They Kicked Me Out of My Dorm to Make Me Their Son’s Bride

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1: 1

Move-in day at the summer camp. I was in my room, unpacking, when my phone rang.

Madge Fox, I've canceled your housing application. My son's coming to pick you up in a little while. You'll be rooming with him, so the two of you can grow close.

I froze. Before I could ask why, she kept going.

I went through every one of the girls' files and compared them carefully. You're the best fit to be my daughter-in-law.

"But don't let it go to your head. I've ranked the rest of the girls too, and they're all on the list of backup candidates. For the next two months, you're in charge of managing them."

This was the coordinator running my summer camp. A few days ago she'd held a meeting for all of us girls. In that meeting she'd been serious and buttoned-up, holding forth about the program like a real professional.

I never once imagined she was pulling the girls' files behind the scenes to shop for a girlfriend for her son.

I gripped the phone and chose my words carefully.

"I'm not really looking to date anyone right now"

"Not looking to date?! What else is a girl supposed to do once she's out of school?! And getting to date my son is a blessing you earned in a past life!"

I couldn't take another word. I hung up.

When I looked up, a fat-faced, big-eared young man was already standing in the doorway, come to collect me.

'''''''

He was dressed head to toe in bright red, decked out like it was a wedding, as if he really had come to fetch a bride. For the moment I was the only one in the dorm room. On instinct I backed away a few steps.

"How did you get in here?"

Clive James looked completely unbothered and gave the pass in his hand a little wave.

"With my mom's connections, getting in isn't exactly hard."

Then he looked me over, eyes crawling all over me.

"You're not half bad-looking. My mom's taste has improved a lot."

"Hurry up and pack your things, then come with me to the hotel. And if I ever find out you did anything before that would wrong me, you're finished!"

He wore the face of a man who thought we were already a couple. Disgust hit me all at once, and I snapped at him.

"Get out!"

He wasn't the least bit rattled. Instead he walked over to my bunk and dropped down onto it.

"Cut the act. With my mom's position, being with me, you're the one making out like a bandit."

"I've seen plenty of girls like you. Say no with your mouth, dying for it on the inside."

Watching him sprawl there, the disgust rose in my throat until I nearly gagged. I screamed at him again.

"Get off!"

He didn't give an inch. In the end he stretched right out on my bed, like a taunt.

I felt like my bedding had gone rank. I lunged over and grabbed one of his arms, trying to haul him up.

But the gap in strength between a man and a woman was just too much, and on top of that he was close to three hundred pounds.

One careless shove and he sent me to the floor. I slammed into the edge of the bed with a bang and lay there holding my head, unable to get up for a while.

In that gap, he dragged out my suitcase, yanked the clothes I'd just arranged out of the cabinet, and crammed them back into the case.

He even lifted my underwear to his nose and sniffed it.

The whole thing done in one smooth, unbroken motion.

I wanted to stop him, but I had no strength left.

When he'd finished, he glanced at me still lying on the floor and rolled his eyes.

"Quit the act. Get up and come with me!"

"You're not planning to have the wedding night right here in the dorm, are you?!"

I still couldn't move, and I didn't want to. I'd decided to hold out against him, dead weight, until someone came to the dorm.

He knew that dragging a full-grown person downstairs would draw too much attention, and no matter how he pulled at me, I wouldn't get up.

Little by little he ran out of patience.

He took out his phone and called his mother straight away. It rang a few times, and then that familiar voice came through again.

I don't know what the two of them said, but he shoved the phone up against my ear, the corner of his mouth curling into a chilling smile, his tone all threat.

"Your future mother-in-law wants a word!"

That familiar voice came through the earpiece at once.

"Well? Do you really need me to come collect you myself?"

2: 2

I wasn't about to leave the dorm just because she'd threatened me over the phone.

After I hung up, Clive and I settled into a standoff right there in the room.

He wasn't in any hurry now. He wandered around on his own, taking his time picking through my toiletries and things.

It made my skin crawl, but there was nothing I could do.

The minutes ticked by, and finally another girl arrived. She took Clive for the boyfriend who'd carried my bags up. There was a flicker of disapproval in her eyes at a guy being in the room, but she didn't say anything, just dragged her suitcase inside.

Someone finally heremy spirits lifted a little.

But the second I started toward her to grab her arm and beg for help, she swung her suitcase up onto what had been my bed.

The air froze for a beat, and then it hit me: my housing application had already been canceled.

I didn't belong in this room at all anymore.

Seeing my bed taken only made Clive happier. He held out his hand to me.

"Come on!"

"Or don't blame me when you're sleeping on the street!"

There was a boyfriendish tenderness in his voice that turned my stomach even more.

I stayed rooted where I was, refusing to move.

I was afraid that the moment I walked out of this dorm, something far worse would be waiting for me.

More people kept trickling in until the whole room was full, and little by little they picked up on itwhy was there an extra person?

Before coming, everyone had been able to look up their roommates on the housing site, so it didn't take long for them to notice the one who didn't belong.

One girl came over to me, meaning well, and said,

"Hey, are you sure you've got the right room?"

I'd already explained to plenty of people that this was my dorm, and nobody believed me.

I said it again now.

The moment the words left my mouth, the look she gave me turned strangeafter all, there were only four beds, and every one of them already had someone.

Another girl spoke up.

"You don't need to drag everyone else into a fight with your boyfriend."

"Why don't you and your boyfriend take it outside? This room isn't the place for you two to work out your problems."

One person said it and the rest jumped in right after.

"Yeah, we came a long way, we need to rest."

They were convinced Clive was my boyfriendafter all, he was still holding my luggage, and he knew all kinds of things about me.

But I knew I couldn't leave now.

The way they looked at me was turning cold, and they weren't going to spare my feelings any longer. They called the dorm manager up.

Their move sent a fresh surge of hope through me.

The dorm manager was sure to save me. There was no way she'd let a man be in here and do nothing about it.

Three minutes later, the dorm manager came hurrying up, out of breath.

But the instant she saw Clive, she took him by the hand and asked when he'd gotten in.

How come she didn't see his mother anywhere?

Clive turned into a smooth, glad-handing charmer on the spot, the two of them all warmth and small talk.

My heart hammered as I watched. The dorm manager was no help either.

After a while, she finally deigned to glance at me. Making a show of it, she pulled out her phone and checked it for a moment.

"Your name isn't on this room's list!"

"Your dorm was reassigned a while ago. You're in another building now. You've got the wrong room."

"Now get moving, quit wasting time!"

Even though I already knew she couldn't be trusted, hearing her actually say it killed something in me all over again.

By then Clive was done waiting me out. He grabbed my hand.

"Come on! Everyone else wants to rest!"

"Let's head back and turn in early too!"

I still wouldn't go. I swung my hand to slap him, but before it reached Clive's face a force clamped down and caught it.

The final boss had arrived.

Kayla James had seized my wrist, her voice hard.

"The camp's barely started and you're already hitting people. Aren't you the big shot!"

3: 3

Kayla James walked in, and the loose, easy mood in the room went tight all at once.

Every girl climbed off her bed to greet her.

Kayla took in the sight, and a smile spread across her face.

She didn't come to me first. She made small talk with the girls, asking whether the dorm was comfortable, whether the trip had worn them out.

That motherly warmth won a lot of them over on the spot.

Only at the very end,

she came to stand in front of me, staring straight into my eyes, her voice pitched so low only the two of us could hear it.

"Don't push your luck. If you weren't so well-behaved, if I didn't think you could take good care of my son, you'd never set foot inside my home."

"Take my advice and do as my son says. Better yet, give my family a child, a son or a daughter, either one. Do that and I'll make sure this month goes easy for you. Otherwise I'll just have my son pick someone else, and when he throws you away, don't come blaming me."

"You know how many girls are at this camp, don't you? Not one of them is any worse than you."

Her words turned my stomach. I backed up a few steps. Was that really something a woman with a real education should be saying?

She was nothing but a feudal old busybody in a nice dress.

Done, she slid right into the same script the dorm manager had used.

"Your dorm is in the other building. Come on."

"I'll walk you over myself."

She caught my wrist, and cold shot through me, like a snake coiling around my arm.

I shook her off in one motion. I told myself, quietly and firmly, that I would stay in this dorm and not leave,

because I knew as long as I stayed here, someone would come to save me.

And the crowd outside was only getting bigger. They wouldn't dare try anything reckless.

Clive James took in the scene, and that leering look in his eyes went edged with impatience.

"Mom, hurry up and talk her into it, or it'll be too late."

He kept his voice low too, so only a handful of people could catch it.

Kayla shot her son a glare, and the message in it was plain:

You can't rush a good thing.

Being glared at by his own mother put Clive in a mood, so he turned that resentful stare back on me.

The look said it all. Tonight you're finished.

Kayla stayed perfectly serene through it,

taking half my luggage from Clive's hands. Who wouldn't look at that and praise her for caring so much about her students?

She told me to leave again, warmer now, almost affectionate.

I just stood there, blank, like a dead pig that had stopped fearing boiling water.

My refusal set the whole room off.

By now Kayla didn't need to lift a finger. The other girls took over, looking at me like I was some kind of bully.

First in line, again, was the girl who'd spoken up at the start.

"I'd heard the girls' dorm at this camp draws its share of weirdos. Now I've seen it for myself. Actually fighting someone else for a bed."

"Right? Someone comes to walk her out personally and she still won't budge. Who does she think she is?"

"So sad. Getting stuck with a student like this is just bad luck."

"If it were me, I'd have thrown her bags straight down to the ground floor. The nerve, no shame at all."

Line by line they nailed me to the pillory, and my heart hammered with rage while I cursed my own slow tongue, the way I never knew how to fire back.

That serene look on Kayla's face turned to certain victory.

She arched a brow at me.

I gripped the doorframe hard, and the panic in me rose and rose.

Why wasn't it here yet?

The voices around me pushed louder, turning to real attacks on me now.

One of them was even itching to shove me out the door.

Clive and the dorm manager saw their moment. Under the pretense of not letting me disturb everyone's rest, they moved to drag me straight out.

There was no way I could hold my own against them. Half my body was already out of the dorm,

and every mouth in the room curled into a smile.

Just then, a voice cut in.

"Let's see which one of you dares touch her."