I glared at Rose. “What the hell are you talking about? How do you know anything about me? It’s not like you do anything but stare at your computer all day long,” I seethed. How did this weirdo know that I was flunking out of school? It wasn’t a fact I broadcast around.
I sure hadn’t talked about it in earshot of my roommate.
It disturbed me.
It made me feel ashamed.
Roseshrugged, her lank hair falling in front of her face. “You can change that if you want.”
The room was quiet. Too quiet. I felt a strange prickling at the back of my neck.
“Change what? What are you going on about?” I snapped. I shouldn’t have been taking out my bad mood on my roommate, but her comments bothered me.
Shebothered me.
“Your grades. It’s easy if you know how.” Roseturned back to her computer and started clicking away at her keyboard again as if she hadn’t said anything.
“I’m already doing extra credit to try and bring my grades up. I guess I could get a tutor—”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Rose interrupted.
I was losing what little patience I had. “Then whatareyou talking about? I’m not up for guessing games.”
Rose pushed her hair back and for the first time I really looked at her. She was pretty, but the dark circles beneath her eyes seemed to swallow her face. “You don’t need a tutor. You’re probably smarter than the dumb-asses the department would assign you anyway. Your problem isn’t that you don’t know what you’re doing.”
I should have been flattered at my roommate’s assessment, but I was too numb to care.
“Yeah, well, the school’s sympathy is running a little thin, I guess. Maybe I should just save everyone the effort and drop out already.” As I said the words, I knew that I would never do that. I wouldn’t disrespect all my father had sacrificed to get me here like that.
Rose didn’t believe me either.
“It sounds like you need a pick-me-up. Something just to get you back on your feet.”
I frowned. “Look, I’m not into drugs, if that’s what you’re talking about.”
Rose laughed. It was a nice laugh and didn’t seem to fit her overall persona. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”
I was getting a headache and was beyond done with this conversation. I lay back down, covering my eyes with my arm, wishing I could block out Rose’s presence.
“Yeah, well, I’m tired. I think I’m going to try and nap—”
“You can change your grades. I can show you how. It’s easy. Just a couple of keystrokes and you won’t be flunking anymore.”
I sat up again, not sure I’d heard her correctly.
“What?”
Rose shrugged. “If the school won’t help you, I will.”
I knew what she was talking about. There were rumors in the IT department of student hackers who liked to poke around the school’s system, sometimes for nefarious reasons.
It turned out my weirdo roommate was one of those students.
“That’s crazy,” I exclaimed, instantly dismissing her statement.
But then I paused.
And I thought about what would happen if I didn’t turn things around quickly.
