Chapter 3

Ethan rushed over, pulling Brenda away from Chloe.

"Hey, Lexington, back off!"

"She' s a thief, Davis! And you' re defending her?" Brenda sneered.

Chloe was crying, clinging to Ethan' s arm. "I didn't do it, Ethan, I swear!"

The principal, Mr. Henderson, arrived, drawn by the commotion. "What' s going on here?"

Brenda pointed a finger at Chloe. "She plagiarized my scholarship essay! I have proof!"

All eyes turned to Chloe, then to Ethan. He looked from Chloe' s tear-streaked face to Brenda' s furious one. Then, his eyes landed on me, standing a few feet away, watching.

His expression hardened. "Principal Henderson," Ethan said, his voice firm and clear. "I saw Sarah Miller near Brenda' s locker earlier this week, around the time Brenda said her essay folder went missing. She was acting suspiciously."

My jaw dropped. He was throwing me under the bus. To protect Chloe, he was implicating me in something I had nothing to do with. The audacity, the cold calculation, it took my breath away. Chloe looked relieved, a small, grateful smile touching her lips as she looked at Ethan.

Later, Ethan found me alone in the now-empty hallway.

"Sarah, I... I had to," he said, his voice low, trying for sincerity. "Brenda would have destroyed Chloe. You know how she is. Chloe needs that scholarship, her family..."

He was trying to appeal to my loyalty, the loyalty he himself had shattered.

"And what about me, Ethan?" I asked, my voice flat.

"You' re strong, Sarah. You can handle this. It' ll blow over. Just... don' t make a fuss. For Chloe' s sake. For our friendship."

Our friendship. The words tasted like ash in my mouth. I watched him, noticing for the first time a slight dullness in his usually bright eyes, a tiny frown line between his brows. The locket. It was starting.

I gave a small, resigned nod. "Okay, Ethan. If you say so."

He looked relieved. "Thanks, Sar. I knew you' d understand."

He didn' t understand a thing. He didn' t see the ice in my eyes, or the resolve hardening in my heart. He saw what he wanted to see: compliant, sacrificial Sarah.

The school assembly was a public crucifixion. Principal Henderson stood at the podium, his face grim.

"It has come to our attention that a serious breach of academic integrity has occurred regarding the National Merit Scholarship essay submission..."

He didn' t name Chloe. He named me. Based on Ethan' s "eyewitness" account and Chloe' s tearful (and false) testimony that I had been jealous of her recent academic improvements.

My National Honor Society membership was revoked on the spot. My existing conditional scholarship offers were put "under review," which meant they were gone. The looks from my teachers, the whispers from my classmates – shame washed over me, hot and suffocating.

I thought of Mom. This news would devastate her. Her chronic illness always flared up under stress, and this... this was a catastrophe. The scholarship was our only way out.

The whispers followed me everywhere. "Cheater." "Thief." "I always knew she wasn't that smart." Brenda Lexington reveled in it, of course, preening like she' d won a great victory.

Ethan watched it all, a complicated expression on his face sometimes – a flicker of guilt, maybe – but he never spoke up. He kept his arm around Chloe, protecting her, while I was torn apart by the school' s judgment. Chloe, meanwhile, blossomed, her confidence soaring, her laughter echoing a little too loudly in the hallways. She was the wronged party, the victim of my supposed jealousy.

One afternoon, Ethan approached me, a check in his hand.

"Sarah, this is for your mom' s medical bills. I know things are tough." He looked genuinely regretful for a moment. "I' m sorry about the assembly, how it all played out."

I looked at the check, then at his face. His skin looked a little sallow, not his usual golden tan. Good.

"I don' t want your money, Ethan," I said, my voice cold. I pushed his hand away.

He sighed. "Don' t be like this, Sarah."

"Like what? The girl you and Chloe destroyed? Get away from me."

I walked away, leaving him standing there, the check still in his hand. His atonement was too little, too late, and utterly self-serving.

I had to pretend, though. For my plan to work, Ethan needed to believe I was still somewhat pliable, still the old Sarah underneath the anger.

A few days later, I saw him struggling with a calculus problem in the library, the same kind of problem he used to breeze through. He looked tired, frustrated.

I walked over. "Need some help?" I asked, my voice softer than it had been.

He looked up, surprised. "Oh, uh, yeah, Sarah. If you don' t mind."

I explained the concept, just like old times. He watched me, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Thanks, Sarah. You' re... you' re still the smartest person I know."

"Just trying to get by," I said, with a small, sad smile.

He thought I was forgiving him, or at least weakening. He had no idea I was just watching the locket do its work, draining his academic prowess, his famous luck, bit by bit. Every point he lost, I felt a grim satisfaction.