10
Jessica never paid her dues.
Nick “accidentally” told her his headphones were broken, and she had to work extra shifts to buy him the newest Apple headphones.
Meanwhile, Sarah volunteered to collect the dues from the class. I didn’t argue.
In my first life, Sarah used her class rep position to steal money.
<
She bought a bunch of fake bags and jewelry
with it, and pretended to be rich online.
Then she would sell them for higher prices on
campus groups.
She targeted students who weren’t well off.
She would secretly switch out my real items
for her fakes, and sell them as a set.
Back then I thought she was just a little vain,
and to keep the peace in the dorm, I didn’t
call her out..
But this time, I was going to make her pay for
- it.
When the mark on one of her jewelry boxes had been obviously moved. I knew my
く
I pulled up a post I had saved, and suggested
to the RA that we should have a class team
building activity.
The RA immediately agreed, and most of the class voted yes.
Sarah didn’t care, and laughed at how I was
trying to suck up to the RA.
But then I asked her for the dues, and she
started to panic.
“For team building, we should just do some games on the field. Why do we need money?”
“We can’t just sit around, we need snacks and drinks, game supplies, and prizes.”
I said, enjoying her confused face.
<
“We don’t need that much, 200 bucks is
enough!”
“The dues are for events like this! 200 bucks
won’t even pay for drinks! And the amount
was voted on by the class.”
Sarah went silent.
I looked at her. These past few days, she’d
been getting a lot of packages. She was
probably already buying her fakes.
“You know what, I’ll go buy the stuff. It’s just
easier that way.”
Sarah clenched her jaw and agreed.
“Sounds good.”
く
I smiled.
The bigger your mess, the worse your fall.
11
“Sarah, the blindfolds are so cheap, they
broke as soon as I pulled them.”
“And the chips are almost expired.”
The room smelled awful.
Tiffany looked at the mountain of junk from
Wish and frowned.
“This is what we call value! Why should we
waste our classmate’s money.” Sarah said
defensively.
く
“But… shouldn’t we buy better stuff?
Someone might get sick, or what if the games.
break and hurt someone…”
Tiffany’s voice got quieter.
Ever since Jessica left, Sarah got Tiffany
back somehow.
Tiffany enjoyed being needed. She also hated
being alone. So, she was always eager to do
things for Sarah.
Even now, even though she didn’t agree with
Sarah’s choices, she didn’t say anything..
Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Don’t talk about things you don’t
understand. These things are disposable, no
く
need to buy expensive ones.”
“But I still think…”
“Whatever, your opinions don’t matter. You’re
not the treasurer, just take care of yourself!”
Tiffany didn’t say anything else and just
started working on a spreadsheet.
Sarah hated paperwork, and she always made
Tiffany do it for her.
I looked at the numbers on Tiffany’s screen,
deep in thought.
12
On team building day, everyone immediately
complained,
<
“Hey class rep, this soda bottle is covered in
dust.”
“These shrimp snacks expire in three days!”
“Ew, what is that smell?”
Sarah was in the crowd, looking guilty.
I clapped my hands to get everyone’s
attention.
“Hold on everyone.‘
“Our treasurer, Sarah, is in charge of all the
supplies. If you have any questions, ask her.”
Sarah was trying to slip out the back door,
but now everyone was looking at her.
く
She forced a smile. “It’s just that this is our
first event, I thought we should all keep it
lowkey.”
“It’s not that you didn’t want to spend money,
it’s that you already spent it, didn’t you?”
I wasn’t gonna beat around the bush.
Sarah looked up. “What are you talking
about? I never touched the money. Why would
you accuse me of such a thing?”
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone was knocking loudly on the door.
I winked at Sarah. Your karma is here.
“Who is Sarah?”
<
The door opened and an angry–looking girl
walked in.
Everyone turned to look at Sarah.
The girl motioned behind her and a bunch of
students crowded in front of Sarah.
“Are you the one who sold me the fake
Vivienne Westwood necklace?”
“My Coach bag was fake too!”
“And my perfume!”
Sarah completely panicked. Her forehead was
sweating.
“That’s not me, you got the wrong person.”
く
“That’s BS. That’s you in those photos.”
The girl pulled out her phone and showed
everyone the photos. She grabbed Sarah by
the collar.
“We’ve called the cops. You better give us
our money back.”
Sarah’s legs went soft. She looked to me for
help.
“Ashley… Ashley, you’re rich, tell them I didn’t
sell fakes.”
“If
you did this, you knew there would be
consequences.”
I looked at her. Then, I sent out a group text.
<
It contained proof that Sarah was stealing
money, and selling fakes.
It also showed how she had bought cheap
and expired products for the team building.
The room erupted. Everyone stared at Sarah, disgusted.
Sarah saw the document. She found Tiffany in the crowd. She went straight for her.
“You’re the traitor! Did you send them this?!”
“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be found out!”
Tiffany was trying to get away from Sarah. “You’re the one who was in the wrong! How could you use class dues to sell fake stuff?”
<
“I thought you were a good person. You said
those bad things about Ashley, and made us
shun her, but look what you’ve done as a
treasurer?”
When she heard my name, Sarah froze.
“It’s Ashley, it’s always Ashley!”
She looked at me with red eyes.
“You’re so lucky, your family is rich and
you’re so pretty, big deal.”
“I wake up early every day, put on makeup,
style my hair, I never eat dinner to stay thin. I
work hard to make my own money so that I
can buy what I want. I’m so much better than
you!”
<
Her face was twisted with anger. I felt a little
bad for her.
“Sarah, I never thought of you as my enemy.
“You were blinded by jealousy and vanity.”
“Even if you wanted to beat me, you
shouldn’t have used such low–down tactics. If
you had been honest from the beginning, I
might’ve respected you.”
Sarah smiled, she picked up a dirty soda and
cleaned off the dust.
“You people don’t understand.”
She suddenly lunged at me with the bottle,
ready to smash it over my head.
く
Smash!
Michelle pulled me to the side, and the soda
bottle shattered on the ground.
Sarah was immediately surrounded, the RA
and police showed up.
13
Because of the large amount of money.
involved, Sarah was kicked out, even though
the other students dropped the charges.
Her mom came to help her pack, and wouldn’t
stop talking.
“You’re supposed to be in college, but can’t
even do a small business! Now you can’t even
finish school.”
く
“What use are you? You’re just a waste. You
might as well get married.”
Her mom didn’t care that Sarah was stealing
and selling fakes.
She was just mad that her daughter got
caught.
Sarah was with her, her eyes blank. Her hair
was greasy and hanging down. The angry and
arrogant girl was gone.
I looked at her and turned away.
That was the last time I saw Sarah.
14
Not long after, Tiffany also requested a room
<
Change.
Since she was Sarah’s accomplice, no one
really liked her.
She was afraid of being alone.
Now she was the loneliest of us all.
Nick was obsessed with sports betting, and
his debts were growing.
Jessica’s money wasn’t enough anymore.
He dumped her and found a rich girl.
Jessica couldn’t handle it. She was depressed and stopped going to class. The RA helped
her apply for a leave of absence.
After t
く
After the dues were returned, I organized
another team building event.
Everyone had fun. When it was my turn to do
a game on the platform, Michelle’s hands
were sweating.
I asked her why she was so worried about
- me.
She rubbed her neck, “When you first moved
in, I had a dream.”
“I dreamed that Sarah and the others bullied
you, you were always sick, then you had a bad breakup. And then they started all the
rumors.”
“In my dream, I didn’t like you, I thought you
<
were weak. You were always so afraid, and
tried to please everyone who was mean to
you.”
“Then, you… you jumped off the roof.”
Michelle’s voice lowered.
I gently grabbed her hand, and she continued.
“I felt so bad after you were gone. I should
have said more to you.”
“That night, I had a bad feeling, but I still
didn’t go to comfort you.”
Michelle’s eyes were red.
I hugged Michelle and patted her back.
<
Michelle’s eyes were red.
I hugged Michelle and patted her back.
“It’s just a dream. It’s okay.”
“And even if you did help me, if that version
of me didn’t wake up, things wouldn’t have
gotten better.”
“If you don’t save yourself, no one can save you.”
Michelle paused, and hugged me back harder.
“Yeah, it was just a dream.”
