Chapter 3

I didn't sleep a wink that night, staring over and over at Mikael's texts as my fingernails dug deep into my palms.

Still, the next morning, I bit the bullet and clicked "Accept Offer" in the corporate email.

Then came the agonizing wait. One day. Two days. Three days...

There was zero advancement in the onboarding process, and my inbox remained as dead as a grave. By the fourth day, I couldn't take it anymore and dialed Karen.

"Hi, Karen, I wanted to follow up on my onboarding status..." I said, getting straight to the point.

"Megan?" Karen sounded perplexed on the line. "The position has already been filled. Didn't you know?"

My mind went blank. "Filled? How is it filled?"

"The company finalized the candidate selection. It's your roommate..." she replied honestly.

"On what grounds?" My voice shot up an octave in disbelief. "She hasn't even interned at the company for a single day! How on earth could you hire her?"

Karen let out a soft sigh. "Look, you two share a room, so your qualifications are probably comparable. Plus, health comes first. It's really not my call to make."

Before I could demand a clear explanation, my phone was snatched right out of my hand. Anna had crept up behind me without a sound. She offered a sickly sweet, syrupy giggle into the receiver.

"Hi, Karen! I'll report on time for my first day! Oh, don't mind my roommate. She's just having an emotional breakdown right now."

She hung up and tossed my phone back onto my lap. My body shook with rage. "Anna Whitman, what the hell did you do?"

She casually stroked a fresh coat of pinkish polish onto her fingernails. "I told Karen to hand that spot over to me. That's all."

"Who gave you the right?"

"Mikael is my boyfriend. What's wrong with a guy securing a job slot for his girl?"

Her audacity angered me so much that my vision went black. Before I could fire back, our dorm room door was pushed open.

A swarm of seven or eight girls barged inside; they were Anna's loyal clique.

Sierra Fernandez, the queen bee leading the pack, thrust her phone forward. Displayed on the screen was that photo taken outside Mikael's apartment.

I was standing by the door, looking agitated, while Anna leaned casually against the frame with a triumphant smirk.

"Look at this, everybody! Megan Kelly is shamelessly trying to seduce someone else's boyfriend! Stealing jobs, stealing men, and even stalking him at his door to throw a scene!"

Sierra blasted the photo into the class group chat and uploaded it simultaneously onto the campus confession board.

In less than half an hour, the comment section exploded into chaos.

[Megan Kelly? Isn't she that high-achiever who's always arguing with professors?]

[No wonder she got selected as an outstanding graduate. So, this is how she gets things done behind closed doors.]

[Disgusting! The school board should just expel her immediately.]

...

I clutched my phone, feeling a lump in my throat so thick I could barely breathe.

Two girls grabbed my arms while Sierra pinched my chin, her voice dripping with venomous mockery. "You think you can compete with Anna? Mikael is her man. Pulling strings for her job was literally a one-sentence deal.

"We gave you a chance to back off quietly, but since you won't take the hint, losing a job is going to be the least of your problems."

Bright red marks flared across my arms where they pinned me down. I endured the pain and yelled back at the top of my lungs.

"You nepo-babies have no shame! That job offer was earned through my hard work! I'm going straight to HR to clear this up! I don't believe for a second that they will hire a worthless fraud like her!"

Sierra glanced down at her phone and smirked, signaling the others to let go of my arms.

"Don't bother going to corporate just yet, Megan," she scoffed. "The University President wants to have a little chat with you in his office."

Throughout the ordeal, Anna stood behind them with a smug grin, even sticking her tongue out to make a face at me.

I unlocked my phone, and sure enough, the academic advisor had flooded my inbox with dozens of texts and missed calls.

The most recent text read: [Megan! The moment you read this, get over to the President's office!]

I had barely finished reading when his phone call came crashing through again. His furious voice erupted in my ear, loud enough to shatter my eardrums.

"Megan Kelly! What the hell are you doing?" Kyle Cain snapped. "Stirring up a massive scandal, ignoring my calls, and ignoring my texts! Get over to the President's office right now!"