Chapter 4

By the time Nathan and I got back to the dorm, a crowd had already gathered.

Alicia was holding Esther back while their other roommate, Elaine Jones, did the same with Camille. Their hair was a mess, and they were still yelling at each other.

Camille was doing most of the yelling.

"Natalie's a shameless old hag! She knew Nathan was my boyfriend, but she still put on this whole poor-me act and cried in front of him. She was practically throwing herself at him!"

Esther's face was red with anger. She struggled against Alicia, trying to get at Camille again.

"That's bullshit! Nathan is the one who's into Natalie. Stop trying to blame everything on her!"

The resident director hurried in right behind us. It took a couple of warnings before Esther and Camille finally quieted down.

"It's your first day here, and you're already fighting? What happened?"

Esther started to answer, but Camille beat her to it. In an instant, she was acting like she was the one who'd been wronged.

"Ms. Scott, her cousin started it! She met my boyfriend once and immediately started hitting on him. I called her out on it, that's all."

Esther snapped, "That's all? You slapped me!"

I rushed over to Esther and whirled on Camille. "You hit her?"

The moment Esther saw me, she leaned into me, looking hurt and upset.

"Natalie, you're finally here. Look. She just hauled off and slapped me. I was so mad, I started yelling at her for what she said about you!"

I looked at Esther's face. A red mark stood out on her left cheek, and it was already starting to swell. My temper flared.

Ms. Scott frowned. "Camille, no matter what happened, hitting someone is never okay. According to school policy, I'm going to have to—"

Before she could finish, Nathan stepped out of the crowd and took Camille's side.

"Ms. Scott, this is all a misunderstanding. They're still young, and arguments happen. You don't have to punish her over one fight. Just have them apologize to each other and move on."

Ms. Scott hesitated. She clearly wasn't eager to discipline a student on the very first day.

"No! Esther got slapped. Camille doesn't get to say sorry and pretend that makes everything okay!"

Nathan clearly hadn't expected me to stand my ground. He turned to me, visibly annoyed.

"What do you want, then? Are you really going to push for Camille to be disciplined? She just started college. She's still young. And Esther doesn't even look like she was hit that hard."

That sent my temper through the roof.

"Her face is swollen. Are you blind? If getting slapped is no big deal, then have Camille come over here and let Esther slap her back!"

Nathan sighed and lowered his voice. "Nattie, can we please just talk this through? Do you have to be this hard on her?"

The second Camille heard the nickname, she got worked up all over again.

"Nattie? You call her Nattie? What exactly is going on between you two? Have you two been sneaking around behind my back?"

Camille came at me before anyone had time to react. Her palm cracked across my face.

My head snapped to the side, and my ears started ringing. Before I could recover from the blow, she started screaming at me.

"You bitch! How dare you try to steal Nathan? I'll kill you, you slut! Nathan, why are you stopping me? Say it in front of everyone! Who do you love more, me or her? Is Natalie the other woman or not?"

The commotion drew an even bigger crowd. Students packed the hallway, whispering among themselves. Some had already pulled out their phones to record.

Nathan still said nothing.

Camille snapped, "Well? Say something!"

Nathan glanced at me, guilt and apology written all over his face. There was something almost pleading in his eyes.

"I love you more. Natalie… she's the other woman."

The hallway erupted. Every eye in the crowd turned on me, full of judgment. Even Ms. Scott looked at Esther and me differently now.

Camille looked downright triumphant. "See? I told you. You both had it coming! Natalie's a shameless bitch who keeps going after someone else's boyfriend, and Esther's just as bad. She's nothing but a filthy—"

"Shut up!"

I'd heard enough. Right there in front of everyone, I reached into my bag, pulled out our marriage certificate, and unfolded it.

I held it up for everyone to see. Nathan's name and mine were printed clearly on the certificate, along with the date we'd gotten married and the official seal.

"Take a good look, Camille. Nathan and I have been married for three years. I'm not the other woman here. You are, and you should be ashamed of yourself!"