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Susan tiptoed over to my desk. She stood there for a long time before finally leaving.
The next morning, with no classes, I was woken up by the incessant buzzing of my phone on the desk.
I got up to wash my face, and when I unlocked my phone, my world came crashing down.
Susan was chatting animatedly with my friends in the group. It had started with a picture she’d taken of me sleeping, which she’d posted in the chat. They were all making fun of me. It felt like having my privacy stripp- ed bare in public.
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What hurt even more was that my three best friends were joining in on the laughter. Their lighthearted jokes felt like salt in a wound.
Seeing that I was awake, Susan tagged me: “@Leah, our star has finally risen.”
Furious, I typed back, “Why did you take a picture of me while I was sleeping?”
Susan quickly sent back an innocent–looking emoji. “We’re all friends here. I just thought your sleeping posit ion was funny and wanted to share it with everyone. It was just a joke, you don’t have to get so worked up!”
What made me even angrier was that my friends started to placate me, all of them thinking I was overreact Ing.
“We’re all friends, it was just a joke, Don’t be mad.”
Seeing that everyone was on her side, Susan quickly added, “Leah, everyone got you such expensive gifts for your birthday because they really consider you a friend, It was just a little joke, and you’re having such a huge reaction. You expect everyone to be nice to you, but you can’t take a joke? That’s such a double standa rd.”
Her words cast a chill over the group chat.
Just as I was at a loss for what to do, the text appeared again.
[The roommate is starting to gaslight her. She’s the one who was in the wrong, but she’s turning it all around on Leah.]
[Leah, don’t doubt yourself. You’re not wrong. Your friends and your roommate are. She’s trying to make everyone dislike you by putting you down.]
[This is the first step in her takeover of your friend group. By undermining you, she’s getting closer to you friends.]
Despite my unease, I had started to doubt myself. Reading the text gave me strength.
I replied coolly, “Shouldn’t friends respect each other? Don’t you need someone’s permission to make a joke at their expense? Besides, you used my phone to add yourself to the group without my permission. You’ve got some nerve.”
The group went silent. Susan sent a crying emoji and explained, “Leah, you were the one who added me remember? You must have forgotten.”
I immediately sent the video I had recorded into the group chat.
Susan started sending tearful voice messages. “I was waiting for you to send me Bri’s contact info, but you
fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake you, so I just used your phone to get into the group.”
Her damsel–in–distress act worked. My friends jumped in to mediate.
[It’s fate! Leah, just let it go.]
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[Yeah, yeah, your friends are our friends.]
[The most important thing is that we can all hang out together.]
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She seized the opportunity. “Besides, Leah, why were you recording in the dorm room? You just don’t trus me!”
My friends chimed in.
[Yeah, Leah, you were in the wrong on that one, too. Just drop it.]
Susan exclaimed, “Exactly! I’ll be the bigger person and not hold it against you.”
Seeing that they were all siding with her, I didn’t say anything more, but my heart had turned to ice.
After that incident, I started to lurk in the group chat, rarely speaking. Susan, on the other hand, became incredibly active, constantly starting new conversations, acting as if she were the real friend to my friends.
Every time they discussed something new in the chat, Susan would corner me in the dorm and talk my ear off about it, always ending with a jab: “Are you sure you guys were friends in high school? It feels like you have nothing in common with them. You don’t really fit in, do you?”
I didn’t get angry. I was more curious to see how she planned to take over my friend group.
Two weeks later, my friend Brianna’s birthday was approaching.
Susan quietly asked me in the dorm, “Your friends got you a designer bag for your birthday. What are you getting for Bri?”
Before I could answer, the text appeared again.
[Be careful, Leah. Don’t fall into her trap. She’s going to swap the gifts to completely alienate you from your
friends.]
[The roommate has secretly gone through your phone and bought the exact same gift, but it’s a fake.]
[After being framed, you’ll be ostracized by your friends. With the roommate’s added manipulation, you’ll be
isolated at school too.]
I turned to Susan and said with a smile, “I’m getting her the latest earrings from the new collection.”
Susan quickly waved her hands. “Oh, you don’t have to tell me.”
I was curious to see how she would manage to swap my gift.
