They Called Me The Manipulator

Diana won over Lucy and Stella almost instantly after she arrived with her pink suitcase, plying them with the imported snacks she had brought.

As Diana's gaze landed on the wall covered in award certificates, she asked casually, "I heard your dorm has always been ranked as outstanding, yes?"

"Yes!" Lucy beamed. "It's all thanks to our dorm leader, Yelena. She's so hardworking!"

Diana looked at me with a knowing smile upon hearing her words.

"I read in the student handbook that the dorm leader gets five extra points for public service when a dorm is named an Outstanding Dorm, and those count toward the graduate school recommendation score.

"Yelena, have you been dorm leader for two years because you knew about this policy all along?"

Stella immediately stopped eating her potato chips. "What are you saying?"

"You guys are so naive. Do you really think Yelena is doing all this out of kindness?" Diana swept her gaze across the room before fixing her eyes on me. "I can't even imagine how high her GPA is right now because of all those bonus points she got!"

I was about to explain when Diana cut me off, saying snootily, "Don't even bother saying otherwise. I know exactly what's going on."

Then, she pulled a freshly printed copy of the outstanding dorm selection rules from her bag and slapped it onto the shared desk. The clause about bonus points was heavily highlighted.

The room fell silent.

I was sitting on the lower bunk, so I saw just how Lucy and Stella's expressions shifted until they settled into anger.

"So, that's why you did it," Lucy sneered. "No wonder you've been so enthusiastic about cleaning up after us."

Stella tossed her snack bag onto the table. "To think we've been thanking you all this while, when in truth, you were just using us as stepping stones. Yelena, you're so manipulative!"

After I heard their scathing remarks, I tried to tell them they would be lying in a stinking pile of garbage for a whole week if I didn't clean up after them.

It wasn't like I didn't try to get everyone to pull their weight, but they always said they would help out but would refuse to lift a finger.

In the end, I couldn't stand it anymore. So, I had no choice but to do everything by myself.

However, I suddenly lost the urge to say any of those things when I caught sight of their smug faces, as if they'd finally seen me for my true colors.

"All right! We're all good friends here. Let's not fight. The past is in the past." Diana clapped her hands in satisfaction. "To make things fair, we'll take turns being dorm leaders starting today, except for Yelena! I'll make a new duty schedule so everyone has a chance to earn those bonus points!"

She then raised an eyebrow and looked at me, asking sweetly, "Yelena, you don't have a problem with that, do you?"

I didn't miss a beat in answering, "Sure. You made the schedule. I'm fine following it."

My swift agreement only served to further convince Lucy and Stella that I was guilty.