The Annoying Sleepwalker Chapter 04
I set down my backpack.
“Talk about what?”
Genevieve said, “Blair is willing to give you five hundred dollars up front.”
“The rest can wait until things at home are less tight.”
“You can write up a formal agreement.”
“Just keep this within the room for now and don’t let it spread any further.”
I looked at her.
“Five hundred?”
Blair immediately bit her lip.
“That’s really all I have right now.”
I asked, “Then what about your new iPhone?”
Blair’s expression flickered.
The newest iPhone 15 Pro was sitting on her desk.
It had arrived just yesterday; she hadn’t even thrown the box away yet.
Tessa hurried to smooth things over.
“Her parents bought her that phone.”
“You can’t count it like that.”
I smiled.
“So her family can buy her a new phone, but they can’t pay for my laptop?”
Mallory was already getting annoyed.
“Brigid Pierce, do you have to talk like that?”
“Nobody’s money grows on trees.”
I looked at her.
“And mine does?”
I tutored online after my classes.
I spent eight-hour shifts on my feet at a coffee shop every weekend.
During school breaks, I stayed on campus to work on research projects.
They all knew that.
But the second I was the one taking a loss, it was like they’d all developed amnesia.
Genevieve frowned.
“Brigid, watch your tone.”
“Blair is in a very bad state right now.”
“If you keep pushing her and something actually happens, then what?”
That line again.
Last time, that sentence had been a cage, trapping me over and over.
Blair used it to dodge responsibility every single time.
Everyone else used it to shut down every attempt I made to get help.
In the end, she destroyed my future.
And then she turned around and said I was the one who pushed her to the brink of depression.
I lowered my eyes and let out a small, quiet laugh.
“So you all came here today to get me to back down?”
Genevieve hesitated.
“Not back down. To work something out.”
Tessa said softly, “Brigid, don’t be so hung up on this.”
“You can always buy new things.”
“But once you fall out with your roommates, it’s hard to keep living together.”
“Just think about it.”
“Don’t make things so tense over money.”
Mallory added, “Yeah. We all live in the same room.”
“You’re still applying for scholarships, still looking for internships.”
“If this gets out, it won’t look good for you, either.”
I understood.
They weren’t really worried that Blair might hurt herself.
They were worried this would blow up and ruin the atmosphere on our floor.
Complicate things for housing. Affect *them*.
And I was the easiest one to sacrifice.
I needed the money.
I didn’t like confrontation.
They thought I would fold.
Blair looked up at me, her voice trembling.
“Brigid, I already feel terrible.”
“Please don’t make me feel even worse, okay?”
Looking at her, I remembered the last day of my previous life.
My internship portfolio had been torn to shreds by her “sleepwalking.”
She’d cried and said she didn’t know what she was doing.
When I questioned her, she put me on blast on Yik Yak that very night.
There were hundreds of comments calling for my head.
The next day, the bank canceled my interview.
I hid in a library stairwell and cried until I couldn’t breathe.
And when I woke up, I was back here.
Listening to them tell me not to be so petty, I finally understood.
Reasoning with them was pointless.
It wasn’t that they didn’t understand.
They just didn’t want the loss to be theirs.