trying to guess who this mystery contestant was.

But not everyone was buying it. Some people pushed back: "The Starlight Piano Competition has been running for years without scandals-maybe you just weren't good enough, and now you're jealous?”

Another wrote, "Come on, accusing people with nothing but a dramatic story and zero evidence? If you want us to believe you, at least give us some proof. Otherwise, this is just slander."

Someone else chimed in, "Playing a wrong note isn't the end of the world. Do you really think every semifinalist played perfectly? You're blowing this way out of proportion."

Still, the few rational comments were quickly drowned out by a flood of people speculating about which contestant was being accused.

Most likely, the original poster wanted attention—that's why he kept the accused contestant's name a secret, so everyone would keep guessing. That strategy worked: the comment count was through the roof.

Emily looked over the wild guesses. Most of them called out her name outright, often with those knowing, wink-wink emojis.

"It's obviously Emily Blair. She's never even competed before, and suddenly she makes it to the semifinals of Starlight? No way she did that on her own. Someone's definitely pulling strings for her."

"Emily Blair's got the Lane family backing her up. You talk trash about her, and you might just find yourself in trouble."