Chapter 4My mom asked me to pay the tuition with a credit card

It was the weekend. My roommates were still asleep as I quietly left the dorm. It was early. I walked down the street, looking at the "help wanted" signs in the shop windows. My heart sank with each one I read. The highest daily wage for a part-time job was no more than eighty dollars. It was impossible to make eight hundred dollars in two days. And my family's financial situation didn't qualify me for student aid.

But there was no time to waste. I walked into a fast-food restaurant and asked the manager if they were hiring students. He looked me up and down, saw my desperation, and agreed.

I threw myself into the work, not even stopping to eat, trying to ignore the crushing weight of the number hanging over my head.

When I got back to the dorm at nine o'clock that night, I noticed a strange atmosphere among my roommates. But I was too tired to care. My bones ached. I scarfed down the leftovers I had brought back from the restaurant, the hunger hitting me all at once.

My phone started ringing. It was my mom. She had probably been waiting all day for my essay and video confession. When they didn't arrive, she must have tried to message me and realized she was blocked.

I stared numbly at the name on the screen, switched my phone to silent, and dragged my heavy body to the bathroom to get ready for another day of work.

When I came back, the calls had stopped, replaced by a flood of text messages.

【Jessica, you think you're so grown up now, giving me the silent treatment?!】

【I guess I've been too nice to you, and now you don't know your place.】

【If I had known you were going to be such an ungrateful brat, I would have strangled you at birth!】

But the vicious curses that used to cut me to the core no longer had any effect.

…

The next day was the same. I left early and came back late. No matter how hard I tried not to think about it, the deadline was approaching.

There were four hours left until the payment was due.

I looked at the one hundred and sixty dollars in my bank account. My body went numb. I sat in my chair until the lights went out, until my roommates had all gone to bed, and I didn't move.

My mom had been sending me angry texts all day. I hadn't responded to a single one.

Finally, she went back to the forum to ask IronHeart for help: 【This method isn't really working!】

【My daughter's credit card bill is due tonight, but she's blocked me and won't reply to anything.】

IronHeart: 【Stay strong. This is a battle of wills. If you give in now, all your previous efforts will be wasted, and you'll have to give in forever.】

HappyFlower: 【But I've invested so much in raising her. What if she really defaults? Will it affect her future career?】

IronHeart: 【You win some, you lose some. If she can't get a job at a big company, she can just come back to your small town and find a job near you.】

【And kids these days are so sensitive about their reputation. Just blow it up…】

I was wondering how my mom was going to "blow it up" when there was a knock on our dorm room door.

Several of my class officers and my academic advisor were standing outside, out of breath.

"Is Jessica in her room?"

"Her mom said she can't get in touch with her!"

"She said Jessica stole something and is in debt, and that she's working an 'improper' job to pay it off!"