Chapter 3

"You..." She pointed a trembling finger at me, choking on her own words because she knew she had no ground to stand on.

Slamming the door behind her, she stormed out.

From that day on, whenever she raised her voice on a call, I pointed the speaker directly at her bed and hit play.

Realizing she couldn't win, she stopped taking calls after lights-out altogether.

A week later, orientation finally wrapped up.

While we were all hanging out, Hailey excitedly shared some campus gossip. "Guys, listen to this. Someone told me that right before school started, some girl called 'Your Sweetest Little Freshman' posted over twenty thirst traps in the class group."

She pulled out her phone, scrolling through the chat history. "Look at this! You can tell she filtered this a million times. She stretched her legs until she looks seven feet tall! And she had the nerve to claim she didn't know how to edit! I'm dying!"

Chloe and I exchanged frantic glances, winking and coughing to get Hailey to shut her mouth.

Hailey had been working a full-time summer job right up until move-in, so she rarely checked her phone back then. She had no idea the girl in question was Zoey.

"What's wrong with your eyes? Are you guys having a stroke or something?" Hailey asked, completely oblivious.

Me: "..."

She was hopeless.

Hailey doubled over laughing. "Look at her face! She edited her chin into an absolute razor blade!"

Zoey shot up from her chair like a rocket. "Who gave you the right to judge other people? Are you insane?!"

Hailey jumped up right back, matching her energy. "That girl is totally fake and desperate for male validation! Why shouldn't I talk about it? Besides, what does it have to do with you? Mind your own business!"

Just then, Zoey's phone screen lit up on her desk.

Hailey caught a glimpse of the lock screen wallpaper. She froze, turning to me with wide eyes. "Wait... that's her?"

I gave her a slow nod. Hailey sank back into her chair and went completely mute.

To be fair, you couldn't really blame Hailey. Zoey's edits were so absurdly heavy that the photos looked nothing like her real face.

In reality, even wearing three-inch heels, Zoey barely scraped five-foot-seven. In those pictures, she looked like an Amazonian supermodel.

Later, Hailey tried to apologize, but Zoey refused to even look at her.

The next day, Zoey's package arrived: an extravagant, frilly princess bed canopy.

The thing was massive, spilling over onto my side of the bunk, covered in overflowing lace borders.

There was zero room left for me to hang my own privacy curtain.

Meanwhile, she was happily stringing it up, acting like everything was totally fine.

I kept my voice calm. "Your canopy is cute, but it's way too big. It's blocking my space. Want me to go with you to town to get it hemmed or exchanged?"

She acted like she didn't hear a word, continuing to fiddle with the lace.

After asking three times, it became obvious she was deliberately ignoring me.

I walked right up to her and raised my voice. "Zoey!"

She whipped around, glaring at me with sharp annoyance. "Are you crazy? Stop chirping in my ear! If you can't hang yours, then don't hang it. Knowing your taste, whatever you bought is probably hideous anyway. Don't bring down the aesthetic of our room."

Excuse me?

She took over my space, and now she was insulting my taste?

That was the absolute last straw.

I reached up and yanked down with all my strength. The cheap lace tore instantly.

With a loud snap, the entire canopy collapsed to the floor.