Chapter 4

Henry went to the advisor and wanted to get Lucy approved to move off campus.

He'd already rented a place nearby, all set up for her.

He didn't really have much going on—spent his days gaming and just hung around until Lucy came back to make dinner.

If he ran out of cash, he'd ask his parents for more.

That day, I happened to swing by the advisor's office to hand in some paperwork and saw the whole thing play out.

The advisor's brows knitted together when she heard Henry's request.

"Here's the deal," she said, "we require a parent to live with the student off campus and sign the papers."

Henry's eyebrows drew together, irritation bubbling up inside him.

"I'm her husband. Can't I sign it?" he asked.

The advisor flinched, clearly startled. "Do you two have a marriage certificate?"

"No," Henry shot back, "but that's easy. We can always go grab one."

Henry let out an annoyed sigh. "Fine, I'll just get her parents over here to sign everything."

"If that's too much trouble, then whatever. She can just quit college for all I care," Henry added, sounding completely indifferent.

As soon as the words left his mouth, I saw Lucy's whole body start to shake.

The advisor finally talked Henry into leaving and then stuck around and had a long heart-to-heart with Lucy.

That same day, our class had a meeting.

Lucy was at the podium, crying so hard she was almost gasping for air.

"Please, help me," Lucy sobbed. "I don't want to be forced out of college. I don't want to be forced into marriage. I just want to study, to build a bright future for myself, and to work.

"My family is very poor. They won't let me keep studying. They want to marry me off to some thug from the streets. When he gets drunk, he hits me. He wants me to quit too."

Still crying, Lucy slipped off her jacket and exposed her arms and shoulders, covered in fresh and fading bruises.

"I just want to be a regular student, to study side by side with all of you," Lucy sobbed.

The girls in our college truly had hearts of gold.

Seeing all those bruises on Lucy hit everyone like a punch to the gut.

As soon as they heard what she'd been through, everyone was talking at once, eager to help her out.

In the end, the class organized a donation for Lucy, so she wouldn't have to depend on her family and could finally focus on her studies.

I couldn't help but speak up. "If things are tough at home, the college has grants you can apply for. If your grades are good, you could even get scholarships. And if none of that works out, you can always take out a student loan and pay it off after you graduate."

Lucy looked at me, her lips trembling as if she wanted to say something, but tears streamed down her face.

"I know you guys don't really like me," Lucy whispered, barely holding it together. "It's my own fault for not trying harder to escape this family. I'm just too poor. I don't deserve to be in the same class as you."

She lowered her head, stubbornly refusing to let anyone see her tears.

It honestly broke a lot of our hearts.

Seeing Lucy so distressed, someone finally stepped up and said, "If you're not going to help, then at least keep the snarky comments to yourself."

These classmates reminded me of how passionate and willing to help we used to be back in the day.

I stopped trying to argue. I knew it was pointless to convince them otherwise.

All I could do was suggest. "You guys should spread out the donations, so she really puts it all toward her studies. No point in going through all this if your help gets wasted."

None of us in my dorm pitched in.

But Lucy snapped, her voice trembling with anger. "I know you guys can't stand me. But please, stop judging the people who are actually helping me.

"I know everyone's just trying to help me, and trust me, I'll make sure every cent goes to my education."

With Lucy's promise, the class sent all 15,000 dollars straight to her account.

Since we didn't donate and kept our distance from Lucy, the rest of the class started giving us some pretty weird looks.

But Whitney and Sherry were way too carefree, completely wrapped up in their dance sessions to care about any of it.

Once the class learned about Lucy's situation, everyone started helping her by finding good part-time jobs for her.

But most of the time, Lucy would only go to the job once and then never return.

After trying a few gigs, she stopped even looking at new opportunities.

The classmates who introduced her to those jobs were starting to get quietly annoyed.

I overheard Lucy griping to Henry over the phone when no one else was around.

"I really thought they were hooking me up with some amazing jobs," Lucy snarked. "Turns out, it's barely any money and way too much work. I'm a college student. Do they really expect me to wear myself out for a few lousy bucks? That's not happening.

"Honestly, it's just funny. They actually think I should be falling over myself with gratitude because they handed me a little money. So, babe, when's our wedding happening?

"First thing, I'm buying myself a wedding dress with the money, and if there's any left, I'll get you the latest iPhone. Ugh, they're seriously stingy. All those people and just 15,000 dollars? I can't even get a halfway decent dress."

I whipped out my phone and recorded the whole thing.