I Work For My Roommate’s Love Pool Chapter 03

I Work For My Roommate’s Love Pool Chapter 03

Miles Huston, the refined scholar; Griffin Wilder, the campus rebel; and Caleb Reed, the boy-next-door who used to follow me around like a puppy.

They stood in a semi-circle around Chloe, looking at me like I was something they’d found on the bottom of their shoes.

Miles adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his voice dripping with disappointment.

“Evelyn, I never realized how toxic you were. Harassing Dr. Cosmo? Trying to frame Chloe?”

Griffin let out a cold snort, flicking his lighter open and shut.

“A financial aid brat is still just a brat. You can scrub yourself clean, but you’ll never get rid of that desperate, low-class stench.”

Caleb took a physical step back, as if being near me would infect him.

“Stay away from Chloe, Evelyn. Keep your pathetic little games to yourself.”

Chloe hid behind them, biting her lip with a wounded expression.

“Guys, don’t be so hard on Evie. She’s probably just jealous…”

“Chloe, stop defending her. She doesn’t deserve your pity.”

The three campus elites took turns dragging me through the dirt.

[Oh my god, yes! The three leads protecting their girl!]

[A total showdown! This is getting spicy!]

Students passing by stopped to whisper and sneer.

“I heard Dr. Cosmo failed her. Serves her right.”

“Acts like such a high-and-mighty scholar, then tries to sleep her way to the top.”

“Chloe is so much better. Pretty, sweet. No wonder all the guys want her.”

I stood in the center of the crowd, listening to the twisted lies, and realized how absurd it all was.

Pretty? Sweet?

I looked at Chloe, surrounded by her knights.

She was wearing a limited-edition dress Rainer had bought her, a diamond necklace from Miles, and a designer bag Griffin had hunted down.

But what happened if you stripped away the packaging?

I turned and pushed through the crowd without saying a word.

I had finally figured it out.

I didn’t go back to the dorm. Instead, I hid behind a pillar in the cafeteria, watching Chloe from a distance.

She was sitting with Caleb.

He was looking at her with pure adoration, even peeling her shrimp for her.

And Chloe?

She was shoving food into her mouth, smacking her lips so loudly I could hear it from my hiding spot.

Between bites, she started complaining, her voice muffled by half-chewed food.

“This shrimp is trash. It tastes worse than the mud-fish in the ditch back home. Totally disgusting.”

Caleb didn’t find her crude. He looked sympathetic.

“The cafeteria food is pathetic. You deserve better, Chloe. I’ll take you out for Michelin-star dining tonight.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and wiped her grease-stained hands directly onto Caleb’s expensive designer shirt.

“At least you’re useful for something.”

My stomach turned.

This was their “pure, intuitive” muse?

Foul-mouthed, uneducated, smacking her lips, and lacking basic hygiene.

How was she captivating these elite men who grew up around socialites?

Right then, another wave of comments began scrolling across my vision.

[Aw, Chloe is so real. She’s so cute!]

[Exactly! So much better than that fake Evelyn. That’s how you eat!]

[It’s all the System! As long as Evelyn keeps up her perfect goddess act to chase these guys, the favorability she earns is 100% converted into a rose-colored filter for Chloe!]

[Right! The harder Evelyn works, the more perfect Chloe looks to the leads. They’d think her picking her nose was a work of art!]

I stared at the lines of text. My heart stopped.

I finally believed it. The System was literally using my life to feed her ego.