Chapter 3The Boyfriend Auction

They all turned to look at me. The silence in the room was instantly filled with sneers, disgust, and disbelief.

My face burned hot. I squeezed the crumpled bills in my pocket, bracing myself against their sharp, judging eyes.

Cassie's smile vanished. She slowly sauntered over to my corner.

She pinched the sleeve of my pilling, oversized sweater between two manicured fingers, then yanked a strand of my dry, straw-like hair. "Bridget," she drawled, her voice dripping with pity. "Do you even own a mirror?"

"Look at yourself. You're ugly, you're dirt-poor, you can barely afford to eat, and you walk with a limp. Shoving a man toward you would be a sin."

Valerie giggled, covering her mouth. "Don't be so harsh, Cassie. She really can't afford a mirror. That sweater she's wearing? I watched her fish it out of the communal recycling bin down the hall and scrub it like it was some designer piece."

Every ounce of my dignity was stripped bare before the very people I had to live with every single day.

My face throbbed with a burning heat, and I could no longer tell if it was from the slaps I had received earlier or the crushing weight of my own shame.

As they squealed and added their new targets on their phones, discussing what they would wear for their dates, I crawled back behind my curtain. I huddled in the dark like a sewer rat.

But I had perfect vision, and a flawless memory. When Cassie had opened the contact page of the man she had kept for herself, I had memorized his username.

Staring at my cracked screen, I typed in the username. His profile picture was an abstract, dark portrait that felt strangely cold. A spark of pure, quiet malice flared in my chest. I tapped the send button without a second thought.

The request was accepted almost instantly. Hi, I typed. I'm Bridget.

The next evening, the four girls spent hours putting on makeup and doing their hair. They left the room in a cloud of expensive perfume, laughing and chatting about their dates.

Meanwhile, the mastermind behind all these dates remained in the room with me, with no intention of going out at all.

Cassie was furiously tapping on her screen, the rhythmic, violent clacking revealing her mounting frustration.

I curled up on my mattress, pulling my blanket over my mouth to muffle my silent, hysterical laughter until tears leaked from my eyes.

Before curfew, the roommates began trickling back into the dorm. Only Tara sent a message to our group chat, telling us she wouldn't be returning tonight and asking us to cover for her.

It seemed she was already getting her money's worth.

As we lay in the dark, the girls began whispering about their encounters.

Becca gushed about her gamer guy, saying he was witty, charming, and seemed to come from a wealthy family. She was completely smitten.

Valerie came back with a delicate box. A shimmering Van Cleef bracelet now rested on her wrist.

Regina didn't say much, but she begrudgingly admitted her handsome artist was even more stunning in person than in his photos.

But as the gossip died down, Valerie noticed how silent Cassie was. For someone who loved bragging more than breathing, keeping quiet about her "perfect" date made no sense.

"Hey Cassie," Valerie called out, her voice dripping with faux-innocence. "How did your night go? You haven't said a word."

"It was fine," Cassie muttered.

Her voice was flat. Even Becca noticed the tension. "Cassie? Is everything okay?"

Realizing the spotlight was on her, Cassie's pride kicked in. She began to spin a beautiful lie, describing how incredibly attentive her date was and how he had fallen head over heels for her.

"But you were in the dorm room the entire night, weren't you?"

I threw the words into the darkness like a bomb. The room fell into a suffocating, dead silence. In the quiet, I could hear Cassie grinding her teeth so hard they threatened to crack.

"Ha," I let out a sharp, ugly little snicker.