Price of Avarice

"Did you steal my thesis?"

Megan froze before slumping to the floor, landing hard on her backside. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed. "That's crossing the line, Nelly Sullivan! You can't slander me like this just because you didn't get recommended for grad school!"

People from the next dorm rooms poked their heads out, and more people gathered around. She sobbed as if she had suffered the greatest injustice in the world.

I stood there, unable to say a word.

In everyone else's eyes, I was just a lunatic who had lost her grad school recommendation and was jealous of her roommate.

Someone helped Megan up. As she walked past me, she lowered her voice and said, "You have no proof. What can you do?"

Half an hour later, the class group chat blew up.

She posted a three-thousand-word message, along with a photo of herself sitting on the floor crying. She accused me of cheating on exams, having a messy private life, and not deserving a grad school recommendation.

Hundreds of messages poured in, all of them blaming me.

I scrolled through them all, my fingers going cold.

I went to Fred, the student counselor, but all he did was sigh after hearing everything. "Nelly, Megan's family isn't well off. This recommendation means a lot to her. You have no proof, and making this any bigger won't help anyone. You're all classmates, so just let it go and try again next year."

Try again next year.

Those four words wiped out all my hard work.

When I returned to the dorm, Megan was holding the grad school recommendation letter and tossed it onto my desk on purpose. "What was the point of working so hard for three years? In the end, the spot is still mine."

Then, she picked up the coffee on my desk, tilted it, and spilled the whole cup on my pants. "Oops. My hand slipped."

She turned and walked away, her steps light.

Meanwhile, I lowered my head and watched the coffee stain spread. Then, I looked up and smiled.

The video camera in the corner of my desk was blinking red.

For three months, every frame it had recorded had been waiting for just the right moment.

Megan, you thought you had won, but the game has just begun.

After Megan got the grad school recommendation, she became a completely different person. No, it would be more accurate to say she finally showed her true colors.

Every day, she made calls in the dorm room on loudspeaker, loud enough for the whole floor to hear. "Honestly, getting the recommendation wasn't hard at all. I got in without having to put much effort into it. Of course, a bookworm like Nelly could never beat me."

Even with headphones on, I heard every word.

But things got even worse.

The National Innovation Contest's study materials I had spent half a year organizing disappeared from my desk. A few days later, I saw the stack on Megan's bookshelf with her name written across the cover in marker.