Chapter 2

"Congratulations, third prize! Five thousand dollars cash!"

When the staff told me, I just froze.

Five thousand dollars!

My fingers tingled as I clutched the envelope.

Back in my dorm, I held up the envelope.

"Girls! I won the lottery!"

"Dinner's on me tonight! That seafood buffet by the campus gates – let's go have a feast!"

The dorm fell silent.

Brittany Hayes, our dorm leader, was putting on lipstick, glancing at me through the mirror.

Chelsea Miller sat at her desk, flipping through a book, the pages rustling loudly, without even looking up.

Our other roommate, Megan Jones, kept her head down, washing clothes, as if she hadn't heard a word.

My smile stiffened.

"What's wrong? Aren't you guys happy?"

Brittany snapped her lipstick shut, turned around, and crossed her arms.

"Happy? Why would we be happy?"

"Turns out all the good luck in our dorm was sucked away by you."

"No wonder I've been losing things every day lately. My prepaid laundry card, just after I'd loaded it up, went missing."

I was stunned.

"How could that be? It's just good fortune."

I pulled six hundred dollars from my wallet and handed two hundred to each of them.

"Don't say that. Finders keepers, right? Here, treat yourselves to something nice."

Chelsea stopped flipping her book, looked up, and reached for the money.

Megan dried her hands and took two hundred dollars from me.

Brittany scoffed, snatched the money, and stuffed it into her pocket.

"At least you have some conscience."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

I knew all three of them relied heavily on financial aid, so their living expenses were tight. Giving them cash probably seemed more practical.

But I never expected that two hundred dollars would only whet their appetite.