Chapter 1

I stood beside them for a long time.

Ethan Carter and Sophie Lane were talking and laughing as if I did not exist.

“Ethan,” I called.

He frowned, impatience already in his voice. “What?”

“There’s a problem I don’t understand. I wanted to ask if you could explain it to me.”

Sophie laughed.

The sound slipped out before she quickly covered her mouth.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to laugh. Ava, are you trying for the Harvard Scholars recommendation too?”

Our senior class had two school-backed recommendation spots for Harvard’s special scholars review program.

Ethan was guaranteed one.

Everyone assumed the other would go to Sophie, the transfer student who had arrived this semester.

Before Sophie came, Ethan had once told me, “Ava, if you get the Harvard recommendation, we’ll be together.”

I had held on to that sentence for a long time.

I had studied like my life depended on it, just to get a little closer to him.

“Why can’t I?” I asked.

Sophie froze for a second, then looked at Ethan.

He rejected me without hesitation.

“Sophie wants that recommendation too. Do you really have to compete with her?”

Sophie gently pressed a hand to Ethan’s shoulder, her tone soft.

“It’s good that Ava wants to try. You said she doesn’t have the ability, but at least she has ambition.”

Her words hurt more than a slap.

They sounded like she was helping me, but they cut deeper than open mockery.

Ethan gave a cold laugh.

“No one knows her better than I do. Ava Bennett is slow and lazy. She’s never had a head for studying.”

Then he looked at Sophie.

“You’re the one I believe in.”

Sophie smiled at him, as if she had known he would say that all along.

I tightened my grip around my workbook.

“I believe I can earn that spot on my own.”

One of Ethan’s friends snorted.

“Ava, Ethan doesn’t have time for you. If you’re so capable, go ask Noah Reed.”

The boys around Ethan all looked at me with teasing eyes.

“Noah hates spoiled rich kids the most. I wonder if Miss Bennett can even get him to say one word to her.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Ethan laughed too.

At that moment, something in my chest felt blocked.

But when I looked at the smile on Ethan’s face, I suddenly became calm.

If he did not want to teach me, I could ask someone else.

It was only a question.

What was there to be ashamed of?

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll go ask Noah.”

The laughter stopped.

“Wait, seriously?”

“Seriously.”

I hugged my workbook tighter.

“There’s nothing embarrassing about asking for help. Noah Reed is ranked first in the whole school by a mile. It would be an honor to learn from him.”

The smile on Ethan’s face stiffened.

His friends kept jeering behind me.

“Ava, don’t come crying back to Ethan after Noah shuts you down.”

I did not turn around.

Amid their laughter, I only walked faster.