Chapter 3

I took a photo of my dirty blanket on the floor and sent it to the dorm group chat.

I wrote, "Ms. Mercer, someone threw my bedding to the floor."

In less than two minutes, Eloise came upstairs. "What's going on here? Who messed up their roommate's bed like this? Haven't you read the student handbook?"

Keith hadn't expected me to get Eloise involved. He froze for a moment before putting on a pitiful expression.

He explained, "Ms. Mercer, it was Zachary who started it. He turned off the AC in the middle of the night yesterday and almost made me melt from the heat. Today, he even went to complain to Mr. Hutton, which led to Ms. Ziegler getting admonished. I was just upholding justice!"

Eloise frowned hard and cut him off, saying, "What justice are you talking about? How can you have the AC set so low? Aren't you afraid of getting sick? It's good to turn it off for a while. Also, you were the one shouting in the middle of the night. Why was he made to write a self-reflection essay instead?"

Seeing that Eloise wasn't taking his side, Keith got anxious.

He argued, "I have a special constitution. I can only stay in environments below 50°F all year round, or I'll melt from the heat. Ms. Ziegler knows that too. Zachary is out to get me. He's trying to harm me by subjecting me to heat. Why are you siding with him?"

The dumbfounded Eloise stared at him helplessly. "Are you here to study or to fool around? Why do you sound so weird? Cut the nonsense! You dirtying your dormmate's bedding is a fact. Hurry up and clean it for him.

"From now on, don't set the AC to such a low temperature. Learn to conserve energy, understand?"

Under Eloise's stern gaze, Keith had no choice but to clean up my bed reluctantly.

I thought he would at least behave himself for a few days. But after I went out to grab a meal, I came back to find my bedding soaked. And with the cold air from the AC blowing on it, it had turned stiff and icy.

Keith looked at me smugly. "Ms. Mercer told me to clean it for you, so I did. No need to thank me."

I suppressed the urge to punch him. Left with no choice, I washed my bedding all over again.

But after that, my bedding would mysteriously get wet every so often. Even when Eloise came, it didn't help. Keith would politely say he was just helping me wash it and had simply forgotten to dry it.

He didn't stop at that. In his live stream, he even hinted that Eloise and I had something going on. He accused us of colluding to make his life hard.

Keith ranted, "I just need to use the AC because of my condition. What did I do wrong? Why are they bullying me? And who knows what he offered to the dorm supervisor to make her side with him?"

His fans couldn't stand seeing their darling being wronged. So, they started insulting both Eloise and me without even getting the facts straight. Some went so far as to dig up Eloise's photo to file complaints at our college's official website.

"This is the person making things hard for the students. She even refused to let them use the AC. That's outrageous!"

"She's just a dorm supervisor. What right does she have to make one student wash another student's bedding? Isn't this bullying?"

"People like her don't deserve to work at an educational institution. Kick her out!"

Feeling pressured, the school had no choice but to transfer Eloise to logistics. The new dorm supervisor, Fiona Perry, didn't dare to get involved in our squabble anymore.

I had run out of options. So, I went to Yara to request switching to another dorm room, but there was no response from her even after some time had passed.

It wasn't until I saw Keith using my application form as a placemat for his takeout that I realized Yara had never intended to help me.

Keith glanced at me smugly. "You brought this onto yourself, Zachary. After you found out that you can't beat me, you want to switch to another room? There's no way I'm letting you off so easily. This is college and not your home. Enjoy your miserable life here."

After saying that, he pretended his hand slipped and poured the remaining soup from his takeout all over the floor by my feet.

He jeered, "Oops, sorry! That wasn't on purpose. Why don't you go ask the new dorm supervisor to help you? But with what happened before, I doubt they'll dare to get involved in your business this time.

I had completely run out of ideas. I was about to post a plea for help on the college confessions page when I noticed a new post.

"My roommates are super wasteful. They use running water to wash their hair and even shower every day. I only shower once a week. With just the water needed to dampen a single face towel, I can clean myself from head to toe.

"What's worse is that they want to kick me out now because I made an itemized bill to share all expenses evenly. They're so shameless! They just want to take advantage of me. I'm currently looking for a great dorm to take me in."

The attached itemized bill listed the rules that his roommates had to follow in detail.

It stated clearly, "1. Each person is limited to 34 ounces of water per day for washing their face and showering. Any extra must be paid at two dollars per ounce to the other roommates.

"2. Anyone who needs to use the AC must pay one dollar per minute for electricity and 50 cents per minute as cold-resistance fees for making others consume more energy to resist the cold.

"3. Lights can only be turned on when everyone is in the dorm. Otherwise, the user must pay one dollar per minute for electricity.

"4. Personal electrical appliances cannot be used freely. Otherwise, the user must pay one dollar per minute for electricity and 50 cents per minute as usage fees."

My eyes lit up instantly.

He was the one I needed!