Mag-log inA message popped up out of nowhere in the old classmates' group chat. It was from Megan Watson, the class rep. Megan: [Let's get together next week at the Windsor Grand, since that's Rachel's family's place.] Megan: [I'll cover two hundred dollars and treat everyone to dinner, then we can all stay the night after!] Someone replied right away. [The Windsor Grand is Rachel's family's hotel? Then I want the best room there!] I hurried to explain. My family just ran a little diner selling sandwiches and soup. I only worked at the Windsor Grand. Megan sent back a rolling-eyes sticker, dead set on the idea that I was lying. That night, she started a sign-up thread in the chat. Megan: [I'm treating everyone this Saturday. Dinner, then a night's stay after. If you've got the time, reply and sign up!] The chat erupted in cheers. Somehow, all fifty-something people in the class signed up. [I've never stayed in a five-star hotel before. Thanks to Megan, I'm finally going to see how the other half lives!] [I want lobster!] [I'm bringing my wife and kids!] Megan confirmed everyone one by one, dropped the address in the chat, and sent me two hundred dollars. Megan: [Rachel, hang onto that. Have the staff get the rooms ready. Don't shortchange your old classmates.] I laughed. A single night at the Windsor Grand ran a few thousand dollars at the very least, and that was before accounting for the fifty-odd guests headed our way. The boss used to run with a rough crowd, and his temper was harder than his net worth. The last person who'd tried to freeload off him was still lying in a hospital bed.
view moreIt wasn't good news. The night Megan signed her payment plan, someone had secretly snapped a photo of her and posted it online, captioned "This is what happens when a class rep fakes being rich." It had been shared more than ten thousand times by morning.Megan's workplace got dug up and exposed. She worked in administration at a small company, and her boss called her in for a talk the same day the story broke, delicately putting it as "damage to the company's image." Megan quit that same afternoon.Sandra had it worse. She'd gotten into an argument with someone online, saying, "I never thought it would be that expensive," and someone screenshotted it and passed it around. The comments underneath were nothing but people tearing into her. A client from her company saw it and called to ask if she was the "tripled the seafood order" woman from the Windsor Grand scandal. She didn't go into work the next day. I heard she spent two days at home crying.Todd's line, "one room to chan
Sandra was gasping for breath, her chest heaving, still cursing under her breath, "Playing the innocent, huh? Two hundred dollars! You'd be a laughingstock if word got out!"Megan lifted her face, and her eyes had suddenly gone cold. "Me, putting on an act?" She laughed once. "Then go throw up all that lobster and king crab you ate yesterday. Go on, throw up every last bite!"Sandra choked on her next words.Megan slowly got to her feet, smoothed her hair back, and turned to look at me. "Rachel, you win. You kept quiet on purpose. You've been watching this whole thing like a joke from the start.""Believe whatever you want. Either way, I wasn't the one ordering yesterday. I didn't touch a single thing you all ordered," I said.She took a deep breath and walked up to the manager. "I want to see your boss."A while later, Megan came back. "I signed a payment plan. Five years to pay it off. Thirty-three thousand dollars a month."The lobby fell dead silent.Todd was the first to s
Todd's phone suddenly rang. He picked it up, and his face changed color. "Mom? How did you already find out about this..."Sandra's phone started ringing too, and so did Victoria's. Some bystander who'd been watching the whole scene must have filmed it and posted it online. The video spread like wildfire, across social feeds, local forums, everywhere. "Windsor Grand's Two-Million-Dollar Bill" was trending.Todd hung up, his face gone white as paper.Victoria covered her face and sank to the ground. "It's over. Now everyone knows..."Megan slowly got to her feet. Her makeup had smeared into a mess across her face, a few loose strands of hair hanging over her eyes. She stared straight at me, and something in her expression had shifted, from the pleading of a moment ago into something I couldn't quite name, something that looked like equal parts hatred and despair."Rachel," she said, her voice hoarse, "were you waiting for this day to come?"I didn't say anything.She suddenly
"You didn't think to mention the caviar was expensive when you were scooping it out? Three whole tins!""How was I supposed to know it cost that much?!"They started arguing right there in the lobby of the Windsor Grand, their voices climbing higher and higher, each one jabbing a finger in the other's face.Brett's dog cowered under the sofa, tail tucked between its legs.The young clerk at the front desk crouched behind the counter, gathering up the scattered receipts and stacking them one by one. I went over to help her. She looked up at me and said quietly, "Rachel, these people are really your old classmates?""Yeah. From high school.""Then how..." She didn't finish the thought, just shook her head.I handed her the last stack of receipts and stood back up.Megan was pinned between Sandra and Victoria, both of them snapping at her, their voices climbing shriller by the second."You're the one who organized all this! You said two hundred dollars would cover it!""And yo












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