Chapter 4

"Are you kidding me?" Ava' s voice trembled with fury.

All her carefully constructed composure shattered.

"You broke my new laptop! My parents just gave that to me!"

Chloe burst into tears, loud, theatrical sobs.

"I didn' t mean to! You startled me! You grabbed for it!" she wailed, sinking to the floor beside the broken machine.

She made it sound like Ava had attacked her.

Ethan and Jax rushed forward, but not to Ava.

They went straight to Chloe, kneeling beside her.

"Chloe, are you okay?" Ethan asked, his voice full of concern.

"It was an accident, Ava," Jax said, glaring at Ava. "Why are you yelling at her? She' s obviously upset."

They hadn't even looked at the laptop. They hadn't asked Ava if she was okay.

Their immediate instinct was to protect Chloe, to blame Ava.

The betrayal was a physical blow.

"An accident?" Ava choked out. "She took my brand-new laptop without asking, refused to give it back, and then dropped it! Look at it!"

She pointed at the mangled computer.

"There' s security footage," Ava said, her voice shaking but firm. "My dad installed cameras last year. We can watch exactly what happened."

She needed them to see. To understand.

Chloe' s crying intensified. "No, please! I' m so clumsy! It was my fault, all my fault! I' ll pay for it, Ava, I promise! Don' t show anyone! I' ll be so embarrassed!"

She buried her face in Ethan' s shoulder, her body wracked with sobs.

It was a masterful performance.

She was panicking, not from guilt, but from the fear of being exposed.

Ethan stroked Chloe' s hair. "See, Ava? She' s taking responsibility. There' s no need to make a big deal out of it and humiliate her with cameras."

"Yeah, Ava," Jax added, his voice full of disappointment. "She said she' d pay for it. What more do you want? It' s just a laptop. We can get you another one."

Just a laptop.

It wasn' t just a laptop. It was the principle. It was the constant, blatant disregard for her, her feelings, her belongings.

They were so blind. So utterly, willfully blind.

A cold resignation settled over Ava.

What was the point? They would never see.

"Fine," she said, her voice flat. "Whatever."

She turned and walked back upstairs, the sound of Chloe' s muffled sobs and the boys' soothing murmurs following her.

The impending separation, her departure for Yale, couldn' t come soon enough.

That was her only solace now.

A few days later, at a pre-graduation barbecue, classmates buzzed around.

"Ava! So, UCW with Ethan and Jax, right? You guys are going to rule that campus!" a girl named Maya gushed.

Ava just smiled faintly. The assumptions were relentless.

"Heard you, Ethan, and Jax are rooming near each other. Triple trouble!" Kevin, a football teammate of Jax' s, laughed, nudging her.

Some comments were less innocent.

Jessica, a known gossip, sidled up. "So, Ava, who' s it gonna be? Ethan or Jax? Or are you planning on keeping them both on a string through college?"

Her tone was laced with malice.

Ava kept her expression placid. "Just focusing on my studies, Jessica."

Their taunts, their assumptions, slid off her. They meant nothing.

Then Ethan, Jax, and Chloe made their entrance.

Not together, exactly, but Chloe was flanked by them, laughing up at something Jax said, her hand resting lightly on Ethan' s arm.

They were a unit. The new trio.

It was a visual confirmation of everything Ava already knew, a public display of the shifted power dynamic.

The chatter around Ava died down as people watched them.

Jessica smirked at Ava. "Looks like the choice might have been made for you."

Ethan and Jax immediately gravitated to the drinks table, fetching a soda for Chloe, then one for themselves.

Ethan carefully wiped the top of Chloe' s can before handing it to her.

Jax found her a chair in the shade.

They fussed over her, their attention absolute, pointedly ignoring Ava who stood a few feet away.

It was a masterclass in passive-aggressive exclusion.

Ava watched, a strange sense of detachment washing over her. This was their reality now.

Later, someone started a game of "Truth or Dare."

Ava was roped in.

"Ava, truth or dare?"

"Truth," she said, her voice calm.

"Okay," Jessica said, her eyes gleaming. "When you, Ethan, and Jax go to UCW, are you finally going to pick one, or are you breaking both their hearts?"

Ava met Jessica' s gaze.

A small, cryptic smile played on her lips.

"Actually," Ava said, her voice carrying clearly in the sudden lull of conversation. "Some ties are meant to be severed. For a fresh start."

She looked directly at Ethan and Jax, who were watching her, their expressions unreadable.

A hint. A warning.

But she knew, with a sinking certainty, they wouldn' t understand. Not yet.