Chapter 1
Erin's POV:
I let go of the cups. Both iced Americanos hit the edge of the trash can and fell inside. Brown coffee splashed onto my canvas sneakers. I wiped them with a tissue, turned around, and left the karaoke lounge.
Just then, the college placement system closed for good.
I took out my phone and looked at the name I could no longer change: Seabrook University. Then I calmly turned off the screen.
When I got back to the Hargroves' house, a wall lamp was still on in the living room. I'd just changed my shoes when I heard a key turn in the lock.
Derek came in with Monica, laughing and talking. He froze when he saw me in the entryway.
"Erin, when did you get back?" He tossed his car keys onto the shoe rack, his tone casual. "You went out to buy coffee and disappeared for ages. Monica waited so long for you in the room."
He didn't say a word about my college choice.
Monica had changed the course of my life. To him, it was a joke too trivial to mention.
I looked at the glitter caught on his collar. It had come from Monica's clothes.
"I was a little tired, so I came back early."
I kept my voice quiet.
Derek came over and reached to ruffle my hair out of habit. I turned my head to avoid his hand. He froze, hand in midair, brows drawing together.
"Why are you sulking again?"
Monica peeked out from behind him.
"Erin must be upset about the joke I played in the room." She tugged his sleeve back and forth, her voice sugary and pleading. "Derek, explain it to her, please. I really was just trying to have a little fun with Erin."
He reached back and patted her head as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"It was nothing." He turned to me, sounding completely sure of himself. "You changed it back before the system closed, right? Monica was just messing around. Stop glaring at her. You're scaring her."
I looked at the boy who had protected me for 12 years. I wanted to ask him, 'If I hadn't changed it back and my future had been ruined, would you still call it just messing around?' But I didn't ask. It no longer mattered.
"Yes. I changed it back."
I didn't tell him that my acceptance letter from Seabrook University would probably arrive in 2 weeks.
Derek visibly relaxed and led Monica toward the living room.
"See? I told you Erin was easygoing."
Monica followed him, a taunting glint in her eyes as she passed me.
She pointed at the drawing boards in the corner of the living room.
"Derek, my drawing boards take up so much room here. Your parents are going to complain when they get back."
He followed her gaze and waved a hand.
"Put them in the apartment next to Briarcrest U." He rummaged in a coffee-table drawer, took out a key with a teddy bear keychain, and tossed it to Monica. "Erin's apartment is sitting empty anyway. Use it."
My throat tightened as I watched the key arc through the air.
That apartment had been Derek's birthday gift to me last year. He'd said we wouldn't need to live in the dorms once we got into Briarcrest U. He had bought a two-bedroom apartment beside campus, and we had spent a month decorating it together. I had picked out the teddy bear keychain myself. Now he had given Monica the key without so much as asking me.
"But..." Monica caught it and glanced at me, pretending to hesitate. "That's the apartment you and Erin planned to live in together. Won't she mind if I leave my stuff there?"
Derek picked up a game controller without looking up.
"Why would she mind? They're just a few drawing boards. Go ahead."
I turned and opened my bedroom door.
A game's opening music and Monica's laughter drifted in from outside.
I went to my desk and opened the bottom drawer. Inside was a stack of photos.
Some showed the injuries Derek had suffered fighting for me. Others showed him from behind as he carried me up a mountain on his back. There was also a record of our promise to get into Briarcrest U together.
I took a photo of the two of us and fed it into the shredder beside the desk. The machine hummed, slicing the photo into strips. As the scraps fell into the bin, I felt hardly any pain. All that remained was calm.
