The Hazing Bill Was $18,000, But I Own This Lab

The lab manager loved playing "pranks." I had barely set foot in the research lab when she blasted an announcement into our WhatsApp group. [Our new girl, Harper Vance, wants to bond with the team! She's treating everyone to dinner tonight at the newly opened high-end rooftop restaurant, Lumina Private Dining!] As the supposed host, I had zero clue about any of this. It wasn't until my phone started blowing up with people tagging me like crazy to pay the bill that I realized they had already run up a tab of $18,000. When I dropped a single question mark in the chat, Mandy Smith texted back with complete nonchalance. [Oh come on, I was just teasing! Who knew everyone would take it seriously?] [Besides, you're the newbie. Isn't buying dinner for the seniors an unwritten rule everywhere? We all went through it when we joined. Why are you being so difficult?] What she didn't know was that I wasn't some naive undergraduate intern. I was the distinguished scientist Professor Miller had begged for months to bring onto his team. Staring at her messages, I didn't bother arguing. I just texted back calmly: [Since you said it was just a joke, Mandy, I won't take it to heart.] [I won't be coming tonight. Have fun, everyone.] After hitting send, I ignored Mandy's barrage of incoming calls and turned off my phone. The next morning, the moment I arrived, Mandy marched over to my lab station and slammed both palms onto my desk with a deafening bang. "Who gave you the nerve to turn your phone off? You promised dinner! What is your problem?" "Every single one of us bought dinner for the team when we joined. Do you think you're special?" "Or were you expecting the seniors to split that eighteen-thousand-dollar bill themselves?" The rest of the grad students in the room shifted uncomfortably. Eighteen grand divided among them was definitely not pocket change. "Harper, what's your deal? You just got here yesterday. Are you trying to act like a boss and flex on us?" "Seriously. Everyone pays their dues. Who do you think you are? You really think you'll last in this lab with that attitude?" "You better cover that bill today, or you can pack your trash and get the hell out!" I calmly booted up my workstation terminal and prepped my materials. "Mandy, you were the one who announced dinner, not me." "You also admitted yourself it was just a prank. Why would anyone take a prank seriously?" "And another thing—when did I ever say I was just a student?" A chorus of mocking snickers erupted around the room. "Look at her ego! Here for one day and already thinks she runs the place." "If you're not a student, what are you? Don't tell me you're gonna claim you're that VIP guest scientist Professor Miller invited!" "That legend isn't arriving until next week. At least get your lies straight before you open your mouth." As the lab erupted into laughter, I ignored them, grabbed my mug, and walked into the breakroom. Ten minutes later, a ping chimed on my phone. [You have been removed from the lab WhatsApp group.] Right after that, I opened Instagram and saw Mandy's brand-new story. [Some people really think they can come into our lab and act like they're running the show. Too bad for you, sweetie—you crossed the wrong person. Your life here is going to be a living hell.] The comments underneath were flooded with brown-nosing lab mates hyping her up. I tapped a heart on the post and strolled out of the breakroom. If she thought this petty hazing would rattle me, she was sorely mistaken. I didn't care about their childish mind games. But when I got back to my station, I froze. My desk was piled high with random clutter and lab waste, while my personal belongings had been tossed like garbage right in front of the hallway restrooms. My freshly printed data sheets had visible dirty shoe prints stamped across them. Seeing me standing there, Mandy let out a smug chuckle. "Oh, Harper, we had too much extra inventory and nowhere to put it, so we borrowed your bench." "You're getting kicked out soon anyway. You don't mind, right?" "Suit yourself," I said with a light shrug. I stepped forward and swept an arm across the desk, sending every single box and piece of equipment crashing onto the floor. Glassware and supplies shattered across the tiles with a deafening clatter. Mandy's eyes widened, her face instantly turning scarlet with rage. She lunged to shove me, but I grabbed her wrist in an iron grip before she could even touch my coat. "How long I stay here is my business. Mind your own damn business. Touch my things again, and you'll regret it." I let go with cold precision and began sorting through my items as if nothing had happened. Just as I finished setting my desk back up, a text from Professor Miller popped up on my phone. [Dr. Vance! You arrived early? Why didn't you let me know? I'm still overseas at an academic summit, but I'm catching the next flight back right now.] [Nothing was prepped for you! I'll have administration set up your private executive lab suite immediately.] Catching Mandy glaring daggers at me from across the room, I typed back: [Don't worry about it, Professor Miller. We can deal with the private lab later.] [I'm out here in the open floor plan. It's actually a great chance to get to know the team.]When I returned to the lab after lunch, none of the team members were anywhere to be seen. I couldn't care less what they were up to. I plugged in my encrypted external SSD and began running simulation pipelines. It wasn't until right before closing time that they all sauntered back in, laughing and shoving each other. Mandy strode over, wearing an air of authority, and rapped her knuckles on my desk. "Harper, did you finish compiling the raw data I told you to organize?" When had she ever assigned me any data? They hadn't even bothered trying to communicate with me. "You never handed me any raw files. Were you expecting me to pull numbers out of thin air?" Taken aback, she faltered for a second, then her eyes darted to my monitor. Her mouth dropped open in exaggerated horror. "Wait, have you been sitting on your butt doing nothing all afternoon?" "What garbage is on your screen right now? That has nothing to do with our lab's project!" Before I could react, she reached over and ripped my encrypted hard drive straight out of the USB port. "Working on unauthorized outside projects during lab hours? Who knows where this even came from." "Are you an industry plant sent by a rival lab to steal our tech?" "If you want this drive back before I report you for corporate espionage, pay up that eighteen thousand dollars right now." Watching her perform this little routine, everything clicked. She had planned to freeze me out, then manufacture an excuse about my 'poor performance' to shake me down. She just happened to stumble upon my private research instead. My voice was ice. "Hand that drive back to me right now. You still have a chance to walk away from this." Mandy burst into derisive laughter, looking down her nose at me. "Did you just threaten me?" "I'm giving you three days to transfer the eighteen grand. Otherwise, pack your bags and get lost." Without waiting for another word, she jabbed her finger down on the power button of my workstation. The unsaved simulations I had been running for the past four hours evaporated instantly into black screen. A sharp heat flared in my chest. I stood up and stared straight into her eyes. "First, I have zero obligation to pay for your dining expenses." "Second, you just destroyed a full afternoon of computations. If anyone is paying compensation, it's you." "And third, that drive contains classified personal proprietary data. Give it back now, or I will have you charged with grand larceny." Mandy sneered, venom flashing in her eyes. "A fresh-faced intern threatening to sue me for theft? I'll show you who runs this department." She immediately pulled out her phone, dialing the university's graduate student academic affairs office. "This new intern is completely out of control! Not only did she skip out on an eighteen-thousand-dollar bill she owes the senior staff, but she's also constantly insubordinate and harassing us." "I want Academic Affairs to terminate her lab access and expel her right now!" There was a brief silence on the other end, followed by a confused voice: "Wait... intern? Mandy, we haven't assigned any new graduate interns to your department this semester." The call was on speakerphone. Everyone in the room froze. I stood there, watching her quietly. Since I wasn't a student, Academic Affairs had zero authority over me anyway. Still, seeing how Mandy thought she had the power to order campus administration around showed me just how corrupt this place was. Looks like I needed to completely re-evaluate this lab's management. A guy standing behind Mandy suddenly seemed to connect the dots. He tugged at her sleeve, his voice trembling. "Wait... Mandy... could she be that elite researcher Professor Miller personally scouted...?" Mandy's face drained of color. Her lips twitched nervously. Then the voice on speakerphone continued: "Definitely not. If it were that top-tier guest scientist, Professor Miller would have ordered us to unlock the Level-4 executive lab suite days ago." A collective sigh of relief washed over the group. Mandy sneered, regaining her smugness. "Oh, so you're just some useless nobody who slipped in through back-channel connections. Just wipe Harper Vance from our door system. If anyone asks, I'll take the blame." "In all my years as lead administrative coordinator, I've despised privileged freeloaders who use personal ties to skip the line." "Are you positive you want to lock me out?" I asked coldly, locking eyes with them. "You aren't worried about how Professor Miller will react when he lands?" "A pathetic freeloader dares to threaten us?!" "Kick her out!" Little did they know that to secure my contract, Professor Miller had handed me unilateral decision-making authority over the entire project. Too bad none of that mattered to them right now. Mandy glared at me, her expression twisted. "This is what happens when you mess with me. Two choices: wire me the eighteen thousand dollars, and I'll pretend this never happened. Or tomorrow, you won't even make it past the security turnstiles." The clock on the wall struck six. I had zero desire to waste another second on trash. Grabbing my bag, I walked past her. "You won't see a single cent of that eighteen grand." "A word of advice, though: don't lose that hard drive. The consequences will be far beyond anything you can handle." Ignoring her colorful curses echoing down the hallway, I walked straight out the front doors.The next morning, my keycard buzzed red at the lab entrance. I tapped it again. An earsplitting security alarm rang through the entire science building lobby. It took three phone calls before Mandy finally answered, her voice dripping with bored arrogance. "I told you yesterday, you're terminated." "All the crap on your desk is waiting for you outside the front doors." I hung up and turned around. Sure enough, there was a pile of broken debris dumped by the entrance. My ceramic mugs, my personalized acrylic standees, my framed family photo—all smashed to bits. Even my work laptop lay there, its screen completely spiderwebbed with severe cracks. I didn't care about the hardware. I dropped to my knees, rummaging through the rubble frantically. "Where is the SSD?" I dialed her number again. "You still have the audacity to ask for that drive?" Mandy snapped through the line. "Using university compute power on unauthorized side projects—that drive is physical evidence of your espionage!" "I already leaked all the raw project files on that drive online! Consider this an initial warning to you and whatever backwater lab sent you. Pull another stunt, and it won't end this smoothly!" She hung up before I could utter a word. Three minutes later, a video notification popped up on WhatsApp. In the clip, my custom encrypted SSD was placed on the concrete floor, crushed into jagged silicon shards beneath the sharp heel of Mandy's stiletto pump. [That's what happens to corporate spies who sneak in through personal connections. Enjoy being blacklisted from academia.] I didn't bother texting back. The project blueprints were already leaked. Explanations were pointless. I swept up the broken debris from the floor, threw it into a trash bag, and headed back to my apartment. The moment I opened Twitter, a trending thread within our niche academic circle caught my eye. [Caught an industry plant in our lab today secretly stealing company resources for an outside project. Wonder which clown institute sent her!] The post had already blown up, comments multiplying by the minute. [Holy crap, the core architectural logic and raw data were literally posted in the attachments. This entire pipeline just got completely leaked.] [Wait, this mathematical model is brilliant though?! Anyone working in neural compute, hop on this idea ASAP!] [Jesus, the intellectual property loss here has to be in the millions. That spy is completely ruined.] Seeing the internet validate her post, Mandy was reveling in the spotlight in the comment section, gloating non-stop: [Gotta teach these entitled cheaters a lesson!] I locked my screen with a quiet sigh. Noticing a WhatsApp message sent ten minutes earlier from Professor Miller checking in, I replied: [Sorry to inform you, Professor Miller, but I've been officially expelled from your lab.] [The core computational pipeline you commissioned will have to be frozen indefinitely.] [I'll let you decide how to handle this.] My phone rang within two seconds. Professor Miller's frantic voice practically tumbled through the receiver. "Dr. Vance! I am so, so sorry! I just boarded my connecting flight back to the states! What on earth happened?!" "Please, give me a chance to fix this! Give the lab a chance! I swear on my career I will deliver a resolution that satisfies you completely. Please, can you wait for me to arrive?" Hearing the sheer desperation and sincerity in his voice, I relented. "Fine, Professor Miller. We'll talk when you touch down. Don't disappoint me."The second Professor Miller landed, his notification popped up on my phone. After a brief confirmation, I headed back to the university to meet him. Professor Miller worked fast; my biometric profile had already been restored to the building's access system. When I stepped through the lab doors, every single person in the room stopped dead in their tracks. Mandy instantly marched over, blocking my path. "What? Crawled back here to pay the eighteen grand?" When I gave her stony silence, she ground her teeth. "Fine. If you won't pay willingly, I have plenty of ways to make you cough it up!" She yanked out her phone and hit the button to start a TikTok live stream. "Hey everyone! Tune in! Let me show you all the privileged freeloader who sneaked her way into our world-class research lab. Honestly, she's probably Professor Miller's sugar baby or side piece!" "She skipped out on an eighteen-thousand-dollar onboarding bill, ran unauthorized outside software during working hours, and brought complete chaos to our team!" "Her name is Harper Vance! Remember this face! Every lab and institute in the country needs to blacklist this scammer right now!" Up until now, I had always published papers under my professional monograph moniker. Barely anyone outside the top brass knew my full legal name. These kids certainly didn't. The viewer count on her stream spiked violently within seconds. The live comments scrolled by in a blur: [Are side chicks really this shameless nowadays? Flaunting it out in the open?] [Lmao look at her, definitely got zero brain cells, just trading her pretty face for a cushy lab spot.] [Every lab director take notes! Do not accidentally hire this snake!] Watching the chat take her side, Mandy grew drunk on validation, shoving the phone camera inches from my nose. "Mandy Smith, public defamation carries severe legal consequences." "I'm just spitting pure facts, aren't I?" she asked, turning to the rest of the lab. The other grad students nodded along eagerly, chiming in with agreement. Losing my last shred of patience, I pulled out my phone and dialed Professor Miller. "Professor Miller, how far away are you?" Mandy smacked the phone right out of my hand, sending it clattering across the tile floor. "Still putting on a show? Who do you think you're scaring?" She raised her stiletto and stomped down hard on my phone screen, cracking the glass into pieces. "I'm delivering justice today. Go on, tell the stream—whose mistress are you?" Right at that moment, the lab doors were kicked wide open. Professor Miller burst into the room, drenched in sweat, panting heavily from sprinting up the stairs. Mandy's face instantly split into a triumphant grin as she scurried over. "Professor Miller! You arrived at the perfect time! Our lab doesn't tolerate dirty nepotism. Look, I caught this fraud red-handed for you!" Instead of praising her, Professor Miller's face turned purple with pure fury. He shoved her aside so hard she nearly stumbled into a workstation. "Get the hell out of my way, you blind idiot!" Panting, Professor Miller spun around, bowed slightly, and extended both hands toward me in desperate deference. "Dr. Vance... I am mortified. Please, forgive this disgraceful display."