Chapter 3

Lena's POV

The moment I pushed open the front door, I saw the trash can in the corner of the living room stuffed with my things.

My first-place certificate from the state physics competition and my outstanding student award had been torn to pieces and mixed in with fruit peels and scraps of paper.

"What did you do?" I rushed over and yanked the certificate out of the trash.

Mandy pouted, looking completely unbothered. "Come on, Lena. Why are you yelling? We're both going to college. What's the point of keeping these old awards? They were taking up space, so I just threw them out for you."

I was shaking with anger. "I stayed up countless nights and worked through test after test to earn these! Who gave you the right to touch my things?"

"What's all this yelling about?" Mom rushed out of the kitchen and immediately stepped in front of Mandy. "What's the big deal? Mandy was only trying to help clean your room. You should be thanking her instead of yelling at her."

Ian came out of his bedroom too and leaned against the doorframe with a sneer.

"Lena, you kept all these old papers just to put them on display and show Mandy up, didn't you?" he asked. "We're family. Why do you have to be so petty and calculating?"

I clenched the stained certificate in my hand and said nothing. Then I turned and went back to my room.

Growing up, everyone said I was smart and gifted.

But I only did well in school because every weekend, Mom took Mandy to amusement parks while I was left home alone studying.

I was tall and fit because Mandy always got to ride on the back seat of Mom's scooter, leaving me to run to school.

After 12 years of running to school every day in all kinds of weather, I had ended up with strong, toned legs.

Everything I worked so hard for went toward giving Mandy the pampered life she had.

Now they wanted to destroy my future too.

…

Three days later, we had our high school graduation reunion.

The class president, Ralph Anderson, raised his beer and called out, "Come on. This one is for Lena, the state physics competition champion! She'll breeze into one of the state's top physics programs!"

Mandy suddenly giggled. "Come on, Ralph. You're getting ahead of yourself."

She twirled the fork in her hand. "Getting a high score is one thing. Getting into colleges you choose is another."

The private dining room fell silent for a moment.

Ralph paused, confused. "Mandy, what do you mean? With Lena's score, she could get into college with her eyes closed."

Zeke set down his glass and sighed. "Lena has always been too confident. She wouldn't even let us see her college choices. What if she got it into her head to pick some random programs and ends up getting rejected from all of them? She could really end up with nowhere to go."

Mandy immediately chimed in. "Exactly. If Lena really gets rejected from all her choices and has to retake the exam, what will you do, Zeke? Wouldn't you two end up doing long distance?"

Zeke gently ran a hand through Mandy's hair. "It's fine. I'll just come back and see her more often on weekends. And while I'm here, I can look after you too."

The classmates around us exchanged uneasy glances, and the atmosphere became painfully awkward.

A few young women who were close to Mandy started whispering among themselves.

"No way. The top student could end up without a college offer?"

"What if she can only get into some random college? It'd be ridiculous if that's the only place she could go!"

I sat there watching Zeke and Mandy put on their little act, then smiled and said, "You're right. Who knows which college I'll end up at?"

As soon as I finished speaking, my phone buzzed.

It was a message from Luke.

"It's done. Your special admission letter from Branford University will be mailed to your house tomorrow."