"And after that, his girlfriend got beaten bloody by those thugs, and it cost her the SATs. But he still never blamed me. Doesn't that prove I matter more to him?"

I dug my nails into my palm, my body shaking and refusing to stop.

Every night, Alden and I studied at school until nine.

When we finished, he'd ride me home on his bike, all the way to my door.

A month before, Alden had been walking me through a problem when his phone suddenly rang.

One glance and his face changed. He tossed out a single line:

"Let me step out and take a call. Wait here for me."

I waited for him at the school, all the way to ten. He never came back, and his phone wouldn't connect.

The building had long emptied out when those thugs kicked the door open and stormed in.

As they pinned me to the floor, their mouths kept up a filthy, leering taunt:

"Damn, knew that little bitch was right, you really were waiting up here! Can't touch them, but I sure as hell can deal with you!"

They tore at my clothes, grinning like animals. I screamed, sobbed, fought with everything I had,

and they slapped me across the face more than a dozen times until my eardrums bled.

If a patrolling security guard hadn't heard the noise and called the police to save me, I might have been finished that night.

Alden rushed to the hospital and held me, his eyes red. He said:

"I'm sorry. My mom suddenly took ill, so I ran home. I never thought those thugs would... I'm sorry... Grace..."

"Thank God you're okay. Otherwise I'd never have forgiven myself, not for the rest of my life!"

Alden and Aunt Camila James had only ever had each other. I knew how much she meant to him.

So I just told myself it was bad luck, a senseless disaster that had landed on me.

My eardrums were permanently damaged. The SAT listening section, once my strongest subject, fell apart in my hands.

When the test ended, I crouched at the school gate, crying so hard I could barely stand.

Three full years I'd fought for the elite university, only to lose at the final moment to an accident like this.

In front of every parent and reporter there, Alden made his promise, word by word:

"Don't be scared! If you retake the year, I'll retake it with you!"

"And if you don't want to retake it, whatever school you go to, I'll go there with you!"

When Aunt Camila found out, she landed in the hospital from sheer rage, forcing him to cut me off, refusing to let me drag down his future.

But Alden said, firm and unshaken:

"Mom, I'm sorry. But I choose Grace."

Aunt Camila wept and raged, came to my door and threw herself down screaming, forcing me to break it off with Alden.

She even hung a banner under my apartment and cursed me out for being shameless, for seducing her son!

It didn't stop until I talked Alden out of doing anything rash for my sake.

I was genuinely curious. Alden had merely floated an idea, and Aunt Camila could make a scene like that.

So if Alden truly got dragged off to vocational school by Louisa, how far would Aunt Camila go then?

Alden's beating of that boy blew up after all.

The male classmate was badly hurt, and his parents went straight to the police.

I was getting my burn treated at the hospital when Aunt Camila's calls came flooding in.

The second I picked up, hysterical sobbing tore through the line:

"Alden is about to be a student at the elite university! Do you have any idea a record like this will ruin his whole life?!"

"Why didn't you stop him?! Why did you have to make him fight someone over you?!"

"You jinx, you killed your own parents, and now you're ruining my son! You little slut! I'll make you pay for hurting my son!"

Aunt Camila had lost it completely. She came to my home, splashed gasoline, and tried to light it to burn me alive,

After someone stopped her, she screamed and sobbed, demanding to call the Department of Education to report that I'd cheated on the SATs, that I had a rotten character, that they should cancel my scores.

After the education officials set her straight, she only grew more unhinged. She went after my dead parents, posting that they'd killed her husband, that they were criminals, that I was the offspring of criminals and had no right to my SAT results.

I stared at the lies she'd manufactured online, shaking from head to toe.

Years ago, Uncle Alfred James had been driving late at night, exhausted, when his car burst through the guardrail.

My parents happened to be passing. They risked their lives to get out and help.

Then the car exploded a second time. A steel rod drove straight through my father's chest. He died on the spot.

My mother shoved a young Alden clear of the blast and was burned alive.

And now Camila was weeping all over the internet:

“They were the ones who flagged my husband down for a ride, and that's what distracted him and caused the crash!”

“Then they got themselves killed and pinned it on the James family!”

The videos went off like a bomb. Someone livestreamed themselves dispensing "justice," tearing through my parents' grave plot.

My parents' headstone had already been smashed. Their portrait was trampled to pieces.

Red paint was splashed across the stone, and someone had scrawled:

【A life for a life】.

Shaking, I called Alden.

He was silent for a few seconds. Then, low and coaxing:

“Grace, I know this isn't fair to you.”

“But my mom's too worked up right now. Don't take it to heart.”

“The people online are just piling on. It'll blow over in a few days.”

My voice trembled.

“But they smashed my parents' grave!”

Alden said quietly,

“Later on, I'll help you rebuild it.”

Louisa's voice came through from his end. He cupped his hand over the phone fast and said,

“I've got something important going on right now. I'll come be with you once I'm done. Don't be scared, Grace.”

My hand shook as I looked at the post Louisa had just put up.

“I told him I wanted something to remember it by, so he canceled everything to come take graduation photos with me. He does have me in his heart.”

Then Louisa sent me a voice clip. A conversation between her and Alden.

Her voice came through thick with tears.

“Alden, were you this reckless tonight for Grace, or for me? You clearly have feelings for me!”

“If you say it was for Grace, then leave me alone! Go on, leave! Let Max take me away and have me, fine! You don't care about me anyway!”

Alden was silent for a few seconds. Then, like a man who'd given up resisting:

“For you.”

Eyes burning, I screen-recorded it and sent it to Camila.

“He didn't do it for me! Retract everything right now, or I'm calling the police! You don't want your son to have a mother behind bars, do you?”

A minute later, the videos were all gone, and Camila posted a long apology statement.

The next day.

The class group chat blew up. They said Camila had stormed into Louisa's home.

Word was she'd smashed their TV.

Then grabbed Louisa by the hair and dragged her out into the stairwell, calling her a homewrecking slut.

Louisa's forehead was split open and bleeding. Crying, she called Alden.

Alden tore over like a madman and, for the first time, shoved his mother hard away.

Camila hit the floor and stared at her son in disbelief.

“Alden... you'd push me for this little tramp?!”

Alden's face was white, but he still planted himself in front of Louisa.

“Mom, that's enough!”

That night, Alden called me.

“Grace, why did you have to tell my mom I got into that fight for Louisa? How could you frame Louisa just to protect yourself?!”

"Just because Louisa likes me, because she's chasing me, you'd treat her like this? Don't you think that's going too far?"

Alden's voice dropped low.

"Go apologize to Louisa. Once you do, all of this will be over."

I said coldly, "Not a chance."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, his tone worn thin.

"Grace, stop making a scene. After the SATs she'll never be able to wedge herself into our lives again. Is it really worth it, pulling something this vicious over something so small? Do you have any idea how depressed she's been these past few days? She won't even step out the door!"

Then he dropped the line, flat and hard.

"If you won't apologize, then I won't be going on the graduation trip with you."

I didn't say another word. I just hung up.

I'd looked forward to that trip for three whole years. It was the plan my family made the day before my parents died, the four of us sitting together.

Back when I still loved Alden, I'd wanted to bring him along.

But now, I didn't need him.

…

The day we were supposed to leave, I got to the airport.

And the staff stopped me at the counter.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Simmons, your ticket has already been cancelled."

My mind went blank, a ringing in my ears.

Not far off, Louisa stood beside Alden in a travel jacket that matched his, her cheeks flushed.

When Alden saw me, an offhand smile slid onto his face.

"I switched all your tickets over to Louisa. She's been in a bad way lately because of you, so I figured this was a way for you to make it up to her."

"If you're willing to apologize to her right now, I'll rebook your ticket on the spot, and the three of us can go have fun together."

I looked at him, the disgust in my chest swelling until it nearly spilled over.

I took several steps back, sick to my stomach, and said each word slowly.

"Alden, stay away from me from now on. I never want to see you again."

He froze for a beat, then let out a laugh, faintly irritated.

"Enough. You always say things like this when you're mad."

"Once school starts and we're both at the university, you think you can hide from me for the rest of your life?"

He turned and walked off, Louisa in tow.

I went south on the trip alone.

Over the next few days, Alden's messages kept popping up.

At first, he was still angry.

"Grace, have you had enough of this yet?"

Later, when I never answered.

His tone softened again.

"My little jealous one, still mad?"

"You can dodge me now, but once school starts at the university you won't get away."

Even later than that.

He'd slipped right back into acting as if nothing had ever happened.

"Grace, saw a little dolphin plushie, looks just like you, bought it for you."

"When school starts, I'll take you to that couples' restaurant near campus."

As if all that damage had been nothing but a spat between sweethearts.

As if all he had to do was bow his head and coax me a little, and I'd forgive him like I always had.

After the trip ended, I came home early to pack my things.

Ready to leave this place for good.

But what I hadn't expected,

was that Alden had come back early too.

I'd just pulled the acceptance letters out of the mailbox.

When he wrapped his arms around me from behind and, in one smooth motion, snatched both envelopes away.

My face changed in an instant. "Give them back!"

But Alden only laughed. "We're both headed to the university anyway."

"You little scatterbrain, what if you lost it? Better to let me hold onto it for you."

As he spoke, he tore one of them right open.

That careless smile still on his face.

"Let me see whether the two of us got into the same college—"

The voice cut off dead.

The smile on Alden's face froze solid.

He stared at that acceptance letter, unable to look away.

The words leapt off the page: 【Stonebrook Vocational Technical College】.