Chapter 4
Things got worse a week later.
One morning, my roommate was hunched over her phone, all secretive, stealing glances at me every so often.
"Emily, have you checked the campus forum?" one of my roommates suddenly asked, glee practically dripping from her voice.
I shook my head.
"You better check it out," she said, a weird grin on her face. "You're famous now."
My heart sank as I opened the campus forum.
The pinned post's title leapt out at me: [Digging Up the Truth About the Business School's Parasite.]
It had already racked up over ten thousand views and more than five hundred replies.
My fingers trembled as I clicked on it.
The post detailed how I "clung to Alex relentlessly" and "shamelessly" mooched off him.
Every detail was blown out of proportion, every action twisted into something ugly.
The post read: [According to someone in the know, Emily's been glued to Alex since high school.
[Every morning, she mooches his breakfast.
[During exams, she always sits near him. The intention is obvious.
[Rumor has it her family is dirt poor, and she only got into college because the Carters are bankrolling her.]
They even posted photos.
The first showed Alex and me eating together.
He had asked me to join him. The caption claimed I was freeloading.
The second showed Alex handing me breakfast.
I'd had a stomachache that morning, and he was worried that an empty stomach would only make it worse.
Yet the caption read: [The parasite is sucking Alex dry again.]
The third was from my job at the coffee shop, taken from a deliberately unflattering angle: me bent over, wiping down a table.
The caption said, [Look how pathetic she is, playing the pity card.]
Worst of all, people analyzed my so-called "scheming."
[Women like her are the worst. All innocent on the surface, pure poison underneath.]
[She's been riding Alex's coattails since day one. Gotta admire the hustle.]
Poor Alex. Stuck with a leech that won't let go.]
The comments were worse.
[Disgusting. Zero self-respect.]
[If I were her, I'd kill myself from shame.]
[Poor Alex, tangled up with a parasite.]
[Kick the parasite out of our school.]
[Expel her. She's morally bankrupt.]
Every comment was a blade, cutting deeper with each line.
What was even scarier was that people in the comments had started doxxing me.
Someone dug up my high school.
Someone else posted my home address.
Someone even found a photo of my grandma.
[So she's some stray with no parents.]
[No wonder she's got no shame. Didn't anyone teach her manners?]
[Poor Alex, stuck with someone like her.]
I went cold all over, my hands shaking as I dialed Alex.
The phone rang for ages before he picked up.
"Alex, did you see the post on the forum?" I asked, my voice shaking.
"I saw it." His voice was so calm that it chilled me.
"Aren't you going to say anything?"
"What do you want me to say?" Impatience edged into his voice.
"Help me clear this up. Tell everyone I never took your money, that we're childhood friends—" I was practically begging.
"Emily." Alex cut me off, weariness in his voice. "Do you honestly think anyone would believe me if I spoke up now?
"They'd only think you put me up to it."
"But it's the truth."
"The truth?" Alex gave a cold laugh. "The truth is, you do follow me around every day, and you do use my stuff.
"I can't control what people think."
I gripped my phone tighter. "So you're going to let them humiliate me?"
"It's not humiliation. It's a post, that's all," Alex said, his tone so light, like this really was nothing.
"Give it some time, and it'll die down. It's the internet. Why take it so seriously?
"Besides, if I step in now, I'll only make things worse.
"Lay low for a while."
Then he hung up.
I stared blankly at the phone screen.
The screen slowly went dark, reflecting my pale face.
So in Alex's heart, my reputation and my dignity were not worth a single word.
So this so-called childhood friendship was really this cheap.
My heart was like dead ashes.
Now I finally understood the phrase.
Not heartache, not heartbreak.
My whole heart was dead and turned to ash.
One gust of wind, and it would scatter.