Chapter 3

Home was too far, and I didn't want to explain my sudden retreat to my parents, not yet.

Not until this was over.

Instead, I found a 24-hour university library on a campus a few towns over.

Anonymous. Safe. Or so I thought.

I found a quiet study carrel, deep in the stacks.

For two days, I read. Textbooks, novels, anything to keep my mind from replaying the past, or what I prayed was now the avoidable future.

I napped in the uncomfortable chair. Ate snacks I' d bought from a vending machine.

My phone stayed off mostly, just brief check-ins with my parents, vague excuses about intense study sessions.

On the third day, I turned on my phone to check the time.

News alerts popped up.

"Cheating Scandal Rocks American Youth Scholar Championship."

My heart hammered. It was happening. But I wasn't there.

A shadow fell over my table.

Then another.

Police officers. Event officials from the Championship.

Their faces were grim.

"Sarah Miller?" one of the officers asked.

I nodded, confused.

"You need to come with us. You fled the competition venue after being caught cheating."

"Fled?" I stood up. "I was never there. I've been here, in this library, for two days."

Jess and Mark appeared behind the officers. Mark, my boyfriend. Or he had been.

Jess rushed forward, her face a mask of concern. "Sarah! Oh my god, what happened?"

Mark looked pale. "Officers, there must be some mistake."

Onlookers, other students, started to gather, whispering.

Their eyes on me. Judging.

Just like before.