After I Could Hear Objects Speak, I Slapped My Awful Roommates

On the first day of school, I gave each of my roommates a welcome gift worth thousands.

All three of them crowded around me, cooing Baby Juliana this, Baby Juliana that.

Rachel Fox, the scholarship girl, touched the Van Cleef pendant at her throat, her eyes going red. Juliana, you're too good to me.

Virginia Whitney, the small-town overachiever, hugged the full Helena Rubinstein set and made a show of manners. "This is way too expensive. I feel bad taking it."

Angela Perry, the tomboy, zipped the top-spec laptop into her bag and thumped her chest. "From now on, I've got your back. Anybody messes with you, I'll be the first one to slap them silly!"

I thought I'd landed in the best dorm in a hundred years.

Then the lights went out, and I heard the necklace screaming.

"Master! Rachel's out on the balcony on the phone with your dad. She says she might be carrying his kid!"

The Helena Rubinstein set shrieked like it had lost its mind.

"Throw out your water cup, now! Virginia spat a big wad of phlegm in it and dumped in laxatives. She wants you doubled over with the runs during training!"

The laptop said it through tears.

"Mommy, run! Angela used a photo of your ID to take out a hundred grand in online loans!"

I clamped both hands over my mouth, too stunned to make a sound.

Early the next morning, red-eyed, I took out my bank card.

"You're all my dear sisters. How could I bear to give you just one gift?"

...

After that, I was like something possessed, showering the three of them with things every single day.

A bracelet Rachel glanced at twice? I swiped my card on the spot.

Virginia mentioned a phone in passing, and the newest iPhone showed up the next day.

Angela kept shrieking over her game, so I bought out every skin in it.

Their mouths said, "Oh, we couldn't possibly," but each time they took the gifts faster than the last.

Before long, they dropped even the pretense of politeness.

They just flung links at me and said, bold as anything:

"So what if roommates help each other out? Go buy this for me right now!"

Until the whole dorm was piled high with stuff, like a New Year clearance sale.

I watched them, all smiles.

Take your time.

The more you take, the faster you die.

That morning, as I got up, Virginia carried the water cup over and held it to my lips.

"Juliana, you should drink warm water first thing to flush out the toxins. You've been spoiled rotten your whole life. You know nothing about how real life works."

Her whole face was concern, and she made as if to feed it to me herself.

I looked at the cloudy water in the cup.

That line kept echoing in my head. Spat a big wad of phlegm in it and dumped in laxatives.

My stomach heaved, and I nearly threw up.

I pretended my hand slipped and let the cup smash to the floor with a sharp crack.

Glass shards flew everywhere, and the splash soaked her pants.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry, Virginia, I was so careless..."

Red-eyed, I twisted the hem of my shirt, my voice shaking.

The concern on Virginia's face vanished in an instant, leaving only fury.

She raised her voice and lit into me.

"Juliana Gilbert, what is wrong with you? That cup was, what, a few hundred bucks? You don't care about money at all!"

The more she went, the more worked up she got, spit flying into my face.

"Standing next to people like us who work for everything, you're honestly just trash! You've got everything handed to you and don't even treasure it. Aren't you ashamed?"

"I'm a blunt person, so don't take it the wrong way, but if you keep this up, one day out in the real world, you'll be crying your eyes out!"

I quickly bowed my head, my shoulders hitching as I cried.

"Virginia, you're right, I shouldn't have broken the cup..."

"To make it up to you, how about I give you my newest Coach bag?"

Virginia's eyes lit up. She couldn't wait to snatch my bag and sling it over her shoulder.

"You're the one forcing this on me, it's not like I'm the one after a freebie."

"Good thing too. You throw money around way too much. Let me take some of the burden off you."

Right then, the bag's tattling voice rushed into my head.

"Mommy! She's jealous you're prettier than her. She just rubbed pollen all over me! She wants your face to break out and rot!"

I looked at Virginia's fingers. Sure enough, a faint yellow powder was still stuck under her nails.

The next second, she pushed the bag up toward my face.

"Juliana, take a sniff. This leather really reeks. Sure it's not a fake?"

I jerked back a step, clutched my stomach, and doubled over.

"Ow, my stomach is killing me! I can't, I can't, I need to get to the bathroom!"

I hurried out of the dorm, a cold smile curling at my lips.

Rot my face, huh?

Fine.

Let's see who ends up too ashamed to show her face in the end.

I'd barely stepped out of the dorm.

The next second I heard someone downstairs shouting that my parents were here.

I hurried down.

From a distance I could see my mother, Julia Finch, standing beside the dorm's main entrance, holding a thermal container in both hands.

I opened my mouth to call out to her.

She shoved me aside and turned, all smiles, toward Rachel Fox, who had somehow appeared behind me.

Rachel had a worn canvas bag slung over her shoulder, one hand resting lightly on her belly.

"Oh my, so this is Rachel? What a sweet girl. Drink this chicken tonic soup while it's warm, take care of yourself, and don't overdo it!"

There was a tenderness on her face I had never once seen in nineteen years.

My father, Boris Gilbert, didn't so much as glance at me, his eyes glued to the curve of Rachel's waist.

Then he turned on me and barked like he was scolding a dog.

"What are you standing there for? Go help your new roommate with her bag! I raised you all these years and you don't have an ounce of manners!"

Students passing by turned to look, and a few even pulled out their phones to film it.

I stood there like a joke, watching this whole absurd scene play out in front of me.

Just then the Bvlgari bracelet on Rachel's wrist spoke up.

"Master, your mom put a very expensive prenatal tonic into that chicken soup! She's known for ages that Boris Gilbert and Rachel Fox are together! To get herself a son to carry on the name, she not only let your dad take a mistress, she and Rachel worked it all out that you'd be the free nanny waiting on her through her confinement!"

My mind went off with a roar.

My own mother, carrying prenatal tonic to look after my father's mistress?

And I was supposed to be the nanny nursing her through her confinement?

That wasn't even the end of it. Boris spoke again.

"Rachel and your mother and I hit it off the moment we met. We're going to take her on as our goddaughter."

"That courtyard estate your grandfather left you, we're going tomorrow to sign it over into Rachel's name! Call it a gift for our goddaughter!"

My eyes went wide, my fingers clenching hard, my whole body shaking and unable to stop.

Not from fear. From hate.

Because they wanted a son over a daughter, they'd had no use for me since I was small.

My father resented that I couldn't carry on the line, my mother resented that I gave people something to gossip about. They never gave me a cent, never gave me a kind look.

Only my grandfather took me in and raised me like I was precious.

The courtyard estate was the last bit of ground my grandfather left me to stand on.

After he was gone, I thought college would be a fresh start, that I might even make true friends.

And this was how it turned out.

They'd actually banded together to scheme against me, all for that unformed scrap of flesh in Rachel's belly.

Where did they find the nerve?

I shouted at them.

"No!"

Boris heard it and slapped me across the face on the spot.

Crack!

I cupped my burning, swollen cheek and pressed down the towering hatred inside me.

Not enough evidence, wrong timing. Turning on them now would only tip them off.

I'd hidden pinhole cameras and listening devices inside every gift I'd given them.

I had to endure it, had to let them keep thinking I was the same easy fool.

Let them keep grasping, keep performing, keep jumping into the pit I'd dug.

Then, out in front of the dorm building, came a burst of screeching brakes.

Angela Perry came running over looking guilty, several vans pulling up behind her.

More than a dozen burly men came piling out, clubs in hand, arms covered in tattoos.

At their head, Scarface fixed a cold stare on me.

"Juliana Gilbert! You owe a hundred thousand, so pay up! No money today and we take you to work off the debt!"

In an instant, the whole crowd surged forward.

"Always acting like she's got money. Turns out it was all fake!"

"Just drop out already, it's embarrassing to look at! Sharing a school with her makes me sick!"

Those judging eyes stabbed into me like knives.

Angela came rushing over, all for show, flinging her arms wide to shield me.

"What are you all doing! Trying to hound someone to death in broad daylight? As long as I'm here, nobody's laying a hand on my girl!"

Her voice was loud and bright, and some of the students watching actually started praising how loyal she was.

But this same "loyal" friend was the one who, on the first day of school, volunteered to be our dorm leader and made us hand over our IDs.

The second she turned back to me, she dug her fingers into my arm, her nails sinking deep into the flesh.

The pain made me suck in a sharp breath.

"Juliana, I did everything I could!"

"Listen to me, just pay the debt off and make this go away!"

"A hundred thousand is pocket change to you anyway. Your reputation is what matters!"

My father, Boris, went even further, landing a kick on me and pointing at my face, cursing me out in front of everyone.

"You disgraceful piece of trash! You've dragged the whole Gilbert name through the mud!"

"If you don't sign that courtyard estate over to Rachel today, then I don't have a daughter anymore!"

Watching this whole farce, I felt nothing at all. If anything, I found it laughable.

Acting? Who can't act?

I let my body go limp and burst into loud sobs, trembling as I clung to Angela's arm.

"Boo-hoo, Angela, I was so scared! Thank god you were here to protect me! This watch is worth fifty thousand. I want you to have it!"

"I'm being framed! Please, beg them for me, don't let them take me away!"

I fumbled the watch into her hands, pretending not to notice the corner of her mouth she couldn't quite hold down.

She even put on a little act of refusing.

"Juliana, I'm not helping you for something like this..."

Before she could finish, the watch was already fastened snugly on her wrist.

And in that moment, the watch's voice came through.

"Don't believe her, Mama! Angela is grinning on the inside! She said you're way too easy to fool! This whole crowd is actors she hired! She's got predatory loans piling up out there, and she staged this whole thing just to squeeze more money out of you!"

Hearing that, I cried even harder.

Angela patted my back, impatient.

"All right, all right, once you pay it back it's all fine. Be good now. You really think your big sister would hurt you?"

I nodded, tears and snot smearing all over her.

"Okay... I'll pay it back... I'll go get my bank card right now..."

They watched me the whole way to get my bank card, then marched me back to the dorm entrance.

The three of them exchanged a look and set up a livestream rig right in front of me.

They fiddled with the equipment and gave me my orders.

"Juliana, your reputation's already trash, so we're helping you do a livestream to set the record straight."

"You'll pay back the money in front of everyone, hand over the estate, and prove you're doing it of your own free will. Then a sincere apology, and everyone will forgive you. Sound good?"

I nodded softly, my voice obedient.

"Okay. Whatever you say."

The livestream began.

Within three minutes, the viewer count shot past a hundred thousand.

The screen flooded with comments, all of them cursing me.

God, this girl is disgusting. So pretty and no shame at all.

How does someone like this still have the nerve to be alive?

Get out of that school! You've wrecked the whole school's image!

Absolutely shameless. Her parents raised her for nothing.

Rachel stood behind the screen, head lowered, both hands over her face.

Anyone who didn't know better would think she was crying.

Only I saw the smile leaking through the gaps between her fingers.

Angela pressed down hard on my shoulder so I couldn't get away.

And Virginia turned to the camera, brimming with righteous indignation as she made her accusation.

"As Juliana's roommate, I can testify. She's incredibly vain. Every day it's fruit that costs hundreds, skincare that runs into the thousands.

"She has zero respect for the dignity of people like us who clawed our way up from the countryside on our own! Every time she gave me something, she was humiliating me!"

My father stepped forward and threw the contract in my face.

"You're signing this contract today whether you want to or not! You've brought shame on the Gilbert name, and you're going to make it up to us!"

Scarface smirked off to the side and waggled the phone in his hand.

"Ten-second countdown. Pay up now, or I mass-send this to everyone with one tap."

"Ten, nine, eight, seven..."

Everyone was watching me, waiting for me to act.

One hand held the pen, the signature on the contract half done.

The other hovered over the payment screen, three digits of the password already entered.

"Six, five, four..."

The last second of the countdown.

I suddenly stopped everything.

I lifted my head, looked at the three of them, and pulled a very strange smile across my face.

"Do you really think the things I gave you are all just dead objects?"

"Juliana, what the hell are you smiling about! Sign it!"

My father roared, beside himself, and reached out to hit me.

This time, I didn't stand there and wait for the blow.

I whipped my hand back and slapped him hard across the face.

He cried out in pain, staring at me in disbelief.

He probably never imagined that the daughter he'd bullied at will would one day hit back.

"Dad, don't be in such a rush."

I spoke slowly, my voice carrying into the ears of a hundred thousand people in that livestream.

"Before I sign this contract, there are some things I've been holding in for a long time. I'd like you, and everyone watching, to hear them."

Rachel's face changed.

"Juliana... what are you talking about...?"

I fixed my eyes on the bracelet on her wrist.

Then I looked at the watch on Angela's wrist.

And finally at the phone Virginia was streaming with.

"You didn't actually think the things I spent all that money on were just ordinary junk, did you?"

Virginia was visibly panicking now. "Juliana, calm down. This is not the time for a little rich girl like you to be joking around!"

I pulled a remote out of my pocket.

One light press.

The hundred-thousand-viewer stream went black in an instant, the feed cut off by force.

The next second, the screen lit up again.

But what appeared was no longer my face. It was clip after clip of high-definition video, enough to scare the soul out of everyone there.