$2.13 on my meal card. Nothing in my wallet. Nothing in my bank account. Even the little bit I'd scraped together last month from selling recyclables, money I'd been saving for exactly this kind of emergency, Mom had taken all of it last week. Said she'd hold onto it for me.
I took a deep breath and sent my mother a message.
"Mom, Weston sent a reminder about tuition and fees. It's due by tomorrow night. Eight thousand dollars total. Can you just transfer me thirteen hundred first? I want to secure my dorm bed."
Just thirteen hundred.
I didn't dare ask for more. I was afraid she'd hang up on me.
I sent the message and stared at the chat window, counting the seconds.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Five minutes.
The typing indicator appeared on her end.
My heart rate spiked. My fingers tightened around the phone without thinking.
Then the indicator vanished.
Three more minutes passed before her reply came through. A single line.
"Once I transfer money, who knows what you'll actually do with it. Don't think I don't know your deadbeat father's broke again. Are you trying to scam money out of me so you can secretly funnel it to him?"
I closed my eyes.
"Mom, this is tuition. It has nothing to do with Dad."