Chapter 2

"Don't hit him!" Alma Lambert shouted, and Eleanor Smith and I both turned to look at her.

Alma immediately changed her tone. "This... it's so late at night. Such a small thing—there's no need to bother the advisor."

I ignored her, picked up the phone again, and dialed.

The first time, no one answered.

The second time, still no answer.

I was about to try again when Alma lunged straight at me to press the phone off.

I twisted aside, and she missed, falling to the ground.

She looked up, her eyes like they'd been steeped in poison, glaring at me viciously, as if she wanted to tear me apart and swallow me whole.

The commotion was so loud that everyone in the surrounding dorms poked their heads out.

"Who is it? It's already curfew, why is it so noisy..."

Before the words were finished, Alma, still on the ground, suddenly changed her expression, and the tears came on cue.

"Carmen, I just wanted the boy to get a hot bath. If you didn't want that, fine, but there's no need to report me to the advisor."

"The school is already looking for every excuse to cut staff. Aren't you just trying to make me lose my job?"

Off to the side, Eleanor put on a pained look, shaking her head and sighing.

"Ugh, such a small thing, but Class President Swanson just has to show off how well she follows the rules."

"If we drive Alma away, the other dorm supervisors might not treat us as well as she does."

The moment she said this, the others who had just been watching for the drama started chiming in.

"Yeah, yeah, Alma usually turns a blind eye when she checks for banned electrical appliances."

"She also often takes away the trash we leave outside our dorm doors. She's such an amazing dorm supervisor."

Hearing this, my blood pressure shot through the roof.

Dengue fever has been bad lately, but plenty of dorms still leave their garbage outside their doors for ages.

I reminded Alma to report it, and she said okay, then turned around and played the nice person in front of the students, letting it slide.

For everyone's health, I had no choice but to deal with the trash myself, and now Alma was actually claiming she was the one who took it out!

Just as I was about to rush up and confront her, someone suddenly blurted out.

"But Carmen's always been really nice, and she gets along fine with Alma. Why would she keep pushing over such a small thing?"

The noisy crowd went quiet in an instant.

Alma's crying stopped abruptly, as if she'd been grabbed by the throat.

The next second, she cried even louder.

"I... I don't dare say it. Carmen has good grades, she's popular, and she's the class president. No one would believe me..."

Eleanor seemed to have seized a once-in-a-lifetime chance to expose me. "Alma, don't be afraid. Whatever wrong's been done to you, just say it!"

Alma knelt on the ground, crying harder and harder, kowtowing to me over and over.

"Carmen, that twenty-seven ninety-three—even if I sell my blood or my kidney, I'll pay it back if it kills me."

"Please, please let me go. I'm a widow with a child. Without a job, how am I supposed to live..."

The people around were all talking.

"What's this twenty-seven ninety-three? Down to the odd cents?"

Eleanor excitedly shook Alma.

"What money is it? Alma, hurry up and tell us!"

But Alma refused to say another word, just kept on crying.

It was Phineas, who had been silent the whole time, whose lips drew down lower and lower.

As if he could bear it no longer, he burst out crying.

"Sis said she gave me the brown paper, and she's forcing my mom to pay her back the money!"

It hit me like a blow to the head, and my mind went blank with a ringing.