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.

That evening, I was in the dorm watching a show when someone knocked on the door. Then, the class representative walked in with a few sheets of paper.

"These are the psychological evaluation forms for this semester," she said. "Just fill them out. The counselor, Mr. Myers, said you can answer 'No' to everything, just like we always do."

These evaluations happened every semester and were mostly a formality, so we were used to it.

Sienna looked at her form and asked, "Why do we have to answer 'No' to everything? Can't we answer honestly?"

The class representative casually replied, "Answering 'No' is faster. If you answer 'Yes,' you'll have to check each question and see if it actually applies. Even if you really had a problem, the school probably wouldn't do anything.

"I've heard that in other departments, students flagged for severe depression were just told to take a leave and go home."

Sienna thoughtfully nodded and stared at her paper.

After the class representative left, I glanced at her and casually said, "It's not that serious. Even if someone has a mental health issue, the school would handle it. The counseling center isn't just for show."

With that, Sienna picked up her pen and started filling out the form.

There weren't that many questions, so I finished mine in under a minute. Meanwhile, Sienne was still carefully thinking through the third question.

…

The next day, the class representative collected all the forms and handed them over to Gary.

A few days later, during class, Gary suddenly knocked on the door. After apologizing to the lecturer, he called Sienna out.

Something felt off, so I slipped out the back door to see what was happening.

In an empty classroom, Gary threw the evaluation form in front of her. "Who told you to fill this out incorrectly? Didn't the class representative ask to answer 'No' to everything?"

Sienna looked at him with wide, innocent eyes. "Why do we have to answer 'No' to everything? Can't we answer honestly?"

Gary nearly exploded in anger. He couldn't admit that this was mostly a formality, because if a student really had a serious mental issue, it would be a major problem. "I told you to answer 'No' to everything! Why are you asking so many questions!"

Sienna, completely unaware of his frustration, continued, "But some of these questions do apply to me. Isn't answering 'No' to everything basically lying? The form even says to be truthful."

Initially, Gary worried that Sienna might have a serious mental health issue. If she did something drastic, even his PhD wife and their child studying abroad wouldn't have been able to save him.

Now however, he was sure that Sienna wasn't mentally ill—she was just a little crazy. "Never mind. Here's a new form. Fill it out again and bring it to my office after class."

Sienna simply agreed without another word.

Gary thought that he could finally breathe, but he was celebrating too soon.

After class, Sienna handed in the completed form. Coincidentally, the department secretary, Laura Lane, happened to be there to check on the students' mental health.

"Don't worry, Ms. Lane. We've carefully gone through everything," Gary said, putting on a polite front while silently signaling to Sienna to leave.

But Sienne didn't get the hint. Instead, she turned to Laura and asked, "Why do we have to answer 'No' to everything on this form? Is that a school rule?"