Chapter 3

The moment I stepped through the front door, the hospital gown still clinging to me, I found my parents waiting, their faces a mix of relief and concern. "Mom, Dad," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "I want to break off the engagement with Damian."

They looked at me as if I' d grown a second head. "What are you talking about, Elena?" my mother asked, her voice sharp with disbelief. "You two are practically inseparable. We've always assumed..."

They had every reason to assume. My childhood had been a constellation with Damian at its center. Every shared secret, every stolen glance, every whispered dream. I was the girl who meticulously cataloged his football stats, who knew his favorite coffee order, who kept a small, worn photo of us from kindergarten tucked inside her diary. I was the girl who cherished the chipped pottery mug he'd made me in art class when we were ten, even though it was hideously crooked. I was utterly, hopelessly, irreversibly in love with Damian Cameron.

And now, I was letting it all go.

That night, I went to my room, pulled out the pottery mug, and with trembling hands, dropped it into the trash can. It shattered with a small, desolate sound. Tears streamed down my face, but they were different now. Not tears of pain from his betrayal, but tears of mourning for the girl I used to be, the girl who believed in fairy tales. "I'm done trying to fit into something that was never meant for me," I whispered, the words a silent eulogy.

The next morning, the air in the exam hall was thick with tension. This was the final round for the Stanford early admission scholarship. As I settled into my seat, my eyes scanned the room. And then I saw her. Gigi Wall, looking impossibly pristine, already flipping through her exam booklet. My heart gave a painful lurch.

Midway through the test, I noticed it. Gigi, her eyes darting nervously, was pulling out a small cheat sheet from her sleeve. She glanced up, her eyes meeting mine for a split second, wide with panic. I held her gaze, a cold certainty settling in my gut. She quickly tucked it away, her face flushed.

When the bell rang, signaling the end, Gigi was waiting for me outside the hall. Her usual confident swagger was gone. She clutched her test papers to her chest. "Elena, please," she pleaded, her voice barely above a whisper. "You won't say anything, will you? My parents... they'll kill me if I don't get this scholarship." Tears welled in her eyes, but I saw no genuine remorse there. Only fear.

I just looked at her, my face devoid of emotion. I walked past her without a word. She bit her lip, then let out a theatrical sob, drawing the attention of several students still milling around. "I'm so sorry, Elena!" she cried, her voice rising. "I didn't mean to bully you! Please, don't tell anyone I tried to cheat!"

My blood ran cold. Bully me? All eyes turned to me, accusatory and disbelieving. Whispers erupted, sharp and cruel. "Look at her, the fat pig. Always causing trouble." "I heard she's obsessed with Damian. Probably jealous Gigi is finally with him." "She's always been a freak."

My face flushed crimson. "That's not what happened!" I stammered, but my words were swallowed by the rising tide of their contempt. The room seemed to shrink, closing in on me. I felt their judgment, their disgust. The familiar sting of being the outsider, the target.

Just then, the crowd parted. Damian strode in, his eyes scanning the scene. He looked effortlessly handsome, even now. He went straight to Gigi, who was now openly sobbing, burying her face in her hands. He gently put his letterman jacket around her shivering shoulders.

"What's going on here?" Damian asked, his voice calm, but with an underlying edge of authority.

Gigi looked up at him, her eyes wide and innocent, leaking tears. "Elena... she saw me... she was going to tell everyone I cheated... and then she started saying all these mean things about me..."

Damian turned to me, his eyes cold, distant. "Elena, is this true?" he asked, not a trace of the old familiarity in his voice. "Are you really going around bullying Gigi?"

The question, the blatant disbelief in his tone, was a fresh wound. "No, Damian!" I cried, my voice cracking. "She's lying! She cheated, I saw her! And then she started crying and accusing me!"

Damian's lips thinned. "Elena, you know Gigi. She's delicate. And you... you're just upset about last night, aren't you? It's not fair to take it out on her." He paused, then delivered the final blow. "And for the record, Elena, there's nothing between us. There never has been. We are not together."

A gasp rippled through the crowd. More whispers, louder now. "See? I knew it. She's delusional." "Poor Gigi. Elena is truly crazy."

My explanation, the words I' d rehearsed in my head, died on my tongue. He wouldn't believe me. He had already chosen. His eyes, usually so warm and familiar, were now filled with a chilling disgust as they landed on me.

"Just apologize, Elena," he ordered, his voice flat. "Apologize to Gigi, and let's put this behind us."

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. I would not cry. Not here. Not for them. "Apologize?" I asked, my voice trembling but firm. "I didn't do anything wrong. You can check the surveillance footage. It will show everything."

Gigi' s sobs intensified at the mention of the cameras. "No, please! Don't do that!" she wailed, clutching Damian's arm.

Damian looked from Gigi' s tear-streaked face to my defiant stance. "There's no need for that," he said, his voice cold. "Gigi is clearly distressed. And frankly, Elena, you're making a scene. I told you, there's nothing between us. I could never... I could never be with someone like you." He paused, his gaze sweeping over my still-healing body. "Just... be better, Elena. For your own sake."

Then he turned, pulling Gigi close, and steered her through the crowd. My tears, which I' d fought so hard to hold back, finally broke free. They streamed down my face, hot and humiliating.