The Scholarship

Chapter Three 

The Scholarship 

Phina’s POV 

I reached for the envelope with trembling fingers.

The paper was thick, expensive, the kind that whispered money and power. My name was typed across the front in elegant script, Phina Vale, and beneath it, an address I didn't recognize. No return label. No stamp. Just my name and the words that made my heart stop.

Veyra University. School Of The Gifted.

I ripped it open.

The letter inside was crisp, embossed with a gold seal that gleamed under the dim light of our apartment. My eyes scanned the words, my breath catching in my throat.

Dear Ms. Vale,

It is our distinct pleasure to inform you that you have been selected for the Veyra University School Of The Gifted Full Scholarship Program. This prestigious award covers all tuition and living expenses for the duration of your undergraduate studies. Additionally, you will receive:

Full tuition 

Accommodation expenses 

Photography equipment and Studio access

We have followed your work and we believe your talent deserves to be cultivated.

Welcome to Veyra.

"Holy shit," I whispered.

My hands were shaking so badly the paper crinkled in my grip. I read it again. Then again. The words didn't change. The gold seal didn't disappear. This was real. This was actually happening.

"Holy shit, Mom. This is everything."

I looked up at my mother, my eyes wide, my heart pounding with a joy I hadn't felt in hours. Years. Maybe ever. This was the kind of thing that happened to other people. People with money. People with connections. People who didn't spend their nights scraping shattered cameras off storage room floors.

Not people like me.

But here it was. In my hands. Addressed to me.

She didn't smile.

She was still sitting in that armchair, her hands folded in her lap, her face pale and drawn. Her amber-flecked eyes were fixed on me, and there was something in them I couldn't read. Something heavy. Something afraid.

"Mom?" I said, my excitement faltering. "Did you hear me? I got into Veyra. Full scholarship. Everything paid for. Everything."

She was quiet for a long moment. The silence stretched between us, thick and uncomfortable. I could hear the clock ticking on the wall, the distant hum of traffic outside, the thud of my own heartbeat in my ears.

Then she spoke, her voice low and careful.

"Are you going to go?"

The question caught me off guard. I stared at her, disbelief washing over me. Of all the things she could have said, all the questions she could have asked, this wasn't what I expected.

"Why wouldn't I?" I laughed, holding up the letter. 

"Mom, this is a dream come true. Do you know how many people would kill for this? A full ride to Veyra University? I can build a name for myself, show everyone who ever doubted me that I was destined for more. This is everything I've ever wanted."

My mother's jaw tightened. She looked away, her gaze drifting to the window, to the moon that hung heavy and white in the night sky.

"That school," she said slowly, "isn’t what you think Phina Delacroix."

Mother rarely called my name in full, almost as if the very name itself reminded her of a past she was desperately trying to outrun. 

"Then what is it?" I blinked.

"That school belongs to powerful people. People who don’t care about anyone they consider beneath them.” Her eyes moved round the room, everywhere except me. 

“You have no idea what kind of people walk those halls, Phina. The kind of power they have. The kind of secrets they keep. The memories they buried,  that still haunts everyone of them."

"I don't care who they are, Mother. I don’t give a damn about how much power they have, I can handle them." I shook my head, clutching the letter to my chest.

My mother flinched.

 I continued, my voice rising with conviction. "It has everything I need, Mom. Everything. I can go to school and not work my ass off for once. No double shifts. No worrying about loans." I stopped, my voice cracking. "No more loan sharks."

The words hung in the air, heavy with truth. We both knew what I was talking about. The men in dark suits. The threatening letters. The way my mother's hands shook every time the phone rang. The way she'd stopped sleeping, stopped eating, stopped living.

This scholarship could change everything. It could save us.

She looked at me then. Her eyes wet with unshed tears, her lips trembling.

"You didn't apply to this school, did you?"

The question hung in the air between us. I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

"No," I said slowly, the truth dawning on me even as I spoke it. "No, I didn't."

I'd applied to community colleges. State schools. Places I could afford with financial aid and part-time jobs. Places that wouldn't require me to uproot my entire life, to leave my mother alone in this crumbling apartment.

Veyra University had never been on my radar. It was a dream too big, too impossible, too far out of reach.

And yet here it was. In my hands.

My mother's face crumpled. She pressed a hand to her mouth, stifling a sound that was half sob, half scream.

"They found you," she whispered. "They chose you."

The words sent a chill down my spine.

"What do you mean?" I demanded, stepping toward her. "Who found me? Who chose me?"

She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I didn't want this. I tried to protect you. I tried so hard, I thought I could hide you. Forever."