Chapter 32

“Yvonne, is that true?” Teresa asked, shocked.
“You don’t believe a word your own daughter says, but you’ll believe anything a stranger tells you. Are you out of your mind?” Yvonne snapped, the words a release for all the pain Yvonne had endured.
“Yvonne, I Teresa looked moved and was about to reach for Yvonne’s hand, but Queena subtly blocked her.
“Mom, that was just a misunderstanding,” Queena explained smoothly. “Yvonne accidentally lost her phone and map and just assumed someone stole them. The department head already investigated, and it was cleared up. Yvonne was just scared, I guess, so she hasn’t wanted to join in since.”
Then, Queena cleverly changed the subject. “Mom, since it’s the first day of school, why don’t we treat my roommates to a nice steak dinner?”
“What a wonderful idea,” Teresa agreed with a smile. “Living in the same room, you’re all connected now. You should look out for each other.”
“Yvonne, you should come too,” Queena invited warmly, before adding with a tone of mock concern, “But please, try not to hold your fork and knife the wrong way this time. And when you cut your steak, don’t make so much noise. The whole restaurant was staring at us last time. It was so embarrassing.”
Last semester, Queena had also suggested a steak dinner. Yvonne, who had grown up in poverty, had never been to a fancy restaurant and knew nothing about the dining etiquette Teresa having already molded Queena into a perfect socialite, had no energy to teach another. Yvonne’s inevitable mistakes had made her the butt of her roommates’ jokes and earned her even more of Teresa’s disdain.
“Yvonne is allergic to beef. It’s better if she doesn’t go,” Teresa said, quickly inventing an excuse to avoid another embarrassing scene.
Conveniently, Yvonne disliked steak and had no desire to eat with them anyway. Just looking at their faces was enough to give her indigestion.
Teresa left with Queena, Tina, and Luna for dinner.
Yvonne stayed behind in the dorm room to finish unpacking. When she opened her closet, she found it already stuffed with clothes. She
lifted her mattress and saw that the space underneath was also
crammed full. They were all Queena’s things. With five large suitcases, Queena’s belongings hadn’t fit in her own space, so she had simply taken over Yvonne’s.
It had been the same last semester. Queena’s things had occupied Yvonne’s closet and under-bed storage. Too timid to protest, Yvonne had lived out of her suitcase, her clothes always wrinkled, which only gave her roommates more to laugh about.
Yvonne, however, was not about to put up with it. She pulled all of Queena’s belongings out and unceremoniously dumped them in the middle of the room. Then, she neatly hung her own clothes in the closet, arranged her toiletries under the bed, and even folded her comforter into a perfect square-a habit from her days at the police academy.
When Queena and her roommates returned from dinner, they were greeted by the sight of Queena’s clothes, shoes, and bags strewn across the floor in a messy pile.