Chapter 4

Exam day.

I wasn't at the testing center as a candidate, but as a volunteer.

My mom, being the PTA president, often helped organize these events.

She'd been surprised when I offered to help, especially after the admission pass incident, but pleased.

"It's good to keep busy," she'd said, giving me a sympathetic smile.

Keeping busy was part of it. Being a witness was the other.

Mid-morning, Mrs. Hayes, Ethan's mother, rushed into the volunteer station, her face pale with panic.

"Sarah! Have you seen Ethan? He wasn't in his room this morning! He's not answering his phone!"

Mr. Hayes was right behind her, his expression grim.

I looked at her, my face a mask of polite concern.

"No, Mrs. Hayes, I haven't. I assumed he was already here, taking the exam."

This was true. I hadn't seen him since he tore up my pass.

"He wouldn't miss this," Mr. Hayes muttered, more to himself than to me. "He just wouldn't."

They rushed off, their frantic calls to Ethan echoing in the hallway.

I felt a grim satisfaction. Jessi's plan, it seemed, had worked perfectly after all.

He'd probably passed out, just as she'd bragged.

The first section of the exam was nearing its end.

The proctor announced, "Five minutes remaining."

Just then, the doors to the exam hall burst open.

Ethan stumbled in.

He looked like he'd been dragged through a hedge backward and then set on fire.

His hair was a mess, his clothes were rumpled and stained, and he reeked of stale alcohol and something else... cheap perfume?

His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked utterly disoriented.

Mrs. Hayes gasped, a sound of pure horror.

She rushed towards him. "Ethan! Where have you been? What happened to you?"

He blinked, trying to focus. He saw his mother, then his father, then... me.

Standing by the volunteer table, watching.

A flicker of something – guilt? fear? – crossed his face before it hardened into something ugly.

When his furious mother grabbed his arm, shaking him, demanding answers, he didn't look at her.

He pointed a shaking finger straight at me.

His voice, loud and accusatory, filled the suddenly silent exam hall.

"It was Sarah! She did this to me!"

A collective gasp went through the room. Parents, proctors, other students.

"What are you talking about, Ethan?" his father demanded, his face turning purple.

"She was jealous!" Ethan yelled, his voice cracking. "Jealous I didn't want her, jealous I have Jessi! She got me drunk at some party last night! Lured me to some cheap motel and... and tried to mess with me! She ruined my exam! She planned this all along!"

The accusation hung in the air, vile and shocking.

My own parents, who had just arrived to bring me lunch, looked horrified.

Before anyone could react further, Mr. Hayes, Ethan's father, exploded.

With a roar of fury, he lunged at me. "You little bitch! You did this to my son!"

My father, bless his protective heart, jumped in front of me.

"Get your hands off my daughter, Hayes!"

Mr. Hayes didn't care. He shoved my father hard, sending him stumbling back.

Then he grabbed my arm, his fingers digging in like talons.

"You'll pay for this!" he snarled, his face contorted with rage.

Other parents, fueled by Ethan's hysterical accusations, started to close in.

"She looks guilty!" someone shouted.

"Poor Ethan!" cried another.

A woman spat in my direction.

I was surrounded, the scene devolving into chaos.

My mother was screaming. My father was trying to fight his way back to me.

I was bleeding from a scratch on my cheek where Mr. Hayes's ring had caught me. My arm throbbed.

This was worse than I could have imagined. The public humiliation, the immediate assumption of my guilt.

But I was ready.

With my free hand, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my second phone.

The one I' d kept hidden, the one with Lisa Chen' s forwarded audio file.

My fingers, slick with a bit of blood, fumbled for a second, then found the play button.

I held it up, my voice shaking but clear.

"This is what really happened last night!"

Jessi Vance's drunken, bragging voice suddenly filled the tense silence.

"...Ethan is so hammered... passed out at my place... he'll definitely miss that stupid exam... stupid Caltech nerds... he's mine..."

The audio clip played on, Jessi laughing about how easily Ethan was manipulated.

The crowd froze.

The angry shouts died in their throats.

Mr. Hayes' s grip on my arm loosened, his face a mask of disbelief.

Ethan stared at the phone, his jaw dropping, all the fight draining out of him. His parents looked utterly horrified.

The silence in the exam hall was absolute, broken only by Jessi' s recorded, damning laughter.