Chapter 7

Without hesitation, Taylor downed the entire glass in one gulp before placing a glass of water in front of Harvey.

"Drink this instead."

With those cold words, she turned and returned to her seat.

Barry immediately hurried over, leaning close to whisper excitedly, "What the hell just happened? How did Taylor know you're allergic to alcohol? Even I didn't know that!"

Harvey stared blankly ahead, his thoughts drifting back to the time he'd first fallen for Taylor. Back then, afraid she might genuinely mistake him for some chain-smoking, hard-drinking troublemaker, he'd gone out of his way to find her in the library just to set the record straight.

"Taylor, listen. I know I might look like that kind of guy, but I don't smoke or drink. In fact, I'm severely allergic to alcohol. I can't drink any of it!"

He could still picture her beautiful profile in the sunlight, her expression cool and focused as she listened to him.

At the time, he'd assumed she hadn't been paying attention at all.

But who would've thought she'd remembered every word?

Harvey lowered his head and took a sip of orange juice, unable to make sense of the strange emotions stirring within him.

The graduation party went on until well past midnight, by which time quite a few people were drunk. Taylor was one of them.

She'd only had the single glass of alcohol she'd drunk on Harvey's behalf, but since she rarely drank, even that was enough to leave her intoxicated.

Harvey, on the other hand, hadn't touched a drop, yet for some reason, his head was spinning terribly.

As they made their way toward the entrance, he nearly stumbled and fell. Jacob had to support Taylor with one arm while steadying Harvey with the other.

"You guys can head back first," Harvey heard Jacob tell the others. "Taylor drove here tonight, but she's been drinking. I'll drive her car and drop Harvey off at home."

Someone immediately raised a concern. "Jacob, do you even have a driver's license? And didn't I see you drinking earlier?"

"I only had a sip," Jacob replied with a smile. "Besides, I've already gotten my license. Don't worry."

With that, he helped Harvey and Taylor out of the building. Harvey wanted to pull away, but for some reason, his entire body felt completely drained of strength. He could only let Jacob practically dump him into the car.

After that, everything became a blur.

Harvey's vision continued to swim, and he could barely make out anything around him. The only thing he remembered was the sudden sound of an impact, followed by screams. Then, everything went black.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in a hospital bed, with Jennifer standing in front of him, her expression grim.

"Harvey, did you realize you were driving without a license last night? Under school regulations, that's grounds for a major disciplinary demerit!"

Harvey stared at her in disbelief. "What?"

As Jennifer explained what had happened, Harvey slowly pieced together the events of the previous night.

While Jacob was driving him and Taylor home, they'd gotten into a car accident right outside the school gates. Fortunately, since the accident had happened on school grounds, the teachers were able to step in and handle the situation immediately, preventing the matter from escalating and avoiding police involvement.

But for some inexplicable reason, according to Jennifer, Harvey had been the one behind the wheel and was now being held responsible for driving without a license.

Harvey stared at her in disbelief. "Ms. Williams, I wasn't the one driving! It was Jacob—"

"Harvey, stop making excuses!" Jennifer cut him off, looking thoroughly disappointed. "Taylor already told us everything. She said you were the one driving last night!"

Harvey's words caught in his throat.

Jennifer let out a helpless sigh. "Under normal circumstances, an incident this serious would absolutely warrant a major disciplinary demerit. But you're the top student in the state this year, so after discussing it, we've decided to let it slide this time. Still, you need to be more careful from now on. You can't put your own life or your schoolmates' lives at risk like that!"

After giving Harvey a lengthy lecture, Jennifer finally left.

A moment later, the hospital room door opened again, and Taylor walked in.

Harvey looked at her, struggling to keep his voice steady despite the slight tremor.

"Taylor, why did you lie to Ms. Williams and tell her I was the one driving last night?"

Taylor stopped in her tracks.

"Harvey," she began softly, "Jacob hasn't actually gotten his driver's license yet. If anyone found out he'd been driving, he could be charged with driving without a license and possibly drunk driving, too. This is a crucial time for him. Curwell University has made an exception to admit him, and I can't let him get a disciplinary record, much less put him at any further risk."

"What about me?" Harvey shot back, his voice rising. "Did you even consider that I could get a disciplinary demerit? That it could affect my college admission?"

"But it's not like you were going to get into any decent university anyway!" she retorted defensively.

Harvey fell silent. He stared at the girl standing before him, unable to believe what he'd just heard.

"What did you just say?"

Taylor awkwardly looked away, then took out a document envelope and placed it in front of him.

"These are admissions brochures from several second-tier universities in Aurelia. Though I doubt you'll be able to get into anywhere this year, either. You can repeat your senior year, work harder, and still have a chance of going to college in the same city as me."

Harvey lowered his eyes to the documents, finding the whole situation utterly ridiculous.

He had indeed told Taylor before, "Taylor, I'm going to make sure we go to college together."

But he'd meant the same university, not simply attending college in the same city.

He'd never imagined she'd interpret his words that way, much less that she'd make him take the blame for Jacob.

Was his poor academic performance really a reason for them to accuse him of anything they wanted?

If he hadn't been the top student in the state, the school might actually have given him a major disciplinary demerit. That could have ruined his chances of getting into any reputable university in the country and might even have jeopardized his ability to graduate.

Yet Taylor didn't seem to care in the slightest.

She'd sacrificed him without a second thought, then brought him brochures from a handful of mediocre universities and offered him an empty promise, as if that were enough to make up for everything.

He found it absurd that she genuinely believed his feelings for her meant he would tolerate absolutely anything she did.

Harvey's expression turned cold.

"Taylor, actually, I…"

Before he could finish, the hospital room door suddenly swung open, and one of her classmates rushed inside, looking frantic.

"Something's wrong, Taylor! Jacob is awake, and he keeps saying his head hurts terribly. You need to go check on him!"

Taylor's expression changed immediately, and she got to her feet. But just as she reached the door, she suddenly remembered something and stopped.

She turned to Harvey and said, "We'll talk about you repeating your senior year when I get back."

With that, she walked out without even looking back.

Harvey let out a quiet, humorless laugh.

Without a moment's hesitation, he tossed the envelope she'd given him into the trash, pulled out his phone, and called the police.

"Hello. I'd like to report the car accident that happened outside Crestling High School last night."

He knew the teachers had simply taken Taylor's word for it because they hadn't been able to access the security footage or investigate the incident any further.

But once the police got involved, things would be different.

By the time he finished the call, barely more than two hours remained before his flight to Matosia.

His luggage had already been packed and shipped out, and his visa had been approved long ago. After making sure he had his passport, he got into a taxi.

"Airport, please."

The taxi sped off.

…

Meanwhile, the school finally published its official announcement online, celebrating the year's top student in the state.