Chapter 1

"Scarlett, did you open my Revista shampoo?"

I held up the freshly opened bottle of shampoo, shoving it right under Scarlett Newman's nose, who was busy drying her hair. She stopped and looked at me with a face full of innocence.

"I saw it was for repairing damaged hair," she said, shrugging slightly. "My hair's so rough, I thought I'd give it a try. What's the problem?"

I took a deep breath, pushing down my irritation, and turned to put the shampoo back in the cabinet.

On the first day of university, Scarlett had introduced herself to the class as a poor, countryside girl. Our advisor had kindly urged us to lend her a hand and be more accommodating, so helping her had become a daily routine.

But she never seemed satisfied with ordinary things. No, she always wanted the high-end, luxury items, and was constantly asking to borrow them.

I placed the bottle back, turned, and looked at her, speaking slowly, one word at a time.

"I told you before, you can use those bottles of Rejoice. This one's a gift from a friend—I hadn't even planned on opening it..."

"Joyce, are you afraid I might break it...?"

Scarlett lowered her eyes, her voice small and muffled.

"I know, I'm just a poor girl from the countryside. I've never used anything nice, so I understand if you're worried..."

"No, I—"

"Ugh, it's just Revista shampoo. What's the big deal?" Lily Becker's voice cut through mine, her words dismissive. "Scarlett, go ahead and use mine—the one in a black bottle."

Lily, who had been lying on the upper bunk, poked her head out from behind the curtain with a look of disdain, interrupting my attempt to explain.

Scarlett smiled gratefully at her, then glanced at me with a little sneer and went back to drying her hair.

Lily was the most well-off in our dorm, and when it came to Scarlett's relentless demands, she was always generously willing to fulfill them, throwing a sneer at me and Jasmine for being petty, accusing us of not being helpful at all.

For someone like Lily, with her background, it was nothing to help Scarlett out, but for Jasmine and me, it was a different story. Our families were already struggling, and it felt like we were being asked to give even more to feed Scarlett's vanity.

Once, I lent her a brand-new bottle of toner, only for her to return it half-used, claiming she thought toner was meant for all-over body application. And the 20ml eye cream? She used half of it, slathering it on thick around her eyes as a mask, blinking up at me and saying, "The bloggers online all do it this way."

Over time, Jasmine and I grew weary of lending her our good stuff. Helping out is one thing, but there's a limit to how much you can sacrifice for someone else's vanity.

Scarlett didn't ask us for daily necessities anymore. Instead, she turned her attention to our electronics.

"Joyce, is this the latest iPad? Can I try it? I've only ever seen it in ads."

Electronics don't lose anything from being used a bit more—they might drain a little battery, but that's about it. And with some of the assignments lately requiring research, Scarlett had nothing but her phone. So, I figured, why not?

I handed her the tablet, giving her the password as I did.

"Hey, this is the popular game everyone's talking about, isn't it? Can I try playing?"