The Roommate's Fake Allergy

The results were out.

Before finals, I spent weeks tutoring my roommate, Maisy Thorne, for free. She was a scholarship student from a rough background, and I wanted to help her pass.

But as soon as the grades posted, Maisy dragged me on the university's anonymous confession wall.

My roommate pretended to tutor me just to feed me almond muffins she knew I was allergic to! I spent finals week in the ER and lost my merit scholarship while she took the top spot!

"I'm a first-gen student on financial aid. This scholarship was my only way out. Now it's gone. What do I do?"

She posted photos of herself with an IV drip in a clinic for three days. The campus exploded in a split second.

It didn't take long for the internet sleuths to do their thing. My identity was leaked within hours.

Dozens of emails flooded the Dean's office. Angry students demanded my grades be voided, my scholarship handed to Maisy, and that I pay her medical bills.

The administration couldn't handle the heat. Citing "malicious academic competition," they put me on probation and stripped me of all my honors.

I wasn't even angry. I just thought it was hilarious.

Maisy claimed she was stuck in a clinic for three days with a life-threatening allergy.

But I had seen the high-res drone shots from the Electric Forest music festival. She was front and center in the crowd, smiling like she didn't have a care in the world.

There were drone photos for all three days of the festival. And Maisy Thorne was in every single one of them.

"The grades are live!"

"What did you guys get?"

I was studying in the library when the whispers started. I pulled up the portal on my phone.

I was ranked first in the entire sophomore class.

My roommate, Maisy, was at the bottom of the list. There were no scores next to her name. Every single box was marked "Absent."

She hadn't shown up for a single exam during the three-day finals period.

I put my phone down, but the girl at the next table gasped.

"Check the confession wall! This is insane!"

"A girl poisoned her roommate with an allergen just to steal her scholarship? How can someone be that twisted?"

Poisoned? Allergy?

My heart skipped a beat. I had spent the last month helping Maisy prep for these exact exams.

She had vanished for three days. When she finally slunk back into the dorm, I had asked if she was okay.

She just sent me a crying emoji and a text saying she'd had a massive allergic reaction and was stuck on an IV drip.

I opened the confession wall. The post was already trending.

Maisy had added a lot of juicy details to keep the mob interested.

"Her family is loaded. Her monthly allowance is triple my entire budget. I don't know why she was so desperate to take my scholarship too."

"I'm not a genius. I worked my ass off in a rural high school just to get here. She's always been at the top, so I was actually happy when she offered to help me."

"She went home for the weekend and ordered me food so I wouldn't go hungry. I was so grateful."

"Then I ended up in the hospital that same night! She's the only person in this dorm who knows I have a lethal almond allergy!"

"I didn't eat anything else that day. Only the food she gave me!"

"I'm so helpless. If she wanted the scholarship, I would have stepped aside. Why did she have to put me in the hospital? I can't even afford the medical bills now."

I read every word. There was no doubtDMaisy was talking about me.

I did know about her allergy. But the muffins I ordered were plain milk-bread rolls. There wasn't a trace of almond in them.

In fact, I was so paranoid about cross-contamination that I chose a bakery that didn't even use nuts in their kitchen.

The comments were brutal. Thousands of people were calling for my head.

"It's Sloane Vance! Sophomore year! She's a total snake for doing this to a scholarship kid!"

"Make her apologize publicly!"

"Everyone, email the Dean! Get her expelled and make her pay Maisy back!"

I felt a cold chill run down my spine. Before I could even process the hate, my phone buzzed.

It was the administration office.

"Sloane Vance? We've received a massive number of reports regarding malicious competition and physical harm to a student."

"Get down to the Dean's office. Now."

I took a deep breath and gripped my phone.

"I'll be there."

The Dean and three board members were waiting for me. The Dean didn't waste any time.

"Sloane, we've made a preliminary decision. We are revoking your nomination for the National Honor Society and suspending your scholarship."

"It's not that we don't want to believe you, but the public outcry is too loud. We're doing this for your own safety."

For my safety? They were stripping away the honors I'd worked years for.

They were freezing the scholarship I earned with my own sweat. And they weren't even giving me a chance to speak.

I clenched my fists and looked the Dean in the eye.

"First of all, I had no reason to sabotage Maisy. Her GPA isn't even close to the top. She wasn't my competition."

"The food I sent her was nut-free. That bakery doesn't even have almonds on the premises."

"I don't know why she had a reaction, but it had nothing to do with me."

I pulled up my phone and showed them the DoorDash receipt. It clearly listed "Plain Milk Bread - Nut Free."

Then I showed them last year's transcripts. Maisy was barely scraping by with a C-average. The scholarship was a pipe dream for her anyway.

The board members looked at each other, clearly uncomfortable. I let out a dry laugh.

"I have proof of my innocence. What does Maisy have besides a clinic receipt?"

"Does being on financial aid give her a free pass to ruin my life without a single shred of evidence?"

They were silent. I put my phone away and stood up straight.

"I don't accept this decision, Dean."

"I'm not paying the price for a crime I didn't commit. I'm going to find the truth myself."

I didn't wait for them to dismiss me. I walked out of that office with my head held high.

I wasn't just talking big. I already knew exactly how to rip Maisy's lie apart.

When I stepped into the hallway, I saw a familiar figure. It was Maisy.

The second she saw me, her face went pale. She squeezed out a few tears and hid behind the girl next to her.

She acted like I was about to hit her.

Her friend, Phoebe, glared at me while she held Maisy's hand.

"Sloane, you already ruined her finals. Haven't you done enough?"

"You're a disgrace to this school. You're lucky they didn't kick you out yet!"

"Don't worry, Maisy. The whole class has your back."

Maisy let a couple of tears fall. She grabbed Phoebe's sleeve like a frightened child.

"Thank you, Phoebe. I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

I looked at her fake, trembling lip and smiled.

"Maisy, if you're so sure I poisoned you, why didn't you file an official report? Why only post anonymously on the confession wall?"

"Are you scared of what a real investigation might find?"

A flicker of panic crossed her face. She knew as well as I did that a real police report would require actual medical proof.

But she recovered quickly, her voice wobbling.

"Sloane, your family is powerful. Everyone knows you have connections."

"I'm just a girl from a trailer park. I was too scared to go to the police. Please, just leave me alone."

Other students in the hall started gathering around us, forming a human shield in front of Maisy.

"You're such a bitch! Leave her alone!"

"She's a monster! No remorse at all!"

"Pay her back! Give her the money you stole!"

Their faces were red with self-righteous fury. I stood there, catching the tiny, triumphant smirk Maisy gave me when she thought no one was looking.

I smiled back. I wondered if she'd still be smiling when the world found out what she really was.

The hate didn't stop. Every day, the confession wall was flooded with the same message.

"Sloane Vance, pay up!"

"Stop hiding and apologize! Give the scholarship to someone who actually deserves it!"

The school decided to hold a public disciplinary hearing in a week to resolve the issue "fairly."

As soon as she heard the news, Maisy started a TikTok Live.

She sat in front of the camera with puffy eyes, her voice cracking.

"Being poor has always been hard, but I never complained. I just wanted an education."

"I worked so hard to get into this university, and I never expected someone to be so cruel."

"I'll do my best at the hearing to get justice. Thank you to everyone who supported me!"

The comments were a dumpster fire of support.

"Expel the rich bitch! No one should get away with this!"

"Sending you a Universe gift! Stay strong and keep studying!"

The screen filled with expensive digital gifts. Maisy's eyes sparkled every time a new donation popped up. She couldn't stop thanking people for the money.

Meanwhile, my social media handles were leaked. Thousands of strangers swarmed my accounts with the most disgusting comments.

"This is basically attempted murder. Maisy said she was covered in hives and couldn't even breathe."

"Someone should slip something into this bitch's drink and see how she likes it!"

"I hope she gets humiliated at the hearing and kicked out!"

People were photoshopping my face onto gravestones. A headline even made it to the local news: "University Student Sabotages Roommate Over Scholarship Money."

Walking to class was like walking through a gauntlet of whispers.

"Is that her? The girl who poisoned her roommate?"

"Why is she still allowed on campus?"

"Just wait until the hearing. She's going to get shredded."

In the dining hall, someone intentionally bumped into me, spilling my tray. Then they dropped a handful of dead flies onto my food.

"Now you know what it feels like to have your food messed with!"

I didn't say a word. I just dumped the tray and went back to my dorm.

I opened my laptop and went straight to the official Twitter account of a major music festival.

"Electric Forest Drone Photos are LIVE! Check out our 1,000+ crowd shots and find yourself!"

I had stumbled across this post a few days ago. I'd only glanced at it, but one photo had caught my eye.

A girl in the front row looked exactly like Maisy. She even had the same tiny mole on her neck.

Maisy probably never realized that the festival used high-res drones for marketing every single day.

And the festival happened to be on the exact three days of our finals.

I spent hours meticulously going through every folder.

There she was. All three days. Every single photo showed her front and center.

She was wearing different festival outfitsDshort skirts, glitter, the whole nine yards. She was laughing, dancing, and looking perfectly healthy.

There wasn't a single hive on her skin.

I had the evidence, but I didn't post it yet. It wasn't enough.

She could claim the photos were edited. I needed something that would bury her for good.

I let the mob keep screaming. The louder they got, the harder she would fall.

Finally, three days before the hearing, I had everything I needed.

I looked at the files on my computer and laughed.

Maisy Thorne, your double life is even more pathetic than I thought.

I called the Dean's office.

"I'll be at the hearing tomorrow. Make sure the big screen in the auditorium is working."