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Chapter 4

مؤلف: Serene Grace
“So you’ve been full of it this whole time?”

Conrad was there to back Shane up.

“Sounds about right. A tube of thermal paste for three hundred bucks? It just doesn’t make sense. Mickey’s family owns a tech shop, and he said even the best stuff is less than ten bucks.”

I took a deep breath as the crowd surrounded me.

“You’re free to believe whatever you want.

“I’ve got places to be. Excuse me.”

“It’s not that we don’t believe you.”

Shane stood up and approached me.

“You’re just shady.

“We’ve been buddies for three years. Is this how you treat your friends?”

I looked at him, silently scoffing at the absurdity of it all.

“What did I ever do to you guys?”

“You made money off us.”

“I didn’t take a single penny from you.”

“Don’t energy drinks cost money?”

Shane’s voice boomed.

“How many energy drinks have you gotten from us over the last three years? It has to be more than a hundred. That’s over a thousand dollars right there!”

Gasps filled the room.

“More than a thousand? That’s a lot.”

“It was just computer repairs. Was he seriously charging so much?”

“He has some nerve to claim to pocket nothing.”

Voices rose around me.

I clenched my fists.

“What do you think is a fair price to fix a computer?”

Shane shrugged shamelessly.

“I wouldn’t know that, but Mickey said he only charges a single can for a dust clean and thermal paste change.”

“So a few dollars then?”

“That’s right.”

I nearly laughed at how clueless they were.

“Do you even know how much repair shops charge fifty dollars just to take a device apart?”

“Well, that’s a shop.”

Shane grew annoyed.

“We’re not at a shop. We’re friends. You shouldn’t have taken money from us.”

“I never took your money.”

“You accept the drinks!”

“You pushed them on me!”

“You could’ve turned them down!” Shane shouted, his finger shoved in my face.

“Why did you say no? You were just greedy!”

The accusation hit me hard.

I tried to refute. My lips parted, but no words came out.

My mind wandered back to what Troy had said.

“You should’ve turned them down. It’s not exactly a favor once there’s an exchange.”

As it turned out, I was supposed to decline right from the start.

All the work I had done was suddenly being reduced to greed just because I accepted those energy drinks.

“Fine.”

I bobbed my head.

“My mistake.”

I turned on my heel to walk away, only for the crowd to block me in.

Shane shouted in the back, “Axis, if you have any decency left in you, you should give us back the cash for the energy drinks!”

I stopped and looked back at him.

“Shane, I fixed your laptop more than fifteen times, and each repair took at least two hours. All you gave me was a few drinks.

“If you really think those drinks covered everything I did, fine. I’ll pay you back.”

I pulled out my phone and opened my payment app.

“But I want all the data I recovered for you back.”

Shane grimaced.

“What data?”

“Your first draft of your thesis disappeared because of a virus. I spent hours recovering it from your drive.

“That internship resume of yours? You came to me to rewrite and polish it.

“I was the one who restored all the photos you deleted by accident.

“You can hand them all back.”

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  • No More Free Fixes   Chapter 11

    Shane shuddered. “You also told me to pay you back for all the energy drinks you’ve bought me.“You mentioned that I deserved to be isolated.“You even said—” “I get it!” Shane covered his face and broke down. “I get it…. I know I messed up… I made a mistake…” “So what if you know you’re wrong?” I stared him down. “When you treated me like your personal IT guy, did you ever think this day would come?“When you stood with Mickey and tore me down, did you ever think things would come to this?“When I had to sit all alone in the cafeteria, class, and dorm, did you ever imagine we’d end up here?” Shane shivered from head to toe, unable to get a word out. “Now that you’re getting held back, you suddenly remember I exist? “Well, it’s too late.” I grabbed my suitcase, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and held my toolbox before heading out the door. “Axis!” Shane shouted behind me. “Where will you go now?” “To the Big Apple.” “C-Can we still be friends?”

  • No More Free Fixes   Chapter 10

    No one gave Mickey the time of day. Some people clicked their tongues at him in disdain. “Serves you right!” “He should get three years minimum. Even better if they throw away the key!” “He shouldn’t be allowed out in society to ruin lives. “ Even as the campus security shoved him into the back of the car, Mickey continued to wail hysterically. “I don’t want to go to jail… My whole life is ahead of me… Please…” The car door slammed shut, and the vehicle drove away. Shane stood among the crowd, watching the campus security car disappear into the distance. Out of nowhere, he slumped to the floor, buried his face in his hands, and sobbed. “How could I be so blind…” Conrad and Rafe joined him as they held onto one another, crying in turmoil. The other victims went on their way. Some went to speak with their advisors about rescheduling their presentations, while others returned to their dorms to pack their belongings. A few sat by the curb, at a loss for what to do.

  • No More Free Fixes   Chapter 9

    More and more people gathered to watch, but no one stepped in to break up the fight. After all, the group wasn’t the only victim. “Mickey worked on my laptop, and since then, I haven’t been able to turn it on!” “The heatsink he gave me was a fake! It overheated my CPU!” “He’s a scammer! I paid him a few hundred to swap out my motherboard, but he slapped in a used capacitor that blew up within a couple of days!” “I bought three brand-new PCs from him under the promise that they were authentic. All he gave me was refurbished junk. He ripped me off for over two grand.” The crowd was whipped into a frenzy, their screams echoing through the air.Bruised and battered, Mickey recoiled on the floor, still trying to defend himself. “I-I didn’t mean to. I thought those parts would work fine…” “Work fine, my foot!” Shane yanked him off his feet and pinned him against the wall. “Be straight with us. Do you have any idea how to fix computers?” Mickey shook violently, his lip

  • No More Free Fixes   Chapter 8

    “Same here! My computer was working fine last night.” “It has to be Mickey! He has done something!” The screams were louder, but no amount of shouting could change the reality of the situation. All the laptops were broken, data was lost, and presentations were gone. The students missed their presentation slots. The supervising instructor sighed. “You’ll have to do a makeup capstone presentation. The committee’s schedule is already full for this academic year, so you’ll need to present again next year.”“Next year?” “That means we have to stay another semester!” Some burst into tears right there and then. Shane’s knees buckled under him, and he collapsed onto the floor. Conrad held his overheated computer, his expression stunned. Rafe cowered in a corner with his arms over his head, his shoulders shuddering. I was unfazed by it all. These people had once ganged up on me, shunned me, and mocked me because of Mickey. Now, they were reaping what they had sown.

  • No More Free Fixes   Chapter 7

    “That’s enough.” I cut Shane off.Shane snapped his head up, his eyes reflecting hope. “So you’re going to help us?” I shook my head. Giving him a look, I gestured for Shane to turn to the supervising instructor standing by the door. “It’s my turn to present. You’re in my way.” The anticipation on his face shattered. “You can’t do this, Axis!” “Axis, we’re all in the same class!” “Don’t go, Axis…”The students behind me wailed in despair. With my laptop in hand, I walked toward the presentation room in confidence. They got what was coming. …The presentation went well. From pitching the project to the mid-semester checkpoint and the final presentation, every part of my capstone was my own work. I wrote every line of code, every page of documentation, and ran every experiment myself until the data was solid. The panel of faculty flipped through my papers, nodding in approval. “Axis, the technical depth of this project is what I'd expect from a master’s

  • No More Free Fixes   Chapter 6

    The crowd whispered among themselves. “So that’s the guy?” “I heard he scammed his roommates out of a lot of money.” “Tsk. I can’t believe he goes to school with us.” I balled my fists, then released my grip. Graduation was just around the corner. It wasn’t worth getting held back a year just because of those people. I quickened my pace and walked away. … In the days that followed, I was ostracized by the class. No one spoke to me, ate with me, or worked with me on a group assignment. Even the professors looked at me differently after hearing that I had supposedly ripped off my friends. I went to class, the cafeteria, and back to the dorm all on my own. For more than six months, I kept to myself and put my energy into preparing for my capstone presentation. On the day of my final presentation, I sauntered into the room and saw Shane, Conrad, and Rafe sitting in the front row. Their laptops lay open in front of them. However, their expressions looked off

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