Chapter 4

"She was set on marrying her boyfriend. We share a dorm room, and she kept begging us for help, so we couldn't say no. We just helped her set up a little."

I stared at my bed curtain, unable to believe my ears, and lay there without moving for a long time.

Chloe's mother walked around the dorm room, her tone growing more and more disgusted. "College students these days really have no decency."

"Your parents send you to school to study and learn something useful, not to run around like tramps!"

Marjorie, who had just gotten back, stopped short. "Ma'am, don't you think that's out of line?"

Mrs. Finch blew up on the spot. "I'm out of line? So you'll do it but you won't own up to it?"

She looked Marjorie up and down. "A girl your age, have you no shame at all!"

Marjorie's face went hard. "Who exactly are you talking about?"

"Whoever did this, that's who!"

Her mother grabbed hold of Chloe. "Let me tell you something. You may have no shame, but my daughter does! My Chloe has been a good girl since she was little, the most obedient, with her nose in her books all day. When would she ever do something this disgraceful?"

Chloe stood off to the side without even lifting her head, while her mother got more and more worked up.

"You live with my daughter—can't you learn something from my Chloe? So young, and all you think about day and night is men. What kind of future is that going to get you!"

She spotted the golden-boy-and-jade-girl poster on the wall, yanked it down, and with a ripping sound tore it in two.

"You even put this up? Shameless! Have you no decency!"

Marjorie couldn't take it anymore. "Ma'am, you should be asking your daughter."

Without a second's thought, her mother snapped back, "Pah! Don't you dare drag my Chloe through the mud! You think I don't know what my own daughter is like?"

She turned and looked at Chloe with an aching heart. "Chloe, sweetheart, do they bully you all the time? You're just too honest, that's the problem. Stuck with a bunch of no-good slackers like this—what a hard time you've had."

Chloe's eyes darted away. "Ugh, Mom... just—just let it go."

Her mother instantly got emotional. "See that! My daughter has such a good heart—she's still sticking up for you people even now!"

Finally, I pulled back my bed curtain and sat up. Marjorie glanced at me. "You're awake?"

I sighed. "With all this racket, how could I not be?"

When Chloe saw me, she looked away, clearly guilty. I ignored her mother and just stared at her, asking quietly.

"Chloe, don't you have something to say?"

She opened her mouth, but in the end no sound came out.

Her mother immediately planted herself in front of her, dead set on backing her up. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you trying to threaten my Chloe?"

She looked me up and down and sneered. "You don't even look like a decent person."

The smile on my face froze for a second. "Ma'am, watch what you say."

"What, am I wrong?"

She said it without a shred of doubt. "My Chloe just told me she can't stand you anymore, that she even wanted to apply to move to a different dorm to get away from you! A bad student like you—stop dragging my Chloe down with you!"

Marjorie was so furious she wanted to curse her out, but I stopped her before she could open her mouth.

Mrs. Finch kept going. "A girl marrying some random man at school—didn't your mother ever teach you to have some shame and act like a decent person?"

I grabbed a cup and threw it on the floor. "Enough! Chloe!"

She finally looked up. I stared straight at her. "I'm asking you one last time. Do you have anything to say?"

She bit her lip, her eyes going red.

But her mother cut me off. "That's it, quit trying to bully her, quit trying to scare people. You've got the nerve? Throw it at my head, then!"

"Chloe, don't be scared, Mom's right here. Nobody's going to bully you!"

I watched her shrink back behind her mother, took a deep breath, and knew I'd hit my limit.

"You won't talk? Fine. Then I'll say it for you."

I got out of bed, but before I could get a word out, there were more footsteps at the door.

The other parents were arriving one after another.

Marjorie's mother had barely walked into the dorm when she sensed something was off, and frowned. "What's going on here?"

Like she'd found herself an ally, Mrs. Finch rushed straight over and flung out her hand, pointing our way.

"Which one of you is her parent? Who? Who is it! Quit playing dead! Get out here! Don't you people teach your kids what self-respect and dignity mean at home?"

Mrs. Finch was like a woman possessed, spinning around looking for someone, cursing out anyone she laid eyes on. "So young, and getting married in a dorm! Even pigs know to breed inside a pigpen! But no—two grown adults going at it right here in the dorm. How disgusting is that!"

She got more and more worked up, then ripped the double-happiness decorations off the dorm door.

I followed her out just as my mom came up from the stairwell.

She looked at me and hurried right over. My mom swept her eyes around the dorm room, her face tight. "Honey, what's going on?"

I was about to speak when Mrs. Finch cut in ahead of me. "Oh~ so you're her mother! You kept yourself well hidden!"

My mom paused. "I am. Is there something you need?"

"Well, you'd better get your daughter under control!"

She pointed at me, then at my mom. "Your daughter has no shame—she married some random man at school. Did you know that? How do you raise your kids? If you won't discipline her, plenty of other people will do it for you down the road!"

My mom's face darkened at once. "You quit slandering people here and get your story straight first."

"What's left to get straight?"

She wouldn't give my mom or me a chance to say a word. She turned and went back into the dorm, then kicked a red plastic washbasin out from under the desk, her face full of contempt. "Just look at this!"

She held the basin up with two fingers so every student and parent in the hallway could get a good look. "A red washbasin! Cost all of three bucks, did it?"

Finally she threw the basin down at my mom's feet and gave a scornful snort. "Is your daughter really that cheap?"

The students crowding around to watch the show were all whispering among themselves, snapping picture after picture of our dorm room.

My mom held her anger in check. "I don't need to hear it from you. Let my daughter speak first."

"Speak about what? The facts are right here in front of you!"

Mrs. Finch patted her chest for emphasis. "If I had a daughter like that, I'd beat her to death on the spot! My Chloe would never do something like this. How do you think I raised her all these years? The most important thing for a girl is self-respect and dignity!"

She got more and more agitated. "If something like this happened to my Chloe, I couldn't show my face again. I wouldn't say a word—I'd go throw myself in the river!"