Chapter 3

"Mia, over here!"

The next morning, outside the school hallway.

Xander waved at me, holding a small cake box.

A little flag was stuck in the box with the words: "See you at MIT."

I walked up to him, glanced at the cake, but didn't take it.

"What time did you get home last night after taking Summer back?"

I looked into his eyes, my tone calm.

Xander's gaze flickered for a moment, the smile at the corner of his mouth slightly fading.

"Around nine. Why?"

I pulled out my phone, brought up a screenshot, and held it in front of him.

"Then the message you sent her at 11:47 saying 'home safe, remember to use the body wash I gave you'---were you sleepwalking when you sent that?"

Last night after clearing the folder, I casually checked my social media feed.

Summer had posted at 23:50 saying "Thanks Xander for taking me home, got the body wash."

Though she deleted it two minutes later, I'd already taken a screenshot.

Xander panicked instantly, his fingers tightening on the edge of the cake box, but he quickly recovered.

"Stop making everything into a big deal. We were stressed for three years in senior year---can't I relax a bit?"

"Or are you trying to control who I'm friends with too? Mia, when did you become so unreasonable?"

Hearing these words, my mind flashed to the week before finals in second semester of junior year.

Another guy in class had asked me to study together at the library on the weekend.

When Xander found out, he gave me the cold shoulder for two whole days.

In the end, I apologized first and deleted that guy's contact, and only then did he return to normal.

He had always held double standards.

I'd just been too in love with him before, choosing selective blindness.

"Say whatever you want."

I put away my phone and walked past him.

He called after me: "Cool off for a bit. Fill in MIT computer science major for your application like we agreed. Don't gamble with your future out of spite."

I stopped, looking back through the hallway's glass window.

Right in front of me, he answered a phone call.

The name flashing on the screen was Summer.

When he answered, the corners of his mouth turned up, his voice softened, his steps became light.

Exactly like when he used to chase after me.

I withdrew my gaze and walked alone into the classroom, sitting down at the computer.

I logged into the application system.

On the screen, the first choice field blinked with an empty cursor.

I remembered when we first got together in freshman year, when Xander leaned on his desk and drew me a future plan.

Freshman year, take photos together at the MIT entrance. Junior year, intern together. Senior year, he'd propose.

I'd kept that draft paper tucked in my diary for three whole years.

The mouse clicked. First choice: MIT Computer Science and Technology.

I hit the backspace key.

Cleared it and typed again.

First choice: Harvard University, Law.

The South. Two thousand miles away.

This was my original dream when I started high school---the dream I'd personally abandoned to attend the same school as Xander.

My finger hovered above the submit button. My hand was shaking.

Not because I was hesitating, but because I suddenly realized that from this moment on, the boy who used to lean on his desk and draw me our future---he was truly dead.

I clicked submit.

Then I pulled out my backpack and extracted that future plan I'd saved for three years.

I folded it once, then again.

Then stuffed it into the paper bin in the corner of the classroom.

As I left the classroom, Summer's voice came from the end of the hallway.

Around a corner, her voice floated over clearly.

"Xander, I sneaked a bite of the cake you just bought for Mia... She won't be mad, will she?"

Then came Xander's suppressed laughter: "You need to eat less sugar or your teeth will hurt again."

I carried my bag and left through the hallway's other exit.