chapter 6
The regional competition was held in a convention center two cities over.
Everything smelled like stale coffee, stress, and recycled air.
The night before the first round, there was a networking mixer sponsored by an educational tech company Alex would not stop talking about.
“Vertex Learning Solutions,” he said, straightening his tie for the third time. “They’re huge. Rumor is their CEO is coming in person.”
“I’m trying to care,” Noor muttered.
“You should. He’s like twenty-nine and already on a Thirty Under Thirty list.”
I tried to focus on the event, but my eyes kept drifting to the posted list of participating schools.
There it was.
Northbridge University — Main Campus.
My pulse skipped.
I looked away and immediately nearly collided with a waiter carrying a tray of champagne.
“Careful,” a voice said, catching my elbow.
I turned.
The man beside me didn’t look like a professor or administrator. He wore a dark, perfectly cut suit, tie loosened just enough to say he had been working all day. His eyes were a deep gray, sharp and tired at the same time.
“I’m fine,” I said quickly. “Sorry.”
He glanced at my badge.
“Southern campus, huh?”
There was no mocking edge in his tone. Just curiosity.
“That’s right,” I said. “We’re the underdogs.”
His mouth curved slightly.
“Underdogs remember they have teeth. That’s usually when things get interesting.”
Before I could reply, someone called his name from across the room.
“Elias! They want you for the photo op!”
He sighed, then nodded once at me.
“Enjoy the party, Ava.”
And just like that, he was gone.
I stared after him.
Noor appeared at my side a second later, eyes huge.
“Do you know who that was?”
“Apparently Elias?”
She smacked my arm.
“That was Elias Ward. The Elias Ward.”
“I gathered he was someone.”
Noor groaned. “You flirted with a tech prince and your reaction is gathered he was someone?”
“I did not flirt.”
She looked unconvinced.
Later, I stood at the edge of the ballroom with a non-alcoholic drink in hand, letting the bass from the speakers hum through the floor.
Then I heard my name.
“Ava.”
I turned.
Liam stood a few feet away, hands in his pockets.
Beside him was Maya.
Of course.
Liam looked almost exactly the same and not at all like the person I remembered. His hair was slightly longer. There was a shadow around his eyes I didn’t recognize.
Maya looked polished and sparkling in a dress that didn’t belong on a freshman.
When she saw me, her lips parted in practiced surprise.
“Ava? You’re here too?”
I looked from her to Liam and felt a strange calm settle over me.
“I am,” I said. “We’re competing.”
Liam’s gaze dropped to my badge, then rose back to my face.
“So it’s true,” he said quietly. “You really transferred.”
“You thought I was bluffing?”
His jaw tightened.
“I thought you’d calm down. I thought you’d think about everything you were throwing away.”
I almost laughed.
“I did think about it,” I said. “I thought about the nights I stayed up tutoring you. I thought about the weekends I spent helping you with student government proposals. I thought about the way you brushed it off every time people called me your sister-in-law, like my identity was a joke. I thought about how easy it was for you to let someone else decide where I’d spend the next four years.”
I paused.
“And then I packed my bags.”
Something like guilt flashed across his face, then vanished.
“You’re being dramatic,” he said. “If you had just withdrawn—”
Maya slid her hand through his arm.
“Liam,” she said softly, “maybe we should let it go. We’re all here for the competition.”
We.
That one word made something old and familiar try to rise inside me. The urge to smooth things over. To shrink. To leave quietly.
Instead, I straightened.
“You don’t get to decide what was a big deal in my life,” I said. “You don’t get to reduce it to a joke just because you don’t like the consequences. I’m not here to fight with you. I’m here to win.”
I turned to leave.
Then I heard Maya behind me.
“She’s just jealous,” she whispered. “Don’t let her get in your head. She only made that team because they needed a replacement—”
I stopped.
Then I turned back and looked right at her.
“You used my login to submit a transfer application that changed my entire future,” I said clearly. “You impersonated me, violated university policy, and then played victim when I didn’t laugh. If you want to talk about how I got here, at least be honest about the role you played.”
Color flooded her cheeks.
Liam’s eyes darted around as nearby people started to look over.
“Ava,” he hissed, “keep your voice down. You’re making a scene.”
“Then maybe you should have thought of that before letting her tamper with my record.”
For the first time, I saw panic in his face.
Not anger.
Panic.
“Fine,” he said, lowering his voice. “Play martyr if you want. Just remember, you’re not the only one with a reputation on the line.”
Then he walked away, taking Maya with him.
She glanced back once, and underneath the fake hurt on her face was something uglier.
Noor materialized beside me again.
“Are we punching someone,” she whispered, “or are we being mature?”
“Being mature,” I said.
She sighed. “Boring, but okay.”