Chapter 3

As I was lost in thought, Vanessa, our other roommate, walked into the room and immediately pointed her finger at me.

"Mila, don't be so damn selfish!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

She scoffed righteously.

"Chloe treats you so well, and we all see it! We all live in the same suite. It’s just a trip to the clinic, and you won’t even do that? We really misjudged you!"

"If you're so generous, why don't you go with her?"

I let out a cold laugh.

"And while you're at it, why don't you pay for her surgery, her hospital bills, and her recovery food? We all live in the same suite, Vanessa. Surely you're not too selfish to help her out with that?"

Vanessa glared at me.

"Are you insane? What does her surgery have to do with me? Why the hell should I pay for her?"

"See? Nobody wants to help when it actually costs them something."

I shrugged at Chloe, whose expression was turning venomous.

"Mila, we’ve been roommates for two years. Are you really refusing to help me?"

Her tone made it sound like if I said "yes," she would pull out a knife and slash me right then and there.

I changed my tone, pretending to look troubled.

"It’s not that I don’t want to go, Chloe. I really don’t have the time. I'm competing in several academic contests this weekend to secure my early-admission grad school fellowship. I have to be at the labs all weekend..."

"Then tell the academic advisor you’re dropping out of the competition!"

Brianna, our fourth roommate, walked in and chimed in.

"Chloe's pregnancy is a major crisis! Are you seriously going to choose a stupid fellowship over helping your friend?"

"Wait, are you really pregnant?"

I feigned confusion.

"You haven't gained any weight, and you don’t have morning sickness at all. You look perfectly fine."

I gasped, pretending to have a sudden realization.

"Oh, I get it! You guys are just jealous of my grades and want to ruin my chances for the fellowship! You're making up this whole pregnancy thing just to force me to drop out!"

The three of them rolled their eyes in unison. Chloe stood up, snatched a positive pregnancy test from her drawer, and slammed it onto the desk.

"Mila, you have a seriously twisted mind! Why would I lie about being pregnant?"

I picked up the pregnancy test, turned it over with a look of disgust, and tossed it back.

"Please. You can buy a pack of thirty of these on Wish for five dollars. This proves nothing."

Vanessa couldn't take it anymore. She yanked open Chloe's drawer, pulled out an official medical report, and threw it in my face.

"Chloe went to the hospital last week! She's over three months pregnant! Everyone's body reacts differently. Who says every pregnant woman has to throw up and get fat?"

I picked up the report. While they weren't looking, I quickly took a clear photo of it with my phone. Then, I slowly sighed.

"Fine, I believe you. I'll go to Mr. Sterling's office right now and tell him I'm dropping out of the competition."

The three roommates let out a collective sigh of relief. They exchanged smug, victorious glances.

As soon as I stepped out of the dorm, I stopped the secret voice recording on my phone.

I used a burner account to add Tyler on Snapchat. Once he accepted, I sent him the photo of the medical report and the edited audio recording of our conversation.

A text popped up from him almost instantly: *Who is this? Is this a joke? Chloe and I have only been dating for four months, and we've only been sleeping together for two. How the hell is she three months pregnant?*

I smiled, left him on read, and blocked him immediately.