Chapter 2

My face practically said, Are you serious?

She had been the one to confront me that day and say she hated how I constantly clung to her and depended on her.

She was also the one who had thrown some mysterious AI installation file at me.

"Why would I tell you?"

Sabrina's face darkened when I shut her down. "Would your parents really let you travel alone?"

For some reason, I thought of Nova on my phone.

"Who said I'm alone?"

Sabrina scoffed.

"I know you. You need me beside you just to walk to the corner store. Who else would go with you?

"Even if your parents are fine with it, my mom..."

Before she could finish, her phone rang.

It was her mother, Mrs. Hayes.

My hearing was poor, and even with my hearing aid I couldn't make out their conversation.

But Sabrina's growing irritation told me enough.

Mrs. Hayes wanted Sabrina to accompany me to Crescent Island.

She could have refused.

Instead, after hanging up, she sighed.

"I guess I really can't get rid of you."

I stood there frozen.

I could understand why Mrs. Hayes felt responsible.

When we were little, my hearing loss hadn't been as severe.

Sabrina had been fooling around with a toy megaphone and shouted my name right beside my ear.

I covered my ears and burst into tears before being rushed to the hospital.

The test results weren't good.

To function normally, I might need a hearing aid for the rest of my life.

My parents never blamed her.

Mrs. Hayes, however, was furious. She punished Sabrina and made her stand in front of me and swear,

"I, Sabrina, promise to take care of Dylan forever, be good to him, and never bully him."

Little Sabrina had cried so hard her shoulders shook. At that age, she couldn't possibly understand what such a promise meant.

Yet to everyone's surprise, she kept it.

From age six to eighteen, she was the person I relied on.

She understood me without my needing to speak.

That was why I had always known that Sabrina probably liked Cameron, at least a little.

It had started about three months before graduation.

Cameron, who had always ranked near the bottom of our class, suddenly began studying seriously.

Sabrina had scoffed while peeling a hard-boiled egg for me.

"He finally regrets wasting his time. Does he really think three months can make up for three years? I can't stand people like that."

She really had disliked Cameron. He was late constantly, skipped classes, and disrupted lessons.

Then one day she bumped into him at the turn of a stairwell.

His practice tests spilled across the floor.

She saw the pages covered in dense notes.

From that day on, the two of them grew closer.

A month before finals, she brought Cameron into what had always been our two-person study group to help him qualify for college.

She began overlooking me.

So it made sense that she wanted to draw a line between us.

After thinking it over, I took a slow breath.

"You don't have to go. I'll explain it to Mrs. Hayes for you."

Sabrina gave a bitter little smile.

She pulled a boarding pass from her pocket.

Then she told Cameron, "I wasn't sure whether I should go with you. Looks like I don't have a choice now."

The two of them exchanged a smile.

I quietly opened Nova and typed, "I think I've become a prop in their flirting game."

"That sounds awful."