Chapter 4

I looked at Alexander's teary eyes, my head spinning.

He looked annoyed and seemed to realize he had said too much.

"I'm sorry. You should rest. I'll go get your favorite food."

I did not wait for him to come back. I got dressed and went straight to school to work on my paper.

After that day, things changed. My friends started giving me weird looks, and even my favorite professor seemed frosty. Walking by, I would catch bits of their hushed gossip.

"She's so annoying. She's just jealous because the younger girl is prettier."

"Wow! She's mean, always competing with other girls."

Camila stopped pretending to be nice and told everyone how mean I was to her, playing the innocent victim.

I felt left out at school, and even Alexander started to act distant.

He did not know that I had to start taking medication for the stress from money and school matters. This put me in a depressive state.

At the graduation dance, I did not even try to dress up. Standing next to Alexander in his fancy suit, I felt like a plain Cinderella.

"I'm surprised you're still here," a girl said to me with a fake smile. "You don't deserve him."

"We're all just trying to do our best," I said, not letting her get to me.

She looked at Alexander strangely and said, "Your dad wouldn't like this."

However, Alexander's dad was a kind baker. Why wouldn't he like me?

Before I could figure it out, Camila showed up looking like a princess. She walked right up to Alexander and asked him to dance the first dance, which was usually just for couples.

I did not have the energy to fight over a boy or play games. Alexander glanced at me, saw I did not care, and took Camila to the dance floor. People said they looked good together and glanced at me, as if they felt sorry for me.

I just smiled a little before going home to work on my paper and study for my law test.

Late that night, just as I crawled into bed, Alexander stumbled in, smelling like a brewery. He did not even say hello before he started scolding me.

"Why did you go?"

Exhausted, I pushed him off. "Cut it out. I've got a paper to turn in and a registration for in the morning. I've set six alarms. Make sure you wake me up too!"

Half asleep, I heard him sigh, a sound full of disappointment. "You're different now. All you think about is your stupid work."

When I finally woke up, it was already afternoon.

All my alarms had been turned off, my paper was late, and the deadline for the bar exam registration had come and gone.

I tried calling Alexander like crazy, but he did not pick up.

Then, I saw Camila's latest post and figured out where he had been.

There he was in her photos. He was hanging out with her at an art show in a group of nine, all smiles.

I got up and rushed to school to plead with my professor for one more chance.

He just waved me off, looking annoyed. "Look at how many classes you've missed this year. You're not focused on school, just on dating and messing things up for the juniors. You've just earned yourself another year before graduation!"

I had missed a lot of classes because I was working to pay for Mom's medical bills, but my grades were still top-notch!

I could not afford another year of tuition.

Without the certificate I would get before graduation, my internship efforts would be for nothing. No law firm would hire me.

Then, my phone buzzed with two new messages.

One from Alexander, and one from the hospital.

[I took Camila to an art show, but nothing's going on between us. You should think about what matters more, me or money! And don't stress about the bar exam, I've got it covered. I'm better at this than you think.]

[Ms. Porter, please pay the $2000 nursing fee as soon as possible.]

Seeing those two messages side by side was like a slap in the face.

Suddenly, the room started spinning.

When I snapped back to reality, an empty bottle of sleeping pills was in my hand.

However, life had a twisted sense of humor. I ended up passing out right in front of some church doors.

The kind nuns put together all their money to rush me to the hospital and saved my life.

The oldest nun looked at me with such sadness in her eyes.

"My dear, you're so young. Why would you want to stop living?"

When had anyone last been so kind to me?

I cried and cried. After coming so close to dying, what could possibly be so bad that I could not handle it?

Once I got out of the hospital, I blocked every avenue I had to contact Alexander and sent him one last text: [Forget it. I hope you and Camila are happy.]

I had to start working right away instead of going back to school, so I could pay for Mom's doctor bills.

It was tough without a lawyer's license or a diploma, but I never thought about giving up on life again. I was not the one who deserved to die.

I worked super hard, using my smarts and making friends to get ahead.

At first, Alexander tried to find me like crazy.

However, after I deliberately sent him a picture of me with another guy, he stopped showing up.

Five years later, I had a new name, Ivy, and I was known as the 'Victory Queen' in my field. I also had an adorable daughter.

I closed my client's file and rubbed my forehead.

I stopped thinking about the past. I needed to take my daughter to get her passport tomorrow. She was so excited about her school trip to Fiorenza.

It was time to bury those bad old days.

However, I never expected the past to come knocking at my door first.