Don’t cover the slack again, or you’ll wind up being walked over. I’ve been the responsible one in flats before (I’ve also been a total flake), and this needs to be the last time you run after these people or your year is going to be hell
It’s really too bad you couldn’t have cut one of them out. If you’d given the busted phone guy his check back and said, “that’s okay, we’re good” and found someone else, I can guarantee the example would have been an inspiration to your other roommates.
That would have been nice, but with a lease alreadysigned and me needing the money in less than a week, what are the odds I could have found someone to replace him that fast? I’ll tell you the odds. Not good. I’d rather have $400 now and make up the other $400 myself for a week or two then not have that first $400 in the first place.
And it’s far too late to move out/break the lease. Two of them are already moved in (Flake (who is now one of two that is fully paid up,) and J. M is moving in soon (and bear in mind, M was the only one who asked ahead of time if he could only pay half, and I accepted. I know that if I demanded the money, he could have gotten it, but I know he has a lot of medical bills he is paying back.) L is moving in next week sometime, and I will be the last to actually move in around the 15th, since I am going away for a week and a half for a vacation/road trip (I/my family planned this months ago, and there is no way I am not going. After the stress from this and from work I need a break.)
I know some of you must think I’m mad to still go through with this, especially to go through with it and ten leave them all alone for a week and a half ( 
), but it would be a far bigger hassle at this point to not go through with it.
Like I said above, it is very likely that you’ll survive the year, tho I anticipate any number of hassles both small and not so small. And at the end of the year you will have learned a lot about how you wish to handle financial matters and dealing with other people. Plus, you’ll have a bunch of stories to tell in your dotage about the wacky way you handled things that one year back in college.
Folks style their financial and living arrangements in all kinds of unconventional, inefficient, off-the-cuff, and downright irresponsible manners. And they survive. It is rarely necessary to do so, however, and I prefer not to whenever possible.
(Did I ever tell you about the time I saw the guy doing something out on the front lawn - turned out he was turning off my water because I ignored the final notice. Or the time I rented a room in a house that turned out to be the dining room? I got a million of them. Believe me - been there, done that, glad I’m no longer there.)
I hope things work out, but this shows how important it is to get things agreed before money changes hands.
P.S. Is ‘Flake girl’ hot? (There’s a UK advert for Cadbury’s Flake which features a blonde model slowly sucking a flake…)
You’re sort of on the right track. Y’know how the Flake bars, though they be delicious, fall into pieces at any sort of pressure?
(have you tried Flake Noir? Dark chocolate, all good. om om om)