Chapter 1
The night before the university applications were due, the senior class group chat exploded.
Holy shit, Terry, why did you switch your application to the UK?
I thought you and Ava were set on Paris.
Terry’s reply was casual, almost lazy.
I switched. So what? She has my login info anyway.
He followed it up with a smirk I could feel through the screen.
She’ll see I changed it and she’ll follow me. That little shadow can’t live without me.
I stared at my phone, my mind completely blank.
My half-packed suitcase lay open on the floor, the gift I’d painstakingly chosen for him sitting right on top. I left the group chat, tossed the gift into the trash, and never looked at the application portal again.
He had no idea.
He could throw away our future for Rachel, but I could throw him away to secure my own.
All those sleepless nights, all that effort—it was never just about us. Terry’s words were like shards of glass in my heart. Paris—we’d worked our asses off for twelve years, dreaming of that specific university. It was our sacred goal. And now he had changed it just like that, without even bothering to tell me to my face.
Someone in the chat asked, What if Ava doesn’t see it? The portal closes tomorrow at midnight.
Terry’s reply dripped with mockery.
Since the portal opened, Ava’s been checking it every ten minutes. She’s more obsessed than my own mother. There’s no way she’ll miss it. You guys wouldn’t get it.
The chat filled with sycophantic replies, all variations of Terry, you’re the man.
Then another voice spoke up.
But what if she doesn’t change it? That school in Paris is a way better fit for her program.
Terry paused for a few seconds before answering, his tone turning icy.
Ava has major separation anxiety. I was gone for one day last year and she dropped everything to come find me. This is three years. You think she can handle three years without seeing me? To her, I’m more important than any school. She’ll choose me. She always does.
A heavy silence fell over the chat.
After a long moment, someone tentatively typed, Terry, isn’t that a little rough on Ava? We all saw how hard she worked for this. You should at least give her a heads-up.
Terry sent a single dismissive message.
Tsk.
It took him a while to type again.
It’s a pain in the ass. I don’t want to deal with it. You guys know how she gets. If she finds out I did it for Rachel, she’ll cry and it’ll give me a headache. It’s just easier this way. Less drama for me.
The chat immediately sprang back to life.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Ava’s great, but she’s no Rachel.
Damn, Terry, you’ve got it made.
The banter, the casual cruelty of it all, felt like a physical weight crushing me. I wanted to call him, to scream, to demand an explanation, but my fingers wouldn’t move. In the end, I just threw myself onto my bed, numb, and stared at the ceiling as my thoughts unraveled.
How could a person change so completely?