Claire shook her head with a wry smile. "You're just enabling her!"
"Hmph. I'm not going to let Lex work for free. I'll pay her a hundred bucks a suitcase!" The wealthy heiress clearly had no concept of normal labor rates.
Lex quickly shook her head. "No, no. I'm strong, I should help out. We're roommates, I can't take your money."
Claire and Skylar actually thought paying her was a great idea. "A hundred is a bit much, though. Let's call it a friends-and-family discount-twenty bucks a bag."
Claire figured a lower amount would make Lex feel less guilty about accepting the cash.
And for Zara, twenty bucks was nothing.
She would gladly summon ten more suitcases if it meant she didn't have to lift a finger.
"No, that's still too much. It's really not worth that," Lex insisted.
After some back-and-forth, they finally settled on ten dollars per suitcase.
She would carry two for twenty dollars.
Zara would handle whatever was left.
With both sides happy, Claire and Skylar headed downstairs first.
Lex stayed behind to help Zara.
As they walked outside, Skylar whispered to Claire, "Do you think Lex feels insecure? I'm worried Zara is going to get used to just throwing money at her to solve her problems."
Lex might end up being bullied by her.
Skylar had never experienced true hardship growing up, so she felt deep sympathy for someone from a struggling background like Lex.
Even with brothers at home, Skylar's family had always treated her like a princess. Lex's reality was vastly different.
Claire shook her head. "I don't think so. Zara isn't malicious, and Lex is earning money through her own hard work. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement."
"Besides, if Zara actually starts treating her like a servant, we can just step in."
Lex was a friend she'd made during the winter camp. Claire wouldn't just stand by and let her get pushed around.
Not to mention, they had Nanette.
Even though Nanette had been eliminated during the winter camp, she had still managed to get accepted into Cabinda University.
And Nanette's fiery temper wasn't to be messed with.
"Alright. We'll just keep an eye on things for now."
Claire found her class assembly line, noticing most of the students were already there.
There really weren't many women majoring in clinical medicine. Out of the entire class, there were only five girls.
The other four all lived in the same dorm room.
"Claire! Over here!"
A girl named Priscilla Hastings waved at her.
Claire couldn't shake the feeling that she looked familiar.
"Don't remember me?"
"Priscilla?" Claire finally placed her.
Priscilla hadn't been at the orientation meeting the day before.
Seeing her face-to-face now, Claire remembered she was a relative of Mary's.
Technically, Priscilla was Mary's grand-niece.
"Surprised? We're actually in the same class."
"When Great-Aunt Mary mentioned you were also attending Cabinda Medical School, I honestly didn't believe I mean, with your test scores..."
Priscilla was a top student too, but her grades couldn't hold a candle to Claire's.
Claire had been the valedictorian back in Apex, and Priscilla's family had constantly compared her to Claire.
Priscilla was fiercely competitive.
She had convinced herself that even if Claire was the valedictorian, they would be on completely different paths.
After all, Priscilla was going to be a surgeon. What was Claire going to do after leaving The James Family?
Math?
Claire had won first place in the math competition, so Priscilla had no idea why she
had even bothered taking the college entrance exams.
If it were Priscilla, she would have used that time to study something else.
But then again, Claire had been
raised under the strict, elite standards of The James Family lacked for nothing and excelled at
thing.
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"I never expected us to end up as classmates."
Priscilla felt a twinge of resentment, like enemies crossing paths on a narrow bridge.
Deep down, she was worried she wouldn't be able to outshine Claire.