My Roommate Tried to Frame Me for Giving Her Syphilis, So After Rebirth, I Went on the Warpath Chapter 03
The next morning I got up early.
I went back to my old room for my laptop and a change of clothes.
I pushed the door open and stopped dead.
My bed had been stripped down to the bare mattress.
My bedding, my clothes, and the jewelry box I kept locked in my cabinet were all gone.
Somebody had shoved every last piece of it into black garbage bags and piled them in the corner by the window.
Then I saw my laptop, face up on the lid of the trash can, and my breath stopped.
One corner of the case had cracked wide open and the screen was a web of splinters.
“Who touched my things?”
There was ice in my voice.
Bree came out of the bathroom with a shower caddy in her arms and rolled her eyes so hard I could almost hear it.
“Could you not scream? You scared the life out of me.
“We did this for everyone’s safety. How is anybody supposed to know what’s living on your stuff?”
Kayla jumped in from across the room.
“Exactly. We could have thrown all of it out. Bagging it up was us doing you a favor.”
I was so angry it came out as a laugh.
That laptop held every file from my major this semester, along with all the modeling data for the national competition I had been preparing for.
I took out my phone and shot a dozen photos of the wrecked laptop and the garbage bags.
“That laptop cost 10 thousand dollars. Add what’s on the drive and it clears the threshold for criminal charges.”
The words criminal charges finally moved something in Bree’s face.
She pulled herself back together fast and gave me a smirk anyway.
“Save the scare tactics. You’re the one walking around infecting people. If the cops show up here, they’re taking you first.”
“I’m not going to argue with you.”
I gave the two of them one cold look.
“We’ll settle this at the police station once the truth comes out.”
I ignored the guilty shouting behind me and let the door slam on my way out.
I hadn’t gone ten steps when my phone buzzed.
It was a text from Grant.
Grant: [My office. Right now.]
The corner of my mouth pulled up as I put the phone away and headed for the administration building.
I opened his office door and he handed me a voluntary withdrawal form.
“Mia, this thing has gotten away from all of us.”
“It isn’t just the campus anymore. People outside the school have started talking about it.”
“Sign it, for the university’s reputation and for whatever dignity you have left.”
I looked down at the form and almost laughed at how absurd it was.
“So you’re forcing me out?”
“I’m advising you,” he corrected.
“If you withdraw on your own, nothing goes on your permanent record and you can start over somewhere else.”
“If the university expels you, that follows you for the rest of your life.”
I turned it down without thinking twice.
“I’m not signing.”
Grant slammed the desk, and the red climbed all the way up his face.
“Mia! You could have done this the easy way!”
“Do you think digging your heels in changes anything? Not one person on this campus is going to tolerate somebody who spreads a disease like that on purpose.”
“I’ve told you. I’m not sick, and I didn’t give anything to anybody.”
I held Grant’s eyes and said it one word at a time.
“If the university wants to expel me, produce evidence that would hold up in court.”
“Otherwise I’ll sue the university.”
Grant laughed at that, furious, and pointed at the door.
“Good. That is just great.”
“If you’re going to be this stubborn, don’t blame the department for what comes next.”
“Ten o’clock tomorrow morning, the department is holding an all-student assembly in the main auditorium, and your case is on the agenda.”
“Let’s see how you plan on staying here after that.”
I stood up and smoothed down my shirt.
“Fine. Just remember one thing, Mr. Mercer. When you put your name on somebody else’s lie and it comes apart, it takes your job down with it.”
