Chapter 3

The cheering cut off all at once, and the room went dead silent.

Everyone traded glances, all of them itching for a show.

The smile froze on Ezra's face, and he flushed red with embarrassment.

He grabbed my arm and hurried me toward the door, explaining to the crowd:

"Don't get the wrong idea, everyone. I scolded her a little earlier, she's upset, throwing a fit at me on purpose."

"You all keep the party going. I'll just smooth things over with her."

Ezra dragged me to an empty corner, his brows knotted tight.

"Millie! Can't you show some sense? Do you really have to make me lose face out there?"

I pulled my arm back, my voice even.

"I'm just telling everyone the truth."

I didn't look at the baffled expression on his face again. I turned and walked away.

He kept quiet through the weekend, then Monday morning a message came in:

"Grabbed you a breakfast sandwich and some orange juice for morning class. It's been two days, my baby should be over it by now, right?"

He still thought I'd only brought up the breakup because I was angry, that I hadn't really meant it.

I blocked him on the spot.

In class he still shamelessly shoved Arlene aside to sit next to me, all smiles as he pushed the breakfast at me.

I'd assumed a few days of the cold shoulder would wear down his pride and he'd accept that we were done.

But he acted like nothing had happened, clinging to me every single day.

I'd order a bubble tea for twenty-some dollars, buy snacks for a few tens, order a new hoodie online,

and he'd grill me on the price of each one, then nag on and on about me throwing money away.

The most absurd part was that he started sponging off everything I had, like it was his right.

We used to split the bill when we ate. Now he decided I should treat, dressing it up as:

"You get such a big allowance, what's wrong with buying your boyfriend a meal?"

He had me stuck ordering takeout in my dorm every time.

On the fourth night after evening study, he called from a roommate's phone and told me to transfer him three thousand dollars.

I hesitated for a beat and didn't refuse outright. I pressed record and asked, playing puzzled, what he needed the money for.

He said it like it was nothing:

"My computer's too laggy, it's messing with my gaming. I want to buy a new gaming laptop, three thousand. Just transfer it to me."

I turned him down flat:

"Why should I pay for something you're buying? Forget the fact that we've already broken up, even if we hadn't, I'm under no obligation to foot your bills!"

Rejected one time too many, Ezra flew into a temper.

"Millie, are you serious? Between us we've got over ten thousand a month in allowance. What's the big deal about putting three thousand toward a gaming laptop for your boyfriend?"

"You'll drop a thousand on a set of nails without blinking, but spending a little on me is too much? Do you have any conscience at all?"

His roommates' voices came through in the background:

"Millie, Ezra handed his whole ten-thousand allowance over to you, and all you care about is treating yourself? You shouldn't be so selfish."

"Right, we've all seen how he treats you. Good men like him are hard to come by. Don't be ungrateful."

Ezra handed his ten-thousand allowance over to me?

My whole sense of reality took another hit.

"Ezra, are you sick? When did you ever give me an allowance? You—"

Before I could finish, he launched right back into the act:

"Fine, fine. I get it, you suddenly came into all that money and you can't bear to let it go."

"Here's what we'll do. Count it as a loan from you. I'll pay you back next month when I get my allowance, and you can still manage the money, okay?"

My dad always said not to argue with a fool. It costs him nothing, and you're the only one who ends up mad.

Ezra was showing me the full diversity of the species. I couldn't be bothered to spar with him.

"No loan!"

Ezra went into a rage.

"Fine, Millie, you're really something!"

"It's just a little money. Don't you come crying about it later."

Then, not long after, Arlene let out a shout:

"Millie, check the campus forum, quick. Someone posted that there's a girl in the business school who's a vain, materialistic drama queen, that she conned her boyfriend out of his ten-thousand allowance while they were dating."

"Blowing it all in secret behind his back, getting thousand-dollar manicures for herself while she couldn't care less whether he lives or dies. Rotten character."

No name was given, but the major, the year, the details, every line of it pointed at me.

Ezra really was impressive. In a few sentences he'd cast himself as the devoted victim and smeared me into a gold-digging leech.

Within the hour, plenty of trash-talk showed up on social feeds and the campus anonymous board.

The comments were nothing but people cursing me out.

"Blowing her boyfriend's money while she won't part with a cent for him, how low can you get."

"I've seen this gold-digger around. Carries herself like some heiress, turns out she's a bloodsucking leech."

"Such a kind, generous guy, looked after her all through training season, and he ends up stuck with a gold-digger like that. Bad luck, man. Run, run fast before she drains you dry."

Arlene was frantic, spinning in circles.

"It has to be that scumbag Ezra who posted it, twisting everything, turning it back on you. So sickening, so vicious!"

"Millie, the tide's really turning against you. Clear your name, quick, and get Ezra socially ruined across the whole school!"