A month into my freshman year, I learned that the entire campus had a nickname for me: the Parasite. The name was coined by Sophia, my childhood best friend’s new deskmate. It was because I was always with Liam. Eating the breakfast he brought me, using his campus card, living in a small rental near his family’s home. I asked Liam why he didn’t stop them. He just laughed, a careless, easy sound. "It's just a nickname. Sophia likes to joke around, don't take it to heart." He paused, then added, "Besides, you do cling to me all day. You are… kind of like a parasite." I froze, my heart clenching as if squeezed by a brutal hand. So that’s what it was. Eighteen years of companionship, and in his eyes, I was just a parasite. I didn't argue. I just went home and deleted every photo of him from my phone. Then I went to the registrar’s office and withdrew from the university. That’s when Liam finally panicked. "Ava, where are you going?" "Somewhere you will never find me." 1 I first heard the name while standing in line at the dining hall. It was a normal Wednesday. I held my tray, shuffling along with the lunchtime crowd. The two girls in front of me were whispering, their voices just loud enough for me to catch. "Look, the Parasite's here again." "She follows Liam around all day. Has she no shame?" At first, I thought they were talking about someone else. Then one of them glanced back, her eyes lingering on me for a moment before a knowing smile spread across her face. It was a look I recognized—the look of someone enjoying a spectacle, of someone who knew a secret I didn't. My fingers tightened on my tray, the plastic edge digging painfully into my palm. Parasite? Were they talking about me? I looked around and realized that many people were watching me. Some were whispering, their fingers subtly pointing in my direction. Others were smirking, their eyes filled with a mixture of amusement and contempt. My face instantly burned. I could feel the heat creeping up my neck. I grabbed my food and fled to the most secluded corner I could find. But I’d barely taken two bites when the conversation from the next table drifted over. "Ava Moore is so disgusting, always clinging to Liam." The girl's voice was loud, as if she didn't care that I was right there. "I heard her family is dirt poor, and the Griffiths have been supporting her forever," another voice added. "No wonder Sophia calls her the Parasite. It's the perfect name." "Seriously. I've never seen anyone so shameless." My hands started to tremble. My chopsticks clattered onto the table. The girls looked over, and seeing it was me, they didn't stop. They just laughed louder. "Oh, look. The Parasite is mad." "What's she pretending for? It's not like we're wrong." I clenched my jaw, trying to hold myself together, but my hands were shaking too badly to even hold my chopsticks. The food tasted like ash. I finally gave up, picked up my nearly untouched tray, and hurried out of the dining hall, the sound of their laughter washing over me like a toxic wave. 2 I went to find Liam immediately. He was on the basketball court, glistening with sweat under the afternoon sun. Sophia was sitting on the bleachers, a vision in a white sundress, holding a bottle of water and cheering for him. When she saw me, her smile was blindingly bright. It was the smile of a cat that had just cornered a mouse. "Ava! You're here! Come, sit," she chirped, patting the space next to her. I ignored her, my eyes locked on Liam. He had just sunk a three-pointer, and his teammates were celebrating. "Liam, I need to talk to you." My voice was quiet but carried across the court. He turned, a slight frown creasing his brow when he saw me. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he sounded annoyed. "What is it? Can it wait until I'm done?" "No. It has to be now." I had never used such a forceful tone with him before. It surprised even me. Liam stared for a moment, clearly taken aback by my uncharacteristic firmness. Finally, he said something to his teammates and sauntered over. "What's up? You look so serious." His tone was light, as if he had no idea what was coming. I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice steady. "The entire school is calling me a parasite. Did you know?" He scratched his head, a flicker of awkwardness in his expression. "Oh, that. Yeah, I heard." He heard? That was it? I stared at him in disbelief, waiting for an explanation, for a flash of anger on my behalf. But there was nothing. He just stood there, looking completely unconcerned. "You heard, and you didn't do anything to stop it?" my voice began to tremble. "Stop what?" He shrugged nonchalantly. "It's just a nickname. Everyone gets a nickname in college." He even managed a small laugh, as if it were truly insignificant. "My roommate's nickname is 'Pig-Head,' and he doesn't care." "But this nickname is meant to humiliate me!" I almost shouted the words. "You're overthinking it." He patted my shoulder, a gesture so dismissive it sent a chill through me. "Sophia just likes to joke around. She doesn't mean any harm." No harm? I glanced over at Sophia. She was watching us, a triumphant smirk playing on her lips. "Liam, do you really think calling me a parasite is just a joke?" My voice was a whisper, as if I were asking myself. He was losing patience. "Come on, stop making a big deal out of nothing. Besides," he trailed off, "you do follow me around all day. It is... kind of like..." He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to. Kind of like a parasite. In that moment, I felt something inside me shatter. It broke so completely that I knew it could never be put back together again. 3 From that day on, I started avoiding Liam. But the nickname had already spread through the campus like a virus. It had taken on a life of its own. In class, I’d hear whispers behind my back. "That's her, the Parasite." At the library, someone would say loudly, "Wow, even parasites can read." Even the woman at the campus store would give me a strange look, as if I were something unclean. But the worst part was the dorm. My roommates, who had once been friendly, began to distance themselves. At first, it was subtle—they just stopped talking to me. Then it became blatant. They stopped inviting me to meals. They stopped sharing snacks. Even borrowing a phone charger became an ordeal. "I'm using it." "It's dead." "Someone else borrowed it." Always an excuse. One evening, I came back late. As I pushed the door open, I heard them talking on the balcony. "Does Ava really use Liam's money for everything?" "Probably. Why else would Sophia call her a parasite?" "She's so poor. Where does she get money for tuition and living expenses?" "Liam, obviously." "No wonder she can afford to live near his family. So that's how." "So shameless. If I were her, I'd be too embarrassed to show my face." I stood in the doorway, my hand frozen on the knob. They saw me, and the conversation died. They scattered back to their desks as if nothing had happened. No one asked where I had been. No one cared that I had heard everything. It was as if I were invisible. Lying in bed, tears streamed silently into my pillow. They didn't know I lived near Liam because the little house was left to me by my grandmother. "Ava, honey," she'd told me, "it's not much, but it's a roof over your head. A place to weather the storms." They didn't know that I never spent a cent of Liam's money. I kept a small notebook, recording every breakfast, every campus card loan, every small expense he covered for me. The first thing I did when I got paid from my part-time job was try to pay him back. He would always refuse. "Why are you keeping track? We're family." I thought it was because he cared. Now, I wondered if it was just because he couldn't be bothered. But it didn't matter anymore. In everyone's eyes, I was the parasite living off a man. The truth was irrelevant. They only believed what they wanted to believe. 4 I tried to defend myself. In one of my classes, we were assigned a group project. When it was time to form groups, a strange silence fell over the room. Everyone else was pairing up, but a perfect, empty circle formed around me. I was an outcast. I mustered my courage and approached a girl who seemed friendly. "Hi, can I join your group?" She looked away, flustered. "Sorry, our group is full." I counted. There were only three of them. "I have really good grades," I pleaded, trying to prove my worth. "I was third in our major last semester." A boy nearby snorted. "What good are a parasite's grades? Liam probably did all the work for her." The classroom erupted in laughter. The sound was like a thousand needles piercing my skin. I wanted the floor to swallow me whole. That’s when Sophia’s gentle voice cut through the noise. She had drifted over, her face a mask of perfect sympathy. "Everyone, don't be so hard on Ava. It's... not easy for her." She paused, a smirk touching her lips. "After all, not everyone has the talent to be supported by Liam for so many years. That’s a skill in itself, you know." The whole class roared. Finally, the professor, looking annoyed, stepped in. "Ava, you can join group three." The members of that group looked horrified, but they didn't dare object. Throughout the entire discussion, they ignored me completely. My suggestions were met with silence. The research I’d compiled was pushed aside without a glance. Eventually, I gave up and just sat there, watching them, feeling more invisible than ever. No, worse than invisible. I was a nuisance. A parasite. 5 Things escalated a week later. "Ava," one of my roommates said one morning, her voice dripping with glee, "you should check the campus message board. You're famous." My heart sank. I opened the forum on my phone. The top post was titled: 'Exposing the True Face of the Management School's Parasite.' It had over ten thousand views and hundreds of replies. My fingers trembled as I clicked on it. The post chronicled in vicious detail how I "latched onto" Liam, how I "shamelessly" spent his money. Every action was twisted, every moment maliciously reinterpreted. There were photos. A picture of us eating together was captioned, "The Parasite gets a free meal." A photo of him bringing me breakfast when I was sick was labeled, "The bloodsucking continues." A picture of me working at my part-time job was framed as me "playing the victim to gain sympathy." The comments were a cesspool. So disgusting. Has she no self-respect? If I were her, I'd have already killed myself from shame. Liam is so unlucky to be stuck with a leech like her. Someone should kick the Parasite out of our school! Then it got worse. They started doxxing me. My high school, my home address, even a photo of my late grandmother. So she's an orphan with no parents. No wonder she's so shameless. My blood ran cold. I shakily called Liam. The phone rang for a long time before he picked up. "Liam, did you see the post on the forum?" My voice was barely a whisper. "Yeah, I saw it," he said, his tone chillingly calm. "And... you're not going to do anything?" "Do what?" He sounded tired. "Ava, do you really think anyone will believe me if I try to clear your name now? They'll just think you forced me to." "But it's the truth!" "The truth?" He laughed, a cold, empty sound. "The truth is, you are always with me. You do use my things. I can't control how other people see it." I gripped the phone. "So you're just going to let them humiliate me?" "It's not humiliation, it's just a post," he said, his tone infuriatingly dismissive. "It'll blow over. Why are you getting so worked up about something online?" "Just lay low for a while." The line went dead. I stared at the black screen, at my own pale, reflected face. So this was it. My reputation, my dignity—none of it was worth him saying a single word. Our entire childhood together was this cheap. My heart didn't just break. It turned to ash. 6 The bullying bled from the virtual world into reality. Vicious notes started appearing on my desk. PARASITE GET OUT. SHAMELESS BITCH. STAY AWAY FROM LIAM. My books were vandalized. My favorite textbook, filled with a semester's worth of notes, was soaked in ink. My homework was torn out of my notebook. I was forced to accept a zero. The isolation was absolute. No one would speak to me. No one would sit with me. If I sat at a table in the dining hall, everyone else would immediately get up and leave. I would sit there alone, surrounded by whispers, forcing down food that tasted like cardboard, my tears silently seasoning my rice. I started skipping classes. But the dorm was no sanctuary. The harassment from my roommates grew bolder. They used my shampoo, ate my food, and one day, they threw my bedding into the hallway. "Parasites belong outside," the ringleader sneered, as the others laughed. I stood in the hallway, clutching my soiled comforter, as people walked by, staring. No one helped. No one said a word. That night, I crouched in the hallway and cried until my throat was raw and my eyes were swollen shut. I wanted to call Liam. My thumb hovered over his name, but I couldn't press it. What would be the point? He would just tell me it was a joke. He would just tell me I was overthinking it. He would just tell me it would all blow over. But how long did I have to wait? A month? A year? A lifetime?
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