Roommate Stole My Card for Group Gifts; Froze It, She Cried

1: 1

The roommate who used to argue over a single cent when we split a group dinner was suddenly blasting huge cash gifts into the freshman chat.

Before I could even process it, Hester Pruitt posted another announcement in the group:

Tomorrow night I'm dropping ten cash gifts of three hundred each. Get ready, everyone!

Right then, the student I sponsored messaged me:

"Sis, could you transfer three thousand to the card? I want to buy a laptop tomorrow."

I stared at that message, and the longer I looked, the more wrong it felt.

I quickly pulled up the transaction history on the supplementary card.

Every single amount Hester had just given out matched, to the dollar, the amounts deducted from my supplementary card.

I tested the waters with a reply to the student I sponsored:

"Three thousand's too little. Let me send you thirty."

...

The moment the message went out, my hands started shaking and I couldn't stop them.

I switched back to the freshman chat. Hester was in there showing off like crazy.

"After training wraps tomorrow, on top of the three-thousand cash gifts, I'm buying bubble tea for every freshman. A thousand cups, plenty for everyone!"

"A thousand cups? You're so generous, that's fifteen grand right out the window!"

"Your family must be loaded, a total heiress!"

"I'm linking myself to Hester right now. Feed me long-term, please!"

"We have to nominate Hester as this year's campus queen!"

Hester replied to every single person.

Lottie Finch leaned half her body down from the top bunk and asked, low:

"A thousand-plus cups of bubble tea, that's over ten grand. You sure you want to treat?"

Hester didn't even turn her head. She answered offhand:

"What's there to be scared of? My parents are wiring me thirty grand in living expenses tomorrow, and our family's still the richest in Larkvale. This is nothing."

Lottie gasped. "So you're the richest in the village. No wonder you can throw money around like this!"

Hester said mildly, "I just don't like flaunting it everywhere."

I'd just told the student I sponsored I'd transfer thirty thousand, and she turned around and said her family was giving her thirty thousand in living expenses. The timing lined up exactly.

I fixed my eyes on Hester's back, the anger shooting straight to the top of my head.

The student I sponsored was named Zoe White.

Wait. What?

A second ago Hester said she was from Larkvale, and the student I sponsored, Zoe White, was from Larkvale too.

Either Zoe White and Hester were the same person, one girl playing two roles, scamming my sponsorship on one side while playing the innocent roommate on the other.

Or someone had quietly swapped out the sponsored student, rerouting my supplementary card to Hester, and the real Zoe White had never gotten a single cent from start to finish.

Hester was still bragging to the roommates, completely unaware she'd let her cover slip.

Alberta Lambert sidled over. "Guess we had you all wrong before. We thought you were pretty stingy."

Hester smiled and shot a glance my way. "I just keep a low profile. Not like some people who love to put on a show."

A few of them turned their heads to look at me at the same time.

I gripped my phone, forced the anger back down, and didn't lift my head to answer them.

I wanted to see exactly what she was going to use to hand out cash and buy bubble tea tomorrow.

Early the next morning, Hester went out.

She'd placed the order for a thousand cups of bubble tea a day in advance. The shop had them all made, just waiting for her to come in, settle the bill, and take them.

2: 2

Eight o'clock, and the freshman chat was already scrolling nonstop.

"Hester, when's the bubble tea getting here? We were out in the sun all morning at training, we're dying of thirst!"

Hester replied: "Heading to the shop right now to pay and grab it."

She rounded up a dozen or so classmates to help carry the drinks, and the whole crowd marched off toward the bubble tea shop by the South Gate.

Hester walked up to the counter, slapped her bank card down hard, and announced:

"I ordered a thousand bubble teas yesterday. Run it on this card."

The clerk took it and swiped. The machine beeped twice, and red letters flashed up on the screen.

"Insufficient balance."

The smile froze on Hester's face. She pushed through it anyway.

"That's impossible. I've got thirty grand on that card. Swipe it again! My family's the richest in our whole village, there's no way it's empty!"

The clerk swiped again. Same warning tone.

"There's really nothing there."

The clerk pushed the card back.

"This batch is already made, we can't cancel it. Please pay soon."

The students lined up waiting for their drinks started murmuring to each other.

Somebody muttered under their breath:

"What's going on? Talked such a big game yesterday, and today she can't come up with the money?"

Someone else said quietly:

"Said her family's the richest in the village too. She wasn't just making that up, was she?"

Hester's whole face went red.

"That's impossible! My family said yesterday they'd wire me thirty grand! It's this junk machine of yours acting up, it has to be!"

The clerk's face darkened. "The machine's fine. Maybe your family just hasn't sent the money yet."

Hester panicked on the spot, head down, thumbing out messages like mad.

My phone buzzed several times in a row.

"Pat, when are you sending the money?"

"Pat? The money hasn't come through, and I really need it right now."

"Pat, please just answer me? I'm waiting here to pay."

I didn't reply to a single one.

I wanted to see exactly how she was going to get herself out of this today.

A moment later my phone was buzzing frantically again. The dorm chat this time.

Hester was spamming @everyone:

"Somebody check if Pat's around, tell her to look at her phone!"

"Lottie, go call her, quick!"

"Alberta, give her a poke!"

"Get her to check her phone, I'm freaking out over here!"

"I don't even know what bubble tea Pat likes, tell her to message me."

The messages flooded in one after another. Lottie looked up at me, and I just shook my head, telling her to leave it alone.

Lottie looked back down and typed something to fob Hester off.

I stared at the chat log. She kept prodding people to make me check my phone. Did she somehow know I was her sponsor?

But the village council had made it clear from the start that the sponsor stayed anonymous the whole way through.

Before I could work it out, another message from Hester popped up:

"A student who says Pat's the one sponsoring her just called me. Says she can't reach Pat and needs the money urgently."

"Pat, you sponsor someone and then just ignore her? That's pretty irresponsible, isn't it?"

3: 3

Those two lines settled it. She knew.

From the first day she moved into the dorm, she'd known I was the anonymous donor.

The donor's identity was kept strictly confidential. If she'd gotten hold of it, her family had to be tangled up with the village council. Odds were they'd worked it out ahead of time, swapped the scholarship slot, and reeled in my money.

I typed back with a cold little smile:

"Miss Pruitt, always going on about how rich your family is. If you're so capable, then go sponsor her yourself."

"It's only a few cups of bubble tea. Pocket change for someone like you."

The message sent. Nothing came back for a long while.

I opened my banking app, found the supplementary card, and hit report lost and freeze without a second's hesitation.

Then I flipped my phone face-down on the desk. Let's see how she talks her way out of this one.

Back at the bubble tea shop, the clerk ran the card a fourth time, and the machine beeped again with the same failed transaction.

The clerk slapped the card back onto the counter, done with her.

"Your card won't go through."

Hester's face flushed scarlet in an instant.

"That's impossible! Run it again!"

The clerk had no patience left.

"I could run it a hundred times and there's still no money. All thousand cups are made. Are you paying today or not?"

The owner came out from the back, took one look at the counter buried in cups, and his expression soured.

"Miss, a thousand cups isn't cheap. We prepped the whole order for you. If you can't pay, who covers our loss?"

Hester's lips wouldn't stop trembling, every ounce of nerve gone. "My family's transferring me the money any second. Just wait a little longer."

The clerk wasn't about to burn the day on her. He stepped forward and yanked the shutter down.

The dozen or so students who'd come along to help Hester carry the drinks all panicked, frozen where they stood, afraid to move.

One of them muttered, "What's going on? Why'd they just lock up?"

The clerk planted himself at the door, arms crossed, blocking the way.

"The bill isn't settled. Nobody leaves."

The students traded looks. Someone pulled out a phone, snapped a photo of the shuttered door, and posted it straight to the freshman group chat.

"We're being held at the bubble tea shop. They've locked the door and won't let us out!"

The chat blew up instantly, messages flooding in one after another.

"What happened? Weren't you all just picking up drinks?"

"Don't tell me Hester can't cover the bill?"

"Yesterday she was bragging her family's the richest in the village, and today she can't scrape together fifteen grand in bubble tea money?"

"So the three grand in cash gifts and the thousand cups were all just talk?"

The uglier the guesses got, the faster they spread. The moment the counselor saw the messages, she @'d our whole dorm in the class group chat:

"Everyone in your dorm, get to the bubble tea shop right now and see what's going on."

I pocketed my phone and stood up.

Lottie Finch, Alberta Lambert, and my other two roommates stood up too.

I pulled the dorm door open and headed out, the four of them trailing silently behind me.

4: 4

The South Gate bubble tea shop was locked up tight, a whole crowd of people penned inside.

Hester was probably in there right now throwing a fit at the staff. I picked up my pace. It was time to settle the whole account with her.

I pushed the shop door open. Hester was planted at the counter, arguing at the top of her lungs with the clerk.

The clerk's voice was pitched high:

"How many times have I run the card? It just won't go through. Are you flat-out messing with us?"

Hester had gone red all the way down to her neck, shouting in a panic:

"My family's transferring the money any second! Would it kill you to wait a little longer?"

She turned, saw us come in, and instantly shoved past the clerk to rush over, grabbing Lottie's hand in a grip.

"You're finally here! This guy keeps insisting I'm trying to stiff him. It's such a small amount, how could I possibly not be able to pay it?"

I leaned against the door frame and coldly watched her perform.

"If you've got the money, just settle the bill," I said, unhurried.

Hester bit her lip, her voice dropping at once.

"The transfer from my family's going to be a little late"

She let go of Lottie and looked from one roommate to the next.

"Whoever's got some cash, spot me for now. I'll pay you back in full tonight, I promise!"

Lottie edged back.

"I've only got eight hundred left for the month. That won't stretch to the end of it. Can't lend it."

Alberta shook her head flat out.

"Just topped up my meal card. There's not a cent to spare in my account."

Cammie backed up two steps too. "Don't look at me. You know how things are at home."

Hester's eyes locked onto me last, her voice going hoarse.

"Pat, out of the whole dorm you're the best off. Just cover me for the emergency. I swear I'll pay you back right away."

I looked at her and let a small, cold smile pull at my mouth.

"Can't lend it."

"I just transferred thirty thousand to the student I sponsor. I don't have any spare cash on hand."

The moment she heard that, Hester's eyes lit up.

She swallowed, and her tone hardened in an instant. "Forget it then. What's with the attitude? It's not like I can't come up with the money."

With that she wheeled around to the counter, snatched up her bank card, and shoved it eagerly under the clerk's nose.

"Run it again! My parents have already sent the money over!"

The clerk ran it once more, expressionless. The machine beeped twice. Payment declined.

Hester's whole face burned scarlet. She whipped around and glared at me, her eyes full of fire.

She screamed at the top of her voice:

"Didn't you say you'd already transferred me the thirty thousand?!"

The instant the words were out, her whole body went rigid.

She realized she'd let it slip, and her hand flew up to clamp over her mouth.