haroldscrayonb62084-blog

[layla-keating]

When she looks at me like this, I can almost let myself believe she sees me the way she used to see Conrad.

THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY 2.05 "Love Fool"

[imyouslnot]

Conrad fisher

Insufficient

beginning of summer, everything was going well, you had a perfect life or at least you thought you did. His family was getting along well despite the problems between the uncles after his grandfather's bite,you are in an "almost relationship" with the boy of your dreams and everything was perfect.

But not everything is perfect,With summer arriving automatically comes his biggest nightmare: the Conklin Or rather Isabel Conklin the girl you think is perfect.

Their almost relationship is none other than Conrad, the dream boy. You always knew that Conrad and Belly's bond was always big, VERY big actually, and it scared you.The fear of losing the love of your life scares you, the fear of being exchanged for someone better than yourself, assuring you that there is no one better than you, you always have that insecurity with someone.

Jere was your best friend for a while and that brought you some information that belly is in love with conrad, he was always just like you and you knew you had to be reciprocal even though jeremiah said he only saw her as steve's little sister.

The day before your first kiss with conrad you heard the conklin family was on the way and it made you nervous but never let it show. You were on your way to the fisher house Susannah had asked you to befriend Belly, you wanted to decline but couldn't, she had asked for you right away, not for any other girl for you and how would you say no?

Just around the corner, the beach house was visible, huge, you walked for a few seconds and you could already see a car, probably Susannah's best friend or belly's mother, whatever.

when arriving at the huge house you saw the four, jere, conrad, steve and belly, they looked happy. You made a sound in your throat to get their attention, conrad was looking at you confused, with a strange face actually everyone was.

- What are you doing here? - that were the words of conrad rather rude

- I called her. - Susannah appeared at the door with an infectious smile on her face.

You watched her walk up to you and give you a side hug

- So Belly Steve, this is Y/N.Y/n these are Steve and Belly - She spoke introducing each other.

- Hi - was all you managed to say other than sending them a smile.

Jere pulled his mom a little and you could hear him asking

- Mom? why did you call her - He asked with some trepidation

- I called her to chat with Belly and maybe make friends - Susannah pronounced with a smile - And who knows, you might be friends again, now go there and be polite - She gave him a little push.

- So Y/N, are you from here? - belly started to bring up the subject

- Yes and no, I was born in New York but I've lived here for as long as I can remember.

-

After a while you were in the belly room, helping to unpack, after the boys had thrown it in the pool to cover any ritual between them.

- How long have you known the fisher? - she asked you

- A few years ago, I always heard about them but I hadn't really met them, as time went by I ended up bumping into Jere at a party and since then we've become best friends That was until he stopped talking to me on the networks and asked me out. So we just don't talk anymore

- Wow, I never imagined that from jere, he's so cheerful with everyone and never forgets about anyone unless he's hungover but you never looked for him?

- I sent a few messages but I didn't get back to him, he didn't answer any so he probably didn't want to know - I said honestly - and what's it like being with 3 boys? - she widened her eyes - Not literally staying, I mean what is it like to live with them? - quickly reworked.

- It's normal, there aren't many things, usually I can never go out with them.

We spent the whole afternoon talking, she was nice, very nice, that explains the way conrad looked at her not only he jere him too, she is anyone's dream girl.

It was almost night and I was thinking about going to the "fire party" but I didn't want to go alone, so I called her, at least I have someone to talk to.

"the boys would never let me go" - she said with a sad smile

- and who said they need to leave anything? - I said with a mischievous smile on my lips.

And off you two went, the party. Right when we arrived Steve the super protective brother or at least he tries to be a slight tantrum and I just said I'd take care of her even though she's not a kid anymore.

- why did you bring her - says conrad getting up from where he was with a girl - hey she wanted to come and I didn't want to come alone, so we came together - I replied.

- Just take care of her - he said pleading with his eyes

And that's when I realized I was the intruder, the way Conrad looked at her was beautiful, he really likes her and made that clear. She likes her too it's plastered on her face all the time

She spent the afternoon telling me about him, and the sparkle in her eyes was clear, there was no way to hide it.

They really liked each other and didn't assume, jere had said that he looked at her like a child but apparently it's not like that anymore or maybe it never was.

Conrad was worried, he looked at her all the time, maybe because she is beautiful, and has a beautiful smile and is all perfect. One thing I know I'm not, not like her and I know I won't make him worried,that only belly can do, not even the girl he was with at the beginning of the party can do that.

I was near the water, thinking, when I felt the presence of someone. I knew it was him, I so wanted it to be anyone but him.

- What are you thinking - He asked

There is if he knew everything that's going on in my head right now, everything.

- Belly - I replied with a sigh

- Belly? O que ela? - He questioned looking at me deeply

- She's beautiful, she has a beautiful smile, she's fun and...

- Which is?

- And it's perfect for you conrad.

- What? what do you mean by that?

- I noticed the way you look at each other, your concern for her, I realized that your world is her and that you are happy when you see her, there is always a little smile on your lips when you see her, that's obvious. And I know you don't look at me like that, and you won't worry about me so much. - I stopped, analyzing his eyes upon hearing my words.

- Y/N no no, that's wrong, I'm not in the mood for belly, I don't look at her like you say, I... - he was nervous, he didn't know what words to use.

- Conrad? I just don't want to delude myself ok? yours is her, I know that and I know there's no use denying it.

I kept walking, knowing he was standing still.

- Y/N I love you. - he said in a low voice and you just kept walking knowing it was better to leave him.

[stilldancewithyou]

I love your Belly&Conrad posts! I recently watched the show, then read the books & now have one of the worst book/show hangovers I've had in years! I'd love to hear your thoughts on some bits from the books that I'm trying to figure out, like in the book 3, towards the end, C tells B he still loves her, he never stopped and thinks she knows it, that she has know in all along, but B denies it. What do you think Jenny's trying to tell us here? This part somehow doesn't feel entirely true (1/2?)

There was sm tension between B&C in book 3, when they go shopping, like they just fit perfectly! :D Not sure what to think of Jer when he apparently knew C would always be first, that B would never be able to completely let him go, and he still asked her to marry?? Like this proposal was an act of desperation to keep her and make up for cheating? And insisting he wanted all of her while knowing she couldn't let C go completely, somehow came off as possessive/dishonest of his motivation. I also have some questions about Jer's proposal and wedding rush.. Really seems like they both (?) were trying to erase C from their lives, or like he said, make it an excuse for B not to go back after C. I do believe they loved each other in a way (Jer probably loved her more ), but like the whole narrative gives this impression that it's not quite right, although B keeps convincing herself... sorry for the many messages, just have so may thoughts still... :D

There are a lot of bits in the end of the 2nd/beginning of the 3rd book that confuse me too, but I think Belly kept denying that Conrad loves her and that she loves Conrad because she didn't want to admit that she was wrong and kind of overreacted in book 2. I think she kinda knew it wasn't all on him and she was partly to blame for the way things went down between them, but she was clinging to the "he treated me terribly" narrative because she didn't want to have to admit "I treated him terribly too". The ironic thing is that Belly does know that he loves her, and she has known it the entire time, but she's denied it the entire time. It all goes back to what happened in book 2 when she went with Jeremiah to find Conrad and everything that happened in the car and the motel...which the 3rd book calls you back to, because Conrad keeps saying "that night at the motel I fucked up" and it haunts him. I think they both knew they were both in love with each other at the point, but since he kept saying he didn't and was choosing to leave her with Jeremiah, she didn't push the issue (that part in the motel, when Jere is asleep and she's pretending to be asleep and Conrad says "earlier, when I said I never wanted you, I didn't mean it". if she had rolled over and had a conversation with him and been like "i'll always be in love with you" things would have gone different. but she ignored him so he decided it was better to let her go). I think at the end of the third book she knew she had also chosen to go with Jeremiah, as much as Conrad chose to let Jeremiah have her. I feel like their thing was denying that they're in love even though they both know it. but I kind of loved that and the angst it added. Also, I think she started to realize through all the time spent with Conrad planning her wedding to Jeremiah (the shopping, the peaches) that she was always and would always be in love with Conrad, and that she did not love Jeremiah like that, but she was afraid of hurting Jeremiah and she felt like it would end up hurting everyone else too. (because remember when she and Conrad broke up, Laurel was like it's not just about you guys, Susannah is gonna be hurt too, and I think that made Belly feel like breaking Jeremiah would break the whole family).

To your second point- thank you for pointing this out, because literally yes! this bit has always been my biggest struggle with Belly x Jeremiah...the dude is straight up like "I think I'm in love with her. She's in love with Conrad, always will be, and will always choose him over ANYONE, she will always go back to him, he will always be first for her...BUT IDC I'm gonna go after her and confuse her anyway, and while I'm here why not propose????" I was like...WHAT. when I read that whole part about how he KNOWS Conrad is always first for her and the one she loves. The fact that Jenny wrote that and made a point to put it in there in Jeremiah's POV...because Conrad never really discusses Jeremiah and Belly and her love for Jere with the reader...so the fact that Jeremiah admitting to the reader that he knows this was put there by the author is just wild to me. And it's not just the fact that he knows and admitted all of that, he also knows she still currently loves Conrad and things are very unresolved with no closure between them, and he still thinks it's a good idea to get in the middle of that mess. I had a really hard time feeling bad for Jeremiah throughout the third book (at the end I was sad for him just with how that last conversation was written) because he knew this was going to happen. Like dude, you chose to rush things with her knowing she probably still loves Conrad and never got closure with him, and now you're mad because the thing you knew would happen all along happened??? What??? make it make sense. I got really mad at him when he was telling her how he wanted all of her and she wouldn't give it to him...yeah I understand how much that was hurting him but I didn't like that it was about the emotional connection and also the physical, and it seemed like it was kinda more upset about the sex thing...it was kind of a douche-y thing to say. I think he felt like if he was Conrad she would've given herself fully to him and that was the point of that whole conversation but it just rubbed me the wrong way (especially after him and his friends casually joked about him having sex with her and when he hooked up with Lacey in front of Conrad at the bachelor thing...I know they were drunk but drunk words are sober thoughts).

In regards to the proposal and wedding rush...it was a big mess and very confusing. I keep seeing people who haven't read the books saying "they get engaged/married in the third book?? they're way too young to get married that's crazy they're 19"...yeah, that's literally the whole point. It didn't make sense, was crazy, rushed, and too soon, they're way too young. No one they told was super excited/supportive at first (not even Steven!!!) and Belly's friends are even stunned at first and like girl wtf have you gotten yourself into. And none of the above has to do with Jeremiah, it's not that no one wants her to marry Jeremiah...they just don't want her to marry him right now. Which is where all of the problems arise. Belly is even asked why now? -and doesn't really have an answer. So you have to ask yourself...why do they feel they need to get married now? If they're so in love, can't they just be engaged until they graduate? I personally think the answer is that they know if they don't get married now, they never will- I think they kinda realized their relationship was falling apart and was not built to last, and the proposal was a band aid over a bullet wound. Also, the whole reason he proposed to her was as a way to prove to her he wouldn't "cheat" again, but I think also bc being married would mean he won't hook up with other girls and Belly won't go back to Conrad, and Jere seemed really desperate to keep her from Conrad- in the last chapter he even says to Belly "I won't be the reason you don't go to him", so I feel like he knew he was the only thing stopping her from going back to Conrad, and the proposal was at least partly about that. It's an interesting dynamic, bc Belly wanted to forget about/erase Conrad and Jeremiah wanted to erase Conrad from Belly's heart.

I stand by what I said above, the proposal and rushed wedding was a band aid over a bullet hole, and the funny thing is Conrad realizes something is off about the whole thing and thinks there must be some bigger reason for the wedding but he can't figure it out, so he gives them the benefit of the doubt that they're getting married bc of their love for each other. He was trying his best to be supportive and helping with the wedding bc he thought Belly was happy and it was what was best for both her and Jere, but when he finds out about the "cheating" scandal he kinda goes crazy, and when he tells Belly and she says she already knows Conrad realizes that they're only getting married to make up for the cheating, and that's when he breaks down and tells her he loves her and has always loved her all along. I think a big part of this is that Conrad and Jeremiah's dad cheated on Susannah, so Jere should have known better- he knows the hurt that it can cause firsthand, and I feel like that's what was running through Conrad's mind. He couldn't believe Jeremiah would treat Belly of all women the way their father had treated Susannah.

also- I think Jeremiah did love Belly, and I think she loved him too (but he loved her more). I also think feelings and emotions got very confused with the truth, and I think the loss of Susannah contributed to this- bc for Jeremiah, Belly is a huge part of his childhood and a big piece of Susannah (she's someone Susannah adored!) and someone who makes him feel safe, comfortable, and is simply familiar, a security blanket in a way, and so he was trying desperately to hold onto that last piece of Susannah. So losing Belly as a lover, as a friend, would be like losing his mother again. He didn't want to lose anyone else so he held on to Belly too tightly. idk, this is just my opinion and analysis based on what I've read.

[galaxygerm103]

More ramble ramble!

Okay so idk why some people in the BMC fandom think Christine is even remotely popular, the poor girl is never once seen with one friend. Not even one. For most the beginning of the show, she's seen alone and the only interactions she has are with Jeremy. Christine is just as unpopular as Jeremy(hell, Jeremy at least has ONE friend). They are literally in the same like...social class. You think maybe this is why Jeremy liked her? Other than just actually having a genuine crush on her. Like, Jeremy obviously does not like the popular girls that much(I mean Brooke is sweet but he clearly doesn't feel right dating her, even if it was fake and meant to attract attention). He likes Christine. Heck, he clearly reassures to the Squip that Christine is the only girl he wants.

I think maybe Jeremy realizes she's kind of alone and that's why he finally gets the guts to talk to her. Because he gets her and understands that kinda...need for companionship, romantic or not. So he finally signs up for the play. And the first time he feels a social disconnect(when Christine is joking about the swim team), he goed to leave. But Christine is fast to tell him she was joking, which gets him to stay. She wanted him to stay because she was lonely. The entirety of "I Love Play Rehearsal" is her rambling to this boy she just met about her passion. She's never had a person to ramble to before. This is kind of a first for her. And Jeremy just listens and takes it all in(also his legs are crossed during the entire song but I think you are smart enough to figure out why). This is kind of the connecting moment between these two. Because Jeremy is clearly a rambler from the beginning of "More Than Survive". He literally rambles to himself about the option of walking or taking the bus to school. Something so insignificant to others, but not to him. Christine is rambling about play rehearsal, something to significant to her because it's her only place to shake loose any anxiety and just be herself.

And over the progression of the show, you see Jeremy only really be himself around two people. Michael and Christine. Aka the two most important people to him. And even still, he's sorta awkward around them both, and one of them is literally his childhood best friend so that says a lot. But on Halloween, when Jeremy doesn't know what to say and Christine tells him to "say what's on your mind", the first thing he does is replicate what she did at play rehearsal, and makes a weird ass noise. He remembered that little detail that seems kinda insignificant to others. In return to his noise, Christine makes a noise. And they just kinda make silly noises for a short while. This whole scene is Jeremy expressing he's a good listener. This is the first time since Jeremy got the Squip that we see the REAL Jeremy. And assuming he hasn't gotten as much time around Christine as he would like, this moment must be HUGE for him. So huge he gets the guts to ask Christine out. He finally asks this girl he's crushed on since, supposedly middle school(the mention of "you've known him since seventh grade" implies Christine has only been going to Middleborough schools since middle, and Jeremy's crush seems a long time standing so...plus Jere thought she was talking about him so it could imply he first saw her in seventh grade), and he sadly gets turned down. Note, the "Christiiiine" is brought back, and we haven't heard that melody since "Upgrade"(which I like to assume is a few weeks before Halloween due to the play being a day after Halloween and "you ignored me for weeks". Thank you Michael for giving me a time frame to work with). We haven't heard that little medley since Jeremy stopped being himself. That pining just kinda hid in the shadows.

Christine rejects Jeremy but in a really polite and sweet way. He asks her "aren't we friends?" In a rather panicked voice and she tells him that they are, but she feels she can't be in a relationship until she finds herself.

Also, before the events of "The Play", Christine tells Jeremy that the Squip sounds awful. This is when he realizes that the Squip is bad. Not when Michael told him. When Christine told him. Jeremy's eyes are opened up to reality becaude this girl he is so in love with, the girl who kindly rejected his confession, told him. This is when Jeremy becomes frantic to shut the Squip off.

But then he sees Christine get Squipped and I will say, his "No!" Is really emotional because his voice is cracky and full of worry and sadness for Christine because he doesn't want her to go through what he did. So he literally sacrifices the mental sanity of himself and all the other students JUST to save Christine. He didn't know all the Squips would shut off. And he wasn't ready to let Christine suffer so they could be together. He sacrificed his own happiness so she could be safe.

And Christine(along with Michael, Rich, and Jeremy himself)remembers what happened with the Squips and doesn't believe it to be ecstasy. She only knew for a brief moment what caused Jeremy to do the things he did and decides she needs to get to learn the real Jeremy.

She didn't go on the "date" with him because she had fallen for him. She went to lunch with him so she could get to know him. She didn't know Jake when they dated. And it was clear that was her first romantic relationship. This is her not making the same mistake twice. She isn't going to blindly date somebody again just because she thinks she likes them.

And Jeremy isn't gonna let somebody else tell him how he should get somebody to like him. Because he shouldn't have to make them like him. They should like him for himself if they're going to. So he's gonna allow Christine to learn who he really is. The first step to that is hanging out not during school. And lunch was the best idea Jeremy had.

Them having lunch together doesn't mean they end up together. Joe Iconis even said he didn't know if they did end up together. But he said it wasn't the ending for any of them.

((As for the kiss, platonic kisses exist okay. Can't say too much about that))

The point of this is

A) to prove these two are actually compatible

B) to prove that they both grew as characters over the course of the show and are learning from their mistakes

C) to prove Jere actually DOES like Christine

And

D) to prove that Cheere/Stage Dorks is actually very much plausible and possible in the realm of canon.

Thank you for reading this overly long ramble about Jeremy Heere and Christine Canigula

[playertwosquiped]

Well if I’m gonna be up at 1:30 in the morning while hitting mental walls with all the replies sitting in my drafts.. I’m just gonna... ramble under the cut about Halloween because BOY do I have thoughts about that night for Jere.

TW for the uh Thing With Chloe you know what I mean and I’m gonna talk at LENGTH

OKAy, just right from the start, the SQUIP makes him be late, and he feels SO BAD about it because it made Brooke think he stood her up. HE’S!! SUCH!! A!! SWEETHEART!! Like, like. From the very start he was concerned about Brooke and didn’t want to hurt her (”don’t worry about the guilt you feel, Just take a breath, And seal the deal”!!!!!! HE WAS GUILTY AT THE IDEA OF USING BROOKE TO GET POPULAR I WANT TO CRY). 

But he cared. he cared so so much about Brooke. He didn't need to care about her. Before the SQUIP they’d never really interacted (”I’ve literally never seen him before”). And the fact that he still still felt bad about hurting her even a little bit by Halloween after he’d had the SQUIP for a little while I’m just,,,,, my heart. He’s so sweet. He genuinely cared about Brooke and I will fight anyone who disagrees.

Anyway.

...

...

Chloe. YEeeeeeesh. How many times did he have to say NO CHloe for fucks sake. Like I’m not even gonna touch the fact that Chloe did that knowing he was dating her best friend, and just focus of her clear disregard for consent and the fact that she absolutely sexually assaulted Jeremy. 

He said no many many times, even saying make it stop, though that was technically directed at his SQUIP (who fuckign said “I don’t understand the request” which GOD never have I wanted to strangle a fictional character so much) he said it out loud. She FUCKING KNEW he wasn’t consenting. And she didn’t care.

Like maybe no clothes actually came off (though tbh that was at least partially because Jake showed up) she still kissed him non-consensually, and, uh, humped him on the bed while she had him pinned. Sure, she wasaf doing it to be loud and make it sound like she was having sex but  Y I K E S . 

There’s a reason my Jeremy is so many levels of NOT COMFORTABLE with her even post-SQUIP. He just... pretends to be for Brooke’s sake, and avoids being alone with her at all costs.

He actually picks up a lot of issues from that. He can’t stand being pinned at all, even if it’s by accident, and a lot of his terror at losing control comes from that moment because that is the most traumatizing thing the SQUIP did to him by a long shot (though basically EVERYTHING the SQUIP did is awful in some way. Spending a couple of months being manipulated and abused by a voice literally in his head was bad; it’s just that as far as Singular Events go, that one was the worst).

Also just, you know, the physical stuff in relationships becomes terrifying for him and any future partners would have to be comfortable with going slow on that because yikes. 

How many times have I said yikes dgdsf too many. yikes yikes yikes.

Anyway.

He ran to hide in the bathroom (on the verge of a meltdown because that just happened and this is the first time in a couple months that he hasn’t had the SQUIP managing his emotions for him) where... Michael was.

Okay. One more yikes.

He went in for a hug. He went in for a hug. This boy was just assaulted, is freaking out because he barely had coping skills before the SQUIP, but after having it for a while all but lost what little ability to cope he had, and he sees his best friend for the first time in months and he just bhjhbhj immediately tries to hug Michael. He missed him. 

Because, and this is a digression, he never wanted to leave Michael behind. He was just at the point in his own head where he felt like anything he wanted was the wrong thing to want. So he went against every instinct and feeling of his to listen to the SQUIP. And you know, the only reason he wasn’t constantly miserable from that is because the SQUIP was blocking those feelings out. This isn’t a justification for what he did, just... an explanation.  He needed therapy not an supercomputer sddfgdgfbv

He got so upset with Michael in that conversation because he was a mess and he had come into this bathroom to hide in the tub and cry and he knew he wouldn’t be feeling this if the SQUIP was on. He was so desperate to have the thing managing his emotions still that any suggestion of getting rid of it was unthinkable, despite what had just happened.

So he said whatever it took to get away from Michael in that moment. The only reason he didn’t have a complete breakdown that night at least not at the party was because Christine managed to cheer him up, and even that didn’t last. Obviously. Because he was drowning and desperate for this to have all been worth it (especially after he had just called Michael a loser and left him alone; something he was VERY GUILTY about immediately after it happened; but he was too anxious to backtrack and apologize) he asked her out right then at a moment that- had he been in his right mind- even he would have known was probably a bad idea. Because he was desperate.

And then he was dragged home by the SQUIP. Even with the SQUIP back on to manage his emotions, the night caught up to him and he cried himself to sleep.

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/anna-delvey-the-trial-of-new-yorks-fake-heiress/

Anna Delvey: The trial of New York's fake heiress

Image copyright BFA

Just how far can you get in the New York City socialite scene without a real fortune of your own?

Incredibly far, in the case of Anna Delvey – real name Anna Sorokin – who allegedly tricked the city’s elite into thinking she was a billionaire heiress. She reportedly hired a private jet, went to all the best parties, and threw cash at everyone she saw – a $100 (£78) tip if you carried her bag or were her Uber driver.

Yet, ultimately, her time at the top was short-lived. And it unravelled spectacularly.

In real life, Ms Sorokin had no multi-million-dollar trust fund. According to New York Magazine, her father is a former trucker, who runs a heating-and-cooling business.

After her credit cards began to fail – repeatedly – and she was kicked out of the luxury hotels she lived in, other people were left to pick up the extortionate bills, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

Following a month-long trial, Ms Sorokin has now been found guilty of multiple offences, including stealing more than $200,000 – after racking up debts and fraudulently trying to secure major bank loans.

“As proven at trial, Anna Sorokin committed real white-collar felonies over the course of her lengthy masquerade,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement announcing the conviction.

Ms Sorokin, who chose not to testify and pleaded not guilty, now faces up to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced on 9 May.

So how did this woman in her mid-20s allegedly cause financial chaos across a city, leaving people picking up her tabs in the US and beyond?

‘Faking it’

Anna Delvey came to New York City on a mission. At least that is what she told people.

She wanted to start an arts centre, with a chic Soho House ethos. She was considering calling it the Anna Delvey Foundation, according to New York Magazine, and she claimed to have lined up renowned artist Christo for the inauguration. For the venue, she had her eye on a six-floor space – 45,000 sq ft (4,200 sq m) – in Church Missions House, a prestigious, late 19th Century building, on the corner of Park Avenue and 22nd Street.

There is a certain lifestyle that goes with such bold claims – and she was living it.

Jered Threatin: The fake rock star

Fyre: the world’s biggest festival flop

Speaking at the trial’s opening, defence lawyer Todd Spodek said: “Anna had to fake it until she could make it.”

He told jurors that Ms Sorokin was “easily seduced by glamour and glitz” when she saw how wealth – or the illusion of wealth – opened doors.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Anna Sorokin (right), then known as Anna Delvey, at a fashion event at a New York hotel in 2014

According to court documents, Ms Sorokin represented herself as a German heiress with $60m in assets to try to get a loan of $20m for her foundation. She allegedly presented forged bank statements and would also deposit bad cheques, then withdraw the money before they bounced.

Prosecutors said that, while she never managed to secure millions, she did get a temporary $100,000 overdraft with City National Bank – based on forged proof of foreign assets – but she failed to repay it with a wire transfer, as promised.

Instead, they say, she went on a one-month shopping spree, spending $55,000 on “her upkeep at 11 Howard (a luxury hotel), high-end fashion purchases from Net-a-Porter and Forward by Elyse Walker, sessions with a personal trainer, Apple, and other personal expenses”.

Her lawyer said she never intended to commit a crime.

“In her world, this is what her social circle did,” he told the jury. “Everyone’s life was perfectly curated for social media. People were fake. People were phoney. And money was made on hype alone.”

How it unfolded

“Wannabe socialite busted for skipping out on pricey hotel bills”, read a July 2017 headline in the New York Post.

This was followed, in April 2018, by a confessional first-person piece in Vanity Fair by one of the magazine’s photojournalists, saying she had been hoodwinked by Ms Sorokin.

Rachel DeLoache Williams became a key witness in the trial. “I wish I had never met Anna,” she said in the courtroom during a tear-soaked testimony.

She said she had met her at Manhattan nightclub Happy Ending. She said Ms Sorokin held court with tales of her proposed arts foundation and then picked up the tab for a bottle of vodka.

They became friends. Ms Williams wrote in her article about being seduced by the apparent “glamorous, frictionless” lifestyle. She enjoyed going out for espresso martinis and fancy dinners. Anna usually paid, referring to her trust fund, and this culminated in her inviting Ms Williams on a trip to Morocco.

Ms Williams wrote: “Anna also invited her personal trainer, along with a friend of mine – a photographer – whom, at a dinner the week before our trip, Anna had asked to come as a documentarian, someone to capture video.”

Getty Images

Anna’s was a beautiful dream of New York, like one of those nights that never seems to end. And then the bill arrives.

The photo editor was a key witness in the trial. One of the counts of larceny was directly linked to her experiences.

She told how Ms Sorokin asked her to reserve a luxury, $7,000-per-night riad in Marrakesh, complete with three bedrooms, a private swimming pool and a dedicated butler.

She said it was always intended that Ms Sorokin would pay the bill, but when they came to check out, her credit cards did not work.

Put on the spot, Ms Williams ended up footing the bill for the entire trip, which, including extras, came to approximately $62,000 for a six-night stay. Sorokin was acquitted of the charge related to that bill.

The photojournalist said she was left in tears and suffering regular panic attacks, consumed by the stress of trying to retrieve the money.

“It was a magic trick,” she wrote at the conclusion of her story. “I’m embarrassed to say that I was one of the props, and the audience, too. Anna’s was a beautiful dream of New York, like one of those nights that never seems to end. And then the bill arrives.”

Though Ms Williams’ magazine article had had people talking, it was an an article in New York Magazine in May 2018, by journalist Jessica Pressler, that really blew the lid on the scandal. She interviewed various people who had come across Ms Sorokin, including a concierge, Neffatari “Neff” Davis, also in her mid-20s, who worked at the 11 Howard hotel.

Ms Davis said Ms Sorokin arrived at the newly opened Soho hotel like a whirlwind in April 2017, block-booking a deluxe room (around $400 a night). Gestures, such as allegedly paying a personal trainer $4,500 in a cash advance, gave the impression she was wallowing in money. She also spent an inordinate amount of time at the concierge desk, said Ms Davis.

“Usually tourists just come in and ask how to get to the Statue of Liberty,” Ms Davis later told New York art and fashion magazine Paper. “But then, you have this girl who’s draped in Rick Owens, huge Céline glasses, messy hair, European accent, hundreds of dollars of bills on her and she’s literally just giving it to me, for my time?” She said she was used to being a makeshift therapist for guests travelling on their own. “It’s really none of my business where the money comes from,” she said.

But somewhere along the line, 11 Howard had made an apparent error of judgement. Staff had not got a credit card on file for Ms Sorokin. A major dispute broke out, according to Ms Davis.

However – perhaps surprisingly – Ms Sorokin did eventually settle that debt. She used the money from the City Bank overdraft.

In court, her lawyer said that his client “believed that she would have the funds to pay every single person back”. This was the crux of her case.

But jurors were not convinced.

An age-old ruse in a modern world

Many people have said this whole story is so specific to New York’s young socialites; how some people move in circles where they don’t know their friends’ surnames or background; how what matters most is the night out, the connections, the name-drops, the moment.

Ms Sorokin’s lawyer was keen to play into this. “Any millennial will tell you, it is not uncommon to have delusions of grandeur,” he said in court.

But writer and psychologist Maria Konnikova, the author of The Confidence Game – a book about con artistry – believes the case is full of elements that are both timeless and universal. “People love to think they are idiosyncratic, but this has happened over and over and over again, everywhere. Anna Delvey fit the New York scene, but this could have happened in London and even in a small town, if certain things were adapted.”

“Claiming to have an aristocratic edge is something that has been done for hundreds of years,” she says. “In the past, people would take out newspaper adverts, or befriend gossip columnists, or get photographed with the right people to bolster their credibility.”

But social media has made it easier, she concedes. “The barrier of entry is so much lower. We accept so much at face value, and we put so much out there.” Theoretically you should be able to vet people better, she says, but people are not being savvy.

Ms Sorokin was an active Instagram user, building a profile that made her look like a mover on the arts scene.

An arts story

Eileen Kinsella has been covering the story from the courtroom for New York-based art market website, Artnet.

She says it has made the art world sit up because there are always concerns about being duped. “You often don’t know who is on the other side of a transaction, and people do buy things they can’t afford,” she says.

She also says the city has been on a particularly high alert since a 2012 exposé of one of its most-established galleries – Knoedler – was exposed for selling fake works, supposedly by the likes of Jason Pollock and Mark Rothko. “People went to incredible lengths to make things seem authentic. It had huge implications.”

One of her Artnet colleagues, critic Ben Davis, also wrote a piece analysing the art content of Ms Sorokin’s Instagram account, noting her use of familiar hashtags, and posting works from major events: Frieze, Art Basel, the Venice Biennale and the openings at Pace Gallery.

It was, he concluded, a “thin tissue of celebrity and scene-y artists”. However, he added that the envy generated by social media has become a kind of currency of its own, and she had managed to create “crisply curated fabulousness”.

The ongoing season of scammers

The New York Magazine story about Ms Sorokin’s ruse was almost instantly optioned by Netflix, and linked with producer Shonda Rimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal).

Ms Williams’ story is being adapted for HBO, with writer Lena Dunham working on the screenplay. Ms Williams has also signed a book deal with Simon and Schuster.

People have been captivated by the idea of Ms Sorokin’s apparent audacity, and yet also left with so many questions: Why? What was the end game? Where did she come from? How come no-one guessed sooner? (Some have said that her unkempt hair should have been a giveaway. People who live in hotels have time on their hands for daily blow-dries. In court, Ms Williams said there were, in hindsight, plenty of “red flags”.)

There were rumours that Jennifer Lawrence might take the title role in the adaptation, however, the Oscar winner was then signed up to play up another so-called “millennial scammer” – Elizabeth Holmes, the deep-voiced entrepreneur who fraudulently built up the Silicon Valley company, Theranos.

Ms Holmes’ story has become the subject of various documentaries and podcasts. As has that of Billy McFarland, who created the infamous and completely hollow Fyre Festival. Both characters have been the subject of hit documentaries.

Image copyright Patrick McMullan

Image caption Billy McFarland (R) with former Fyre Festival employee Andy King, who became a memorable character in the Netflix documentary

TV critic Scott Bryan, who co-hosts BBC Must Watch, says such documentaries have become huge hits because they explore social media stories in such depth.

“The documentary that followed then provided a great amount of context and insight into how it all spiralled out of control and viewers learnt so much more than what they did from the original news story, when they initially thought that they weren’t going to do so. When these documentaries are done well, they can be equally, if not more compelling, than when we heard the story first time round,” he says.

Theranos founder in $700m fraud charge

Celebrity parents and the bizarre ‘cheating’ scandal

In the case of Ms Sorokin, some already view her as a sort of antihero. They admire her for gaming a system that few people will ever have access to.

Last summer, T-shirts saying Free Anna Delvey became the ironic must-have for Brooklynites. New York Magazine – via its website The Cut – also also saw an opportunity to profit off the story it had made viral and added a range of slogan tees to its online shop: “Fake German Heiress”; “My other shirt will wire you $30,000”.

Marie Claire magazine also explored the outpouring of enthusiasm for the story. “No-one died as a result of her actions, she just made rich people look like idiots,” it said. However, it also recognised the story’s alleged victims, notably Ms Williams.

A trial as a fashion show

Anna Sorokin was held in New York’s notoriously tough Rikers Island jail ahead of her trial.

Image copyright AFP

Since her detention, she has not been Instagramming from the inside, according to jail officials. After her detention, one of her posts was tagged with a Rikers location (“Throwback Thursday to @LeCouCou_NYC”), but the authorities say someone else must be managing the account.

She appears, however, to still be curating her image. She reportedly told Ms Davis – who remains a friend – that she would prefer if Margot Robbie played her in the Netflix production.

And she also worked with a stylist, Anastasia Walker, to get her courtroom look during the trial.

She arrived in the court room on the first day dressed in stylish black glasses and a matching choker, and went on to parade a number of other designer outfits: Saint Laurent, Michael Kors, Victoria Beckham.

Ms Walker told Elle magazine the look was “mysterious chic“. It won plenty of headlines.

One day, the proceedings were delayed because of wardrobe troubles and Justice Diane Kiesel gave her a verbal dressing down. “This is unacceptable and inappropriate,” she said. “This is not a fashion show.”

Yet multiple media outlets pulled together galleries of her in-court fashion, and an Instagram account (@annadelveycourtlooks) has picked up a few thousand followers.

Ultimately her lawyer, Todd Spodek, was keen to paint this as New York story, referencing the Frank Sinatra song in his opening and closing statements.

“In a city that favours money and the appearance of money… they both created their own opportunities,” he said.

“She was creating a business that she believed would work and she was buying time,” he argued.

Anna Sorokin was a part of it. But not for long.

Guilty of multiple crimes

She was found guilty on Thursday of four counts of theft of services, three counts of grand larceny and one count of attempted grand larceny, and acquitted of one count of grand larceny and one count of attempted grand larceny.

She also declined a plea deal, which could have resulted in a more lenient sentence if she agreed to return to Germany, where she lived after the age of 16, having been born in Russia.

She now faces deportation to Germany because she has overstayed her visa.