Chapter 50

Celeste

The day began as uneventful, a routine blur of classes and conversations with friends. But then, as I walked out of my history class, my heart stopped when I saw Sabrina waiting outside the door.

“Oh, Celeste,” she called, her sing-song voice dripping with false sweetness. “I have a little errand for you to run. Come by my dorm after class, would you?”

I tried to object, my voice faltering, but she was already walking away, a knowing smirk on her face.

After class, with a heavy sense of dread, I made my way to Sabrina’s dorm. My heart was pounding, my palms sweating. What could she possibly want from me this time? I knocked tentatively and waited for her to answer, my heart racing.

Sabrina opened the door with a grand flourish and an insincere smile. “Celeste, darling! You’re right on time. Come in, come in!”

I stepped inside and was hit by the overwhelming sight of chaos. Piles of clothes were heaped on the floor, dirty dishes were stacked precariously, and the stench of old food permeated the air. It was as if a whirlwind had hit the room.

“What happened here?” I exclaimed, trying to hide the horror in my voice.

Sabrina laughed, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Oh, you know how it is. Parties, friends, fun. Life gets messy sometimes.”

My eyes narrowed as I looked around. This wasn’t just messy. It was deliberate. I could feel it in my bones. Sabrina had done this just for me.

“You want me to clean this up?” I asked, disbelief dripping from my words.

Sabrina’s smile widened. “Well, of course, darling,” she purred. “That’s why I called you here.”

“Why me?” I demanded, anger bubbling up. “Why would I do this for you?”

Her eyes narrowed. “You know why, Celeste. You owe me. You wouldn’t want that little secret of yours getting out, would you?” she hissed.

I felt my knees go weak, and my anger turned to fear. She had me trapped.

“You can’t keep doing this to me, Sabrina,” I pleaded, tears welling in my eyes. “This just isn’t fair.”

“Oh, but I can,” she replied, her voice dripping with condescension. “And I will. Until I decide I’m done with you.”

I looked around the room again, feeling a sinking realization that there was no way out. The way she was looking at me, with that cold, calculating gaze, I knew she had planned this all along. She had trashed the room just to make me clean it.

“How long do I have?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

She checked her watch. “Oh, I’d say about four hours. I’m having a party tonight. But don’t worry, darling, I’ll be right here with you to keep you company. Watching you.”

I felt sick, but I knew there was no choice. “Fine,” I spat, my voice filled with defeat.

“Good girl,” Sabrina cooed, patting my cheek. “I knew you would see reason.”

With that, she plopped down into her chair and flicked open a fashion magazine, leaving me standing in the midst of the disaster she had created.

I looked around again, tears of frustration and humiliation stinging my eyes. How had I let myself get into this situation? How had I let Sabrina gain so much power over me?

With a heavy sigh, I began to clean, knowing that there was no other option. I scrubbed and dusted, washed and folded, all the while feeling a growing sense of despair.

As I worked, I couldn't shake the feeling that Sabrina was watching me, her cold eyes following my every move, her laughter echoing in my ears.

The cleaning took hours, my hands raw from scrubbing, my body aching with exhaustion. Finally, as the sun began to set, I stumbled out of Sabrina’s dorm, feeling utterly defeated.

On my walk home, I opened my phone to distract myself and my heart dropped into my stomach. There, on Sabrina’s social media page, were pictures of me on my hands and knees, scrubbing her floors.

The caption read: "It's nice having a personal slave."

The comments were even worse, people asking for my info, saying they needed someone to clean up their messes and run errands for them. I felt my face burn with humiliation, tears pricking at my eyes.

I rushed home, hoping to escape the nightmare, but when I walked in the door, Jack was waiting for me, his face twisted with anger.

“What is this?” he spat, shoving his phone in my face, the images of me cleaning glaring back at me. “What have you been doing? I give you a weekly allowance, and this is how you embarrass us?”

“I-I didn’t realize she’d take pictures,” I stammered, tears flowing freely now. “I was just helping out. I didn’t even do it for money.”

Jack’s frown deepened. “If you’re going to embarrass us like that, you could at least earn money doing it. I won’t give you an allowance anymore since apparently you have big dreams of being a maid.”

I was about to respond when a knock sounded at the door. Wiping my tears, I opened it, only to find Matt standing there, concern etched on his face.

“Celeste?” he asked, his voice filled with worry.

I could only stare, tears blurring my vision, my heart aching with humiliation and grief.

No words would come; of course he had come here right then and there, just to see me crying like this. I bet I looked ugly when I cried, too.

“Stop just standing there and let my friend in,” Jack barked from behind me.

I numbly stepped aside, letting Matt in.

“Um… Is this a bad time?” Matt asked, looking back and forth between my tear-stained face and Jack’s angry expression. “I can leave and come back another time…”

“It’s fine,” Jack said, shooting me a look of utter disdain. “She just fucked up. Again. And now we’re both paying the price.”

“I was just—” I began, but Jack quickly cut me off with a raise of his hand.

“Just… Make yourself scarce,” Jack said, shaking his head. “And don’t go doing anything like that again.”

With one last painful glance at Matt, who still looked taken aback, I ran up the stairs two at a time. It wasn’t until I was at the top of the stairs that I heard their muted voices as they retreated into the living room.

“What happened?” Matt asked, his voice quiet.

Jack let out an exasperated sigh. “You know that Sabrina girl? The hot freshman? Well, she duped my idiot sister into cleaning for her and now we’re both humiliated. Look at this.”

There was a pause, as I assumed that Jack showed Matt the posts. “I don’t see how it’s humiliating both of you,” he finally said, lowering his voice even further so that I had to strain to hear. “That Sabrina girl is evil—”

“Dude, you don’t get it,” Jack replied. “Celeste should know better. But to hell with it; if she wants to scrub floors, she can do that. I won’t be giving her money anymore.”

Before I could hear anything else, I slipped into my room and quietly shut the door. Silent sobs shook my body, and I sank down onto the floor, drawing my knees up to my chest.

How had things come to this? I had been so careful, so cautious, but now everything was unraveling. The secret I had fought so hard to keep was threatening to explode, and I was powerless to stop it.