My roommate is the kind of person who has to get to the bottom of everything and doesn't stop asking questions until she's satisfied. One night, while I'm sound asleep, she suddenly stands by my bed and calls my name, "Melissa, are you asleep?"

Having been awakened by her, I shoot her an annoyed glare, but she just says, "See? You weren't really asleep. Otherwise, how could you have answered me?"

One day, she decides to skip class. Thinking that I could help by signing her in on my phone, I do just that. However, near the end of the lecture, she suddenly bursts into the room and asks the professor, "I wasn't here today, so why does it show I was marked present? Is the system down?"

The professor traces it back to me, fails me on the spot, and makes me retake the class.

Later on, I join a speech contest. My roommate stands up in front of everyone and asks why my speech sounded exactly like her ideas. I get disqualified, lose my scholarship, and am labeled a plagiarist. Devastated, I climb onto the rooftop late at night.

When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the night when my roommate first asked if I was asleep.

"Melissa, are you awake?" came Sienna Riggs's annoying voice in the middle of the night.

I couldn't tell if I was dreaming or actually awake. I fumbled around my pillow until I found my phone. When I turned it on and saw the date on the screen, I became certain that I had been reborn.

Outside my bed curtain, Sienna was not giving up when I didn't answer her. Instead, she kept calling my name. However, I simply turned off my phone, put in my earbuds, and closed my eyes.

When Sienna still didn't get a response, she pulled my curtain open.

It was already past 1:00 am, but another roommate was still up playing video games. The glow of her monitor flashed against my eyelids as the keyboard clacked in the background.

"Melissa? Melissa? Are you asleep?" Sienna's voice grew louder.

At that point, it was loud enough to wake anyone up. Still, I kept my eyes tightly shut, determined not to move. I knew Sienna's game. I knew I couldn't give in because if I opened my eyes, she would get exactly what she wanted.

In my previous life, she'd loved pulling these little "compliance tests." If I so much as opened my eyes and asked what she wanted, she would just grin and say, "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to see if you were sleeping."

It had driven me crazy and kept me up all night, while she couldn't have been happier. Not to mention, that wasn't the only bizarre thing she did.

When we first moved into the dorm, she'd introduced herself by saying she was from a small rural town and wasn't used to city life, so she might need our help a lot. She was like a clueless newborn who knew absolutely nothing.

Once classes started, the professors had posted all the instructions in the group chat, so anyone who read the announcements knew what to do. Yet, Sienna still came to us with the same questions every single time.

"Melissa, how do I submit this assignment? I have no idea what to do."

I'd told her to check the group chat since all the instructions were there, but she wouldn't even look and just kept asking, "What format do we need? Word or PDF?"

"Either is fine. Just go check the group chat first," I'd said.

It was like Sienna had a built-in filter that blocked out everything I said, and she just kept doing her own thing.

"Melissa, it still won't go through! Can you help me?"

Again, I reminded her to check the announcements. When she finally listened, it was only for her to ask, "Where are the announcements? How do I find them? I have no idea."

I'd nearly lost my mind from frustration, so I started keeping my guard up around her after that. But idiots like Sienna always found a way to catch me off guard, no matter how prepared I was.

One morning before class, one of my roommates couldn't get out of bed and asked me to sign her in. It seemed harmless enough, but when I got there, I realized I was the only one from our dorm there, while the other three hadn't shown up.

Since it was an easy class and the professor was not taking roll, I figured it wouldn't hurt to help them out and marked all four of us present on the app.

I was feeling pleased with myself for doing a good deed when Sienna suddenly burst through the main door.

She marched straight up to the professor, held up her phone, and asked, "Professor, why does my phone show I was signed in when I wasn't even here?"

Everyone in the classroom turned to stare at her, and I was so shocked that I broke out in a cold sweat. The professor shot her a cold look and said, "You know exactly how your name got checked in."

Sienna replied, "I honestly have no idea. That's why I came to ask you. The system must have glitched. I never tapped anything, and it signed me in on its own."

She put on her best innocent act and annoyed the professor so much that he'd actually let out a laugh.

However, it didn't take him long to realize I was the one behind it.

Because I'd signed in for three of my roommates, I ended up failing the course and had to retake it the next semester. Meanwhile, my other three roommates just lost a few participation points.

I was so mad I could barely breathe. I gritted my teeth and asked Sienna why she had to make a scene, but she pouted like a victim and said, "How was I supposed to know you weren't allowed to sign people in? You're the one who did it."

From that moment on, I swore I would never stick my neck out for anyone again and started keeping my distance from Sienna.

I thought staying away from her would save me from trouble, but I was still no match for her antics.

Later on, the school held a speech contest, with prize money for first place and even the chance to apply for a scholarship. I signed up right away and spent days researching and preparing.

On the day of the contest, I was on stage delivering my speech with full confidence when Sienna suddenly stood up in the audience and demanded to know why my speech sounded so much like her ideas.

The room instantly buzzed with whispers, and my speech was cut short. Everyone's gaze on me had completely changed.

Afterward, I'd pulled Sienne aside and asked how my speech could be anything like hers when she hadn't even joined the competition.

She pointed at her head with a straight face and said, "It's crazy, right? I dreamed about it a few days ago, and it was the same as your speech. It freaked me out."

I nearly passed out when I heard that.

In the end, I'd lost my shot at the scholarship, and rumors soon spread around campus that I was a plagiarist.

The stress dragged me back into depression, and one night, I ended up on the school rooftop.

But maybe fate was not done with me yet, because I was given another chance at life.

This time, I was determined not to put up with Sienna's nonsense anymore. She was going to pay.

She kept calling my name, but I ignored her.

Then, just as she was about to yell again, our roommate Jessica Mills, who was in the middle of her game, finally lost her patience. She yanked off her headset and snapped, "Melissa, Melissa, Melissa—what is this, are you trying to yell my ear off?

"It's the middle of the night! Can you shut up? I can't even hear my own game!"

We'd used to have four girls in the dorm, but one had moved out because she couldn't stand Sienna. Now, only Jessica and I were left.

I'd stayed because I couldn't afford to move, and Jessica had stayed because she wasn't someone Sienna would dare cross.

So instead, Sienna focused on me, treating me like an easy target and making my life miserable.

Sienna was stunned by Jessica's sharp tone and didn't dare talk back. She muttered, "I just wanted to wake her up and see if she was asleep."

"Are you out of your mind? She's asleep, and you're going to wake her up? Do you even hear yourself? Why don't you just lift her eyelids and ask if she's sleeping?" Jessica impatiently shot back.

I almost burst out laughing at Jessica's words—but the feeling did not last.

Her words gave Sienna an idea, and she decided to climb up to my bunk to find out for sure if I was awake. Clearly, she wouldn't rest until she woke me up.

As soon as I saw Sienna stepping onto the ladder and poking her head through my bed curtains, I balled my fists and swung. "Grr, monster attack!"

My punch landed squarely on her nose.

Sienna yelped in pain and clutched her face. Upon losing her balance, she tumbled straight off the ladder.

Even with my headphones on, I could hear the loud thud of her hitting the floor. But still, I kept my eyes shut and pretended to be fast asleep.

After falling down, Sienna finally dropped the act. She stormed over and shook me awake. "Melissa, why did you hit me?"

I couldn't keep playing dead anymore, so I simply rubbed my eyes and blinked in confusion. "Huh? Did I hit you? When?"

Sienna clutched her nose. "You punched me in the nose! It hurts like hell. Don't you dare deny it!"

I looked even more confused. "I was asleep. How could I have hit you? And what are you doing, climbing into my bed in the middle of the night? Were you trying to…" I let the sentence trail off on purpose.

Whatever Sienna imagined made her jump back. She protested, saying, "Of course not! I just wanted to see if you were asleep! Who knew you'd attack me!"

I nodded seriously. "Next time, don't even think about waking me up. I don't sleep lightly, and this time I only punched you once. Who knows what could happen next time?

"But I'm a kind person. Since you woke me up just this once, I won't hold it against you." With that, I lay back down.

Meanwhile, Sienna sat on the floor, speechless and stunned.

Finally, fearing I would throw another punch, she sulked her way back to her bed.

That punch kept Sienna in line for a few days. At least, she'd stopped waking me in the middle of the night.

But I knew that she wouldn't stay quiet forever. She would definitely remember it. After all, living in that dorm meant no real peace.

The very next day, I went to the counselor, Gary Myers, to request a dorm change, hoping to move out as soon as possible. Given Sienna's level of absurdity, I assumed switching rooms would be simple. But as it turned out, I was overly optimistic.

"A dorm change? That's not going to work," Gary said. "Everyone has different personalities, so you need to learn to get along.

"Sienna hasn't really done anything bad. You're all classmates. Just be patient and talk things out. Besides, all the other dorms are full. Where would you even move to?

"You're in college now, so act a little more mature. Take my son, for example. He's studying in the Veyrion and sharing an apartment with strangers. At first, he wanted to move out too. But now, they all get along fine.

"If he can do it, why can't you?"

I rolled my eyes at Gary's pompous little speech. He clearly leaned on his PhD wife and loved bragging about having a highly educated spouse and a child studying abroad. Put nicely, he seemed relaxed and privileged. But put bluntly, he was just showing off.

Since changing dorms was out of the question, I sighed and left the office.