Chapter 2

Camila carefully examined the package of bills she found in the plastic bag. It was an amount I had never dreamed of collecting without having to do anything, but as the minutes passed, Camila’s doubts grew. Sofia was a prostitute? No, apparently no, Sofia had assured him that she made more money than she could see, so she made more than a prostitute could make, but if that wasn’t her job, was she a drug dealer?

Probably, but I wasn’t entirely sure. Remembering the first time I had seen Sofia; I had never noticed any abnormal behavior in her. In fact, she seemed to be a person very concerned about her health and appearance. So, I had heard in addition to that strange rumor, Sofia struggled at her university, had good grades despite working a schedule not very convenient for a university girl. If Sophia was a drug dealer, she hid it very well, but she did not understand what she could do for Sophia. Do you sell drugs?

It was illogical but not impossible. However, another theory quickly replaced that idea.

What if he were counterfeiting money?

It was the most logical theory; maybe that's why she went out at night, and for that reason, she could have the money she wanted. Camila took a five hundred dollar bill and analyzed it; There was nothing strange; that bill seemed real, but she had to corroborate it. She took a sweater and one of the bills, returning the rest of the money to the bag and putting it in the drawer of her underwear. Maybe it was not the best place to hide so much money, but it was the best she had.

She left the dormitories and walked to a supermarket around the corner. She was scared; she felt that in the pocket of her pants, she was carrying the body of the crime. Her head kept warning her that trying to buy something was not a good idea and that it was better to go back and return the money to Sofia to avoid getting into trouble. However, when she came to that conclusion, she was already in the store. She could leave, but a voice in her head told her that it was better to try and regret it than to stay with the doubt. About ten minutes passed; she was looking at a package of feminine towels. Usually, that aisle was empty. There she could fight against that voice in her head and solve her doubts without fear of being judged and branded as crazy, although in reality, she was doing nothing more than seeing that green package, which she planned to buy with the bill in her pocket.

She had already spent enough time there, so she finally decided to go to the cashier and pay. She took the package and walked slowly, thinking of an excuse in case they did not receive the money. Then she arrived and looked at the cashier; she looked tired of standing there all day. She did not seem to be a nice person, and it was evident when she took the package from Camila's hands.

She broke out in a cold sweat as the package registered at the cash register, marking the amount to be paid. The cashier looked at her, waiting for the payment, and Camila slowly took out the money and handed it to her, feeling a knot in her stomach.

The cashier looked at it for a second, ran a clear marker over it, then looked at it again, and placed it in the cash register. Camila's soul returned when she was given her change and her purchase in a plastic bag. If the cashier hadn't noticed anything on the bill, that meant it was either real, or she was too dumb at her job to notice the difference.

Camila returned to her bedroom with more doubts than answers; that purchase still didn't prove anything. It could have been a mistake; that always happens, or so she thought. She had to think of another way to find out if the money was real.

Monday morning, Camila woke up, following the same routine she had had for the last three years. She took a bath, got dressed, brushed her teeth, and took her time to fix her brown hair. Camila was not a beautiful girl; In fact, she was the typical college girl who usually didn't wear heels to avoid sore feet when she got home. She didn't use extravagant hairstyles because it hurt her head when she held her hair. She wore makeup, yes, but not too much because she was too lazy to put on more than eyeliner and mascara.

She wore glasses because she suffered from myopia, and although she had her contact lenses, she preferred glasses to the half-hour wasted trying to put in her contact lenses without being able to do it due to her lack of practice.

Camila was not the typical good girl; in fact, she considered herself normal, somewhere between good and bad. She thought that because, on one occasion, Fernanda had invited her to try a marijuana pancake. How could she forget the first time she had gotten high with something seemingly harmless? She had vomited all day, feeling as if someone had run over her. The worst part was that the feeling of well-being and relaxation had only lasted fifteen minutes. After that, the side effects lasted all day and even continued until the next day. She had to go to the doctor, thinking that she had been intoxicated with that stuff or that she was allergic. Of course, she received a scolding from the doctor who attended her, but the experience and the pride of saying that she had tried something as unusual as marijuana would stay with her for the rest of her life.

Camila Olivares was a peculiar case, and not just because she had gotten high once with a muffin but because she was still a virgin. In the university, there was a kind of fraternity, of which almost all the guys were members. To get in, they had to manage to sleep with the "pure girls," as they called them, and Camila was one of those girls. Everyone knew about this, everyone except Camila and the other virgins of the university. This information was revealed thanks to the university doctor, she and her medical team.

Since the university was expensive, it had to have a doctor available at any time for the students. The service included a contraceptive check-up, a check-up that the university virgins did not attend, but they had to sign up every month to receive a box of condoms in case they needed them. The doctor had sold this information to the fraternity boys they called "Omega," and that way they knew which girls to pursue, conquer, and sleep with.

Camila had already been a target of that fraternity; a couple of guys had sought her out. However, Camila was not an easy girl. In fact, she thought that the ideal way to date a man was for him to look for her and try to make the relationship something unique. Chocolates and flowers had already gone out of fashion, and sex was something that anyone could get, so even that seemed absurd to her. Besides, she had heard the experiences of her dorm mates about that test that the guys did to get into that stupid fraternity, and she would not be fooled so easily.

Before leaving, Camila remembered that it was dorm check-in day. It was a kind of control to avoid forbidden objects like knives, razors, drugs, and weapons in the dorm, and she couldn't leave the money in her room that day. So, there was no other option but to take it to the university.

She was nervous; carrying a lot of money in her backpack was not something she did regularly, much less if it was of dubious origin. However, she had no choice. She started her classes without taking her eyes off her backpack. When she had to look for and take something out of it, she was very cautious that no one was watching her—a behavior somewhat unbecoming of her. But no one noticed it, as she was not a popular girl. In fact, she was not very sociable, at least not with men.

At the end of the day, she was ready to run away if necessary to get rid of the weight on her back. However, the university accountant intercepted her on her way to the exit. It was not the first time she had waited for a student to demand payment of tuition, and this time Camila would not be spared.

“Miss Olivares, I would like to speak with you in my office please”

And from one moment to the next, Camila was already being reprimanded for her lack of interest in her professional education. Accountant Silvia Garcia did not have much patience in that regard; she felt that she was begging for the students to pay. For that reason, she tried to be strict and very severe so that the first time she spoke to someone would also be the last.

"Do you want to spoil all your efforts?" she raised her voice, tired of always making the same speech.

"No," he said, thinking about the reason he had not been able to pay his tuition on time, his parents.

"We have been waiting for a long time for an initiative on their part to pay off their debt, but there is a limit to our patience."

"I know," he said, pressing his backpack against his body and looking down. The solution to his problem was in his hands, but because of doubt, he could not bring himself to take it out.

"I need a solution now," she demanded, frowning.

"I... I..." stammered Camila, thinking of a solution, but in her mind, she only remembered the bundle she had kept in her backpack and had been guarding all day.

"If her family didn't have the money to pay for the expense of a professional career, she would have thought better of it."

Those words hurt her more than she thought. It was one thing to scold her for the lack of payments, but what he was doing was humiliating her. Not only her but also her family—an offense she was not willing to bear.

"I may have been late in paying, but that doesn't mean you have the right to express yourself that way about me or my family."

He rummaged in his backpack, and when he found the bag with the money, he took it out and placed it in front of the accountant's eyes. The woman's eyes widened in astonishment, confusion, and embarrassment.

"My mom says that shameless people will never reproach you when they see your money, and I see she was right. I'll come tomorrow to talk to someone who can take care of me properly."

"Wait!" the accountant raised her voice before Camila left. "Your receipt."

And then he wrote something on a college receipt and held out his hand to Camila. She took it with obvious disdain and walked away.

All the way back to his dorm, he muttered offenses towards that woman. He had really driven her out of her mind. But when he reached the entrance to the dorms, he realized his mistake. She had given him all of Sofia's money, money she suspected was counterfeit. A cold chill ran through her bones, and the hunger she was beginning to feel was gone. Surely, her blood pressure had dropped as she realized that if they found out she was right, she could go to jail, and her parents losing their home would be the least of all her problems.

She wanted to avoid their gaze at all costs. She was sure that if they saw her, they would realize that something bad had happened. The last thing she wanted was to give an explanation of what happened. But while she was looking for her room keys in her backpack, she saw a female figure leaning against her door. It was Sofia, her now boss.