Chapter 3

3

I didn't reply.

I just kept feeding my pigs.

Mrs. Harrison’s office was on the third floor of the student services building. The door was half-open.

When I arrived, Harper was already sitting inside, her eyes swollen like bruised peaches, and her mother was sitting right next to her.

I had never met her mother, but one look told me they were definitely cut from the same cloth.

She had the same round face and petite frame, though her mother was significantly wider, sitting in the office chair like an immovable boulder.

Mrs. Harrison gestured for me to sit and rubbed her hands together anxiously.

"Chloe, thanks for coming. Harper’s mother reached out to me regarding a situation in your suite. She claims you kept hazardous substances in the dorm, which has caused Harper some health issues."

"It wasn't a hazardous substance."

I placed my lab notebook on the desk. "It’s experimental animal feed for my research project. Every ingredient is food-grade, and the formula is fully cleared and registered with the University Animal Care and Use Committee."

I flipped the notebook to the approved biosafety registration page and slid it across the desk to Mrs. Harrison.

Mrs. Harrison looked down, scanned it, and then looked up at Harper's mom.

Her mom snatched the notebook, aggressively flipped through a couple of pages, and slammed it back down on the desk.

"I don't care about your little science papers! I want to know one thing: my daughter drank your garbage and gained thirty pounds. How are you going to take responsibility for this?"

"Why should I take responsibility?" I looked her dead in the eye. "She stole it. I put a warning label on the container, and she chose to ignore it. She stole and consumed something she shouldn't have. Why is that on me?"

Harper's mom slammed her hand on the desk and stood up.

"What is wrong with your attitude, young lady?! What did your little label even say? 'Animal feed'! How is an ordinary college student supposed to know if that means it's for pigs or humans? You’re an Animal Science major—bringing farm feed into a shared student dorm is a violation in the first place!"

Mrs. Harrison quickly tried to de-escalate. "Mrs. Vance, please, let’s keep our voices down and discuss this calmly."

"Calmly? My daughter gained thirty pounds! Thirty! She was a gorgeous girl, and look at her now! How is she supposed to go out in public? How is she supposed to date?!"

Harper sobbed loudly on cue, her shoulders shaking.

I looked at her, suddenly wanting to laugh.

She wasn't crying because she felt bad about stealing. She was crying because she got caught.

She wasn't afraid of being unhealthy; she was embarrassed about gaining weight. And her mother wasn't fighting for justice; she was fighting to save face.

Mrs. Harrison sighed and turned to me.

"Chloe, you do bear some responsibility here. School policy states that laboratory experimental materials should not be kept in residential halls. That was a lapse in judgment on your part."

"The storage lockers at the animal center were completely full. It was temporary. I sent an official request to our department group chat on WhatsApp, and Dr. Sterling approved it."

I pulled up WhatsApp on my phone and showed her the screen.

The timestamp was crystal clear. I had sent the temporary storage request along with a photo of the labeled tub, and Dr. Sterling had replied with an "Approved."

After reading it, Mrs. Harrison's face turned incredibly stiff.

Harper's mom didn't care about the proof. She just waved her hand dismissively.

"I don't care about your little group chats! I want to know what you're going to do about my daughter. Thirty pounds! How is she supposed to lose that? How is she supposed to fit into her clothes?!"

I almost laughed out loud.

Thirty pounds of fat, and she was acting like I owed it to her.

She was the one who shoveled it into her own mouth, spoon by spoon.

"Mrs. Vance,"

I kept my voice as cold and steady as possible. "Your daughter stole a tub of my experimental research materials. Under university policy, at best, this is a roommate theft dispute. At worst, it’s unauthorized tampering with active research materials, which violates the university’s academic integrity and biosafety codes.