Page 109 of The Wrong Play

What thefuck?

“Hello?” I shouted over the noise.

No one even looked at me.

I pushed through the crowd, my pulse pounding in my ears. A girl in a crop top stumbled past me, giggling as she sloshed her drink onto my roommate’s rug.

Speaking of my roommate.

Emma was sitting on her bed, pressed against the wall, her eyes bugging out as she stared at everyone. This was probably prime people watching for her. I appreciated her sitting there while a group of strangers invaded our space.

Or were these her friends?

Glancing over at the mess of bodies, it didn’t seem likely, but why else would she have let them in?

I grimaced when a girl fell back, her drink spilling all over my comforter. Seeing how sweaty they were…it was probably going to be cleaner at this point for me to sleep out on the front lawn.

“Get out,” I snapped at the nearest person.

A guy with a backwards hat and a glazed-over expression turned toward me, blinking slowly like he was trying to process my words. Then he laughed.Laughed. “Chill, sweetheart. It’s just a party.”

I clenched my jaw, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “I can see that. Now get out.”

Someone cranked the music up higher, drowning out my words. More laughter. More people shoving into the room until I felt so claustrophobic I was close to passing out. I couldn’t even move, there were so many people in here.

Before I could evenattemptto get control of the situation, a loud knock boomed against the doorframe. Two figures stood there, silhouetted by the dim hallway lights. The taller one had a square jaw and a buzz cut, his uniform crisp, his expression unreadable. The other was shorter, stockier, with a tired lookthat said he had broken up one too many of these parties before. Their presence was enough to suck the air out of the party. The entire room seemed to freeze for a second before the music was cut off abruptly.

Campus security had arrived.

The two officers pushed their way inside, their eyes sweeping over the disaster that used to be my room. The smell of weed was undeniable despite the fact that someone had thrown open the window, and I could see things flying out as people tried to get rid of stuff. One of the officers kicked an empty beer can aside before scanning the room, unimpressed.

“All right,” the taller officer barked. “Who’s responsible for this?”

There was a beat of silence. Then, as if rehearsed, multiple hands lifted and pointed right at me. “It’s her room,” one of the girls—who I’d never seen before in my life, by the way—slurred to the officers confidently. “She invited everyone to the party.”

“That’s not true!” I screeched, panic rising at the look of disbelief on the officers’ faces. I glanced around for Emma, who was suddenly conveniently missing. How had I missed her leaving? “I just got here. I don’t even know these people!”

The shorter officer sighed, obviously unimpressed. “Well, that’s not what the whole room is saying. We’ve got illegal substances, alcohol violations, and noise complaints. You’ve violated at least ten campus policies. Effective immediately, you’re being removed from the dorms. You’ll get a hearing later to decide if the campus will have further disciplinary measures.”

My stomach plummeted. “But you have to listen to me. This isn’t my party!”

“Pack your things. You’ve got until tomorrow morning to vacate.”

The room erupted into murmurs as my world crumbled around me. The crowd, eager to escape consequences, started slipping out the door, leaving me standing in the wreckage.

A minute later, the room had emptied out, and the officers began their write-up.

“Where am I supposed to go?” I whispered as he held up a device for me to sign acknowledging I was receiving a ticket. I noticed there was nothing on there forcing me to acknowledge I’d done the so-called “crime.”

“There’s plenty of off-campus housing,” he said, not sounding the least bit sympathetic about my plight. “Just be glad it’s not any worse. It’s going to take Campus Services days to fix this room up.”

I glanced behind me, noting that most of the damage to the “room” happened to bemystuff and not the actual room itself. You could just throw it all away, and the room would be almost back to normal.

I decided to give it one more try. This couldn’t be how the system actually worked—that you could be kicked out like this.

“Please. I didn’t do this. I—I didn’t even drink anything! You can do a breathalyzer test on me! I literally just got here.”

My voice cracked, and suddenly, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. The overwhelming exhaustion, the stress, the sheer unfairness of it all hit me like a tidal wave. Tears welled in my eyes before spilling over, and once I started crying, I couldn’t stop.

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