Chapter 1

The car horn blared, a sound I knew too well.

My eyes snapped open. I was in my bedroom, the morning sun weak through the rain-streaked window.

SATs morning.

My heart hammered, not with test anxiety, but with a chilling memory.

Last time, this day started my end.

Liam, my boyfriend, would be downstairs, impatient.

Jessica, the head cheerleader, would be "late," looking for a "lucky charm."

A lie. All of it.

I remembered the party after the SATs I barely made.

The food Jessica handed me, her smile so sweet.

The peanuts. My throat closing.

Liam, siding with her, "It was an accident, Ava."

The other classmates, nodding, believing her tears.

Then the online posts, Jessica the victim, me the problem.

My mother, a tech CEO, her company attacked, her reputation shredded by Jessica' s followers.

The worst part was dying, knowing Jessica did it all.

For revenge. Her father, fired from my mom' s company for embezzlement.

For clout.

But this time was different.

A letter sat on my desk, thick and official. MIT. Early admission, full scholarship.

Won from the national science competition weeks ago.

The SATs meant nothing to me now.

But they meant everything to them.

I got out of bed, my movements calm, deliberate.

The past was a ghost, but its lessons were real.