Chapter 3

Sienna was stunned by Jessica's sharp tone and didn't dare talk back. She muttered, "I just wanted to wake her up and see if she was asleep."

"Are you out of your mind? She's asleep, and you're going to wake her up? Do you even hear yourself? Why don't you just lift her eyelids and ask if she's sleeping?" Jessica impatiently shot back.

I almost burst out laughing at Jessica's words—but the feeling did not last.

Her words gave Sienna an idea, and she decided to climb up to my bunk to find out for sure if I was awake. Clearly, she wouldn't rest until she woke me up.

As soon as I saw Sienna stepping onto the ladder and poking her head through my bed curtains, I balled my fists and swung. "Grr, monster attack!"

My punch landed squarely on her nose.

Sienna yelped in pain and clutched her face. Upon losing her balance, she tumbled straight off the ladder.

Even with my headphones on, I could hear the loud thud of her hitting the floor. But still, I kept my eyes shut and pretended to be fast asleep.

After falling down, Sienna finally dropped the act. She stormed over and shook me awake. "Melissa, why did you hit me?"

I couldn't keep playing dead anymore, so I simply rubbed my eyes and blinked in confusion. "Huh? Did I hit you? When?"

Sienna clutched her nose. "You punched me in the nose! It hurts like hell. Don't you dare deny it!"

I looked even more confused. "I was asleep. How could I have hit you? And what are you doing, climbing into my bed in the middle of the night? Were you trying to…" I let the sentence trail off on purpose.

Whatever Sienna imagined made her jump back. She protested, saying, "Of course not! I just wanted to see if you were asleep! Who knew you'd attack me!"

I nodded seriously. "Next time, don't even think about waking me up. I don't sleep lightly, and this time I only punched you once. Who knows what could happen next time?

"But I'm a kind person. Since you woke me up just this once, I won't hold it against you." With that, I lay back down.

Meanwhile, Sienna sat on the floor, speechless and stunned.

Finally, fearing I would throw another punch, she sulked her way back to her bed.

That punch kept Sienna in line for a few days. At least, she'd stopped waking me in the middle of the night.

But I knew that she wouldn't stay quiet forever. She would definitely remember it. After all, living in that dorm meant no real peace.

The very next day, I went to the counselor, Gary Myers, to request a dorm change, hoping to move out as soon as possible. Given Sienna's level of absurdity, I assumed switching rooms would be simple. But as it turned out, I was overly optimistic.

"A dorm change? That's not going to work," Gary said. "Everyone has different personalities, so you need to learn to get along.

"Sienna hasn't really done anything bad. You're all classmates. Just be patient and talk things out. Besides, all the other dorms are full. Where would you even move to?

"You're in college now, so act a little more mature. Take my son, for example. He's studying in the Veyrion and sharing an apartment with strangers. At first, he wanted to move out too. But now, they all get along fine.

"If he can do it, why can't you?"

I rolled my eyes at Gary's pompous little speech. He clearly leaned on his PhD wife and loved bragging about having a highly educated spouse and a child studying abroad. Put nicely, he seemed relaxed and privileged. But put bluntly, he was just showing off.

Since changing dorms was out of the question, I sighed and left the office.