Tessa takes a bullet for best friend Brielle, who shuts the door and leaves her dying behind the glass. She wakes six months earlier with a black-gold system, Nix: this world is built around Brielle, seven men orbit her, and Tessa is the replaceable friend sacrificed once useless. Gifts freely given by those men become points, points buy beauty, and outranking Brielle steals her heartthrob aura. Tessa charges for what she once gave away, posing as Cole's paid girlfriend to make Brielle jealous; upgrades reshape her body, not her shame. On a beach trip, a sting Brielle milks pulls Cole away and leaves Tessa to save drowning Dax, the rescue Brielle once claimed. Dax's ten thousand becomes points, which Tessa spends on Gideon, Brielle's protector, and the call Brielle never wanted. Cole, stripped of his tryout, wants the paid romance to turn real on his terms. A live radio confession exposes her, and Tessa asks if she was ever a friend or only someone who made Brielle feel admired.Urban
