Otherwise, their demands would only escalate.
Now that Claire was asking, Lex couldn't hold it in anymore and confessed what was happening at home.
Claire furrowed her brows. "You should tell them that your roommates loaned you the money, and that they expect your mother to pay it back as soon as she recovers, or else you'll be kicked out of the dorm."
"Tell them we loaned you the money for an emergency, not as a charity handout."
"If they refuse to pay it back, call them every few days and relentlessly demand the money."
"You can even time your calls for when you know they have cash on hand, and force them to cough it up."
"Like when your family sells their livestock for the season."
Claire's idea was surprisingly brilliant.
Skye and Zara thought it over and couldn't come up with a better solution.
It was impossible to expect Lex to instantly cut off her own mother.
That was the woman who gave birth to her and raised her!
But letting her family think she was a walking ATM they could bleed dry wasn't an option either.
Skye suddenly had a stroke of genius. "In a little while, call them and say you got sick or had an emergency and need a bunch of cash."
"Cry poverty and beg them for money."
"If you call them enough times asking for cash, they'll realize they can't squeeze a dime out of you and might actually lose money. They won't bother you so easily after that."
Claire and Zara both nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that could definitely work."
Lex hesitated. "Would that really work?"
Truthfully, she was making decent money now. Ever since the military training had opened up new business opportunities.
She occasionally got requests from other dorms to clean their sneakers.
Some dorms even hired her for deep cleaning.
She had been steadily taking these jobs, building her own little brand on campus.
She heard another struggling student had tried to copy her business model, charging lower rates.
But Lex's regular clients always came running back after trying the competitor once.
Lex was meticulous; she got the shoes spotless without damaging the material.
Every time Lex earned money, her heart pounded with excitement. She genuinely believed she could opera professional clearing service one day.
Right now she had a solid
reputation among the students; everyone knew she came from a
tough background but was!!!
incredibly hardworking.
Students with extra cash were happy to pay her to clean their shoes.
Even when someone spilled juice on a shirt and couldn't get the stain out, they brought it straight to Lex.
"I'll try it," Lex said, steeling her resolve.
"Just don't send too much at once," Claire reminded her.
"I won't." Lex picked up her phone and dialed her mother's number.
She told her mother she had scraped together a few hundred dollars by borrowing
from classmates and professors.
She promised to wire the money for the medical bills immediately.
But she heavily stressed that the debt had to be repaid.
"Mom, I remember you saying you'd be selling the livestock before the holidays. Please remember to wire me the money then."
"I won't be coming home for winter break. I need to work to pay off these debts, and
I can't afford the train ticket anyway."
Lex's mother agreed over the phone.
Lex could even hear her father grumbling in the background, "What do you mean, pay her back? Let her figure it out herself!"
Lex was immensely grateful she hadn't mentioned she earned the money from part- time jobs.
With her father's greedy nature, the demands for cash would have been endless.
"Done!" She hung up, a massive weight lifting from her chest.
Lex's mood visibly brightened.
Her roommates smiled, happy for her.
With the crisis resolved, they all headed out for their respective classes.
Later that day, during a lecture on acupuncture points, Claire unexpectedly ran into Meiko Fujii.
Although Claire was a clinical
vomet
medicine major, she attended traditional medicine lectures whenever she had free time something her classmates had grown completely accustomed to.