Chapter 3

The day before I left.

I went back to school to handle my transcript delivery and pick up the camera I'd left in my dorm.

I'd just stepped out of the dorm building when I heard laughter behind me.

"Isn't that Vivian?"

"I heard she wanted to follow Claude to Stanford, but all four of them stayed in Boston with Chloe."

"If I were her, I wouldn't dare show my face at school. I'd have crawled far away and never come back."

A few girls blocked the stairwell.

The one in front was a new friend of Chloe's.

She looked me up and down, then suddenly reached out and snatched the camera from my hands.

"I heard you've been using the fact that you grew up with Claude and the others to refuse to help Chloe edit her coming-of-age video?"

"Did you bring this camera on purpose to upset her?"

I grabbed her wrist. "Let go!"

"Why so fierce?"

She deliberately raised her voice.

"Chloe was right. You think you're a princess just because you grew up with four guys?"

How ridiculous. I actually am a princess of the Moretti family.

Someone behind her chimed in.

"Too bad. Everyone's choosing Chloe now."

More and more people gathered to watch.

I looked up toward the other end of the hallway.

Claude and the others were standing there.

Jack was carrying Chloe's luggage. Ethan was checking her documents. Hunter was holding her breakfast.

Claude saw me too.

But he only frowned and didn't come over.

Once, when someone at school said I was relying on my four childhood friends for status.

Claude cornered him in the morning broadcast room and made him apologize in front of the whole school.

Now I was being surrounded and grabbed, and he acted like he couldn't see.

Chloe jogged over.

"Don't do this. Vivian's just in a bad mood."

The girl holding my camera sneered.

"Chloe, you're too kind."

"She's jealous because you have people who care about you. She won't even give you a few childhood videos, and you're still defending her?"

Chloe's eyes reddened instantly.

Claude finally walked over, but only to shield Chloe behind him.

"Vivian, if you have a problem, take it up with us. Don't take it out on Chloe."

Before I could speak, the girl behind me yanked the camera strap. The camera crashed to the ground.

Someone else "accidentally" knocked over a water bucket. Dirty water splashed all over me.

Laughter erupted. "Sorry, my hand slipped."

I wiped the water off my face and bent down to pick up the camera.

Claude glanced at me, annoyed. "If your clothes are wet, go home and change. Don't throw a tantrum at school."

So when they humiliated me in public, it was a slip of the hand. If I objected, I was throwing a tantrum.

I didn't look at them again. I finished my paperwork and left school.

Half an hour later, I'd just changed clothes when the estate's iron gate was pounded.

The four childhood friends burst in with Chloe.

"Where's the bracelet?"

Jack got straight to the point.

"Chloe was wearing it just now. Then it disappeared."

I leaned against the door. "So?"

Hunter's face was cold. "You're the only one at school who touched her. Who else would take it?"

He walked straight into my bedroom and pulled open drawers. The others searched the closet and desk.

For eighteen years, they'd never knocked before entering my room. I used to think it was closeness.

Now I understood. They just believed everything I had was theirs to handle.

Jack opened the closet and saw only a few clothes left.

"Why are you packing?"

My chest tightened.

Ethan glanced at the suitcase. "Scaring us, obviously."

Hunter snorted. "Vivian, how old are you? Still running away from home?"

They laughed easily.

Not one of them considered that I might actually be leaving.

Claude found the Stanford acceptance letter. He glanced at the cover and casually shoved it under the desk leg.

"School hasn't even started. You can't disappear today."

Then Chloe picked up a silver bracelet from the crack in the desk.

"Found it!"

She'd dropped it herself.

Chloe flushed and looked at me. "Vivian, I'm sorry. I accused you wrongly."

Claude just ruffled her hair. "It's fine. You found it. Stop crying."

No one thought to apologize to me.

Then Chloe noticed the video files I hadn't transferred yet.

It was us burying the time capsule at ten, going to Nantucket at fifteen, and every birthday in between.

"The full versions are here!"

Her eyes lit up. "Can I use these for my eighteenth birthday documentary?"

"No."

I stepped forward and shut the laptop.

The light in Chloe's eyes died. Tears fell immediately.

"Do you think I'll never deserve to be your friend?"

Claude's face darkened. He grabbed the mouse.

"She wants the videos. If you don't want to appear, just delete yourself."

"Claude, don't touch that."

He ignored me and selected every file tagged with my name.

I reached for it, but Hunter caught my arm.

"It's just a few videos. Not like it's your life."

The next second, Claude hit delete.

The progress bar ran to the end.

My first time horseback riding. My first fencing medal.

And when I was sixteen, Claude looking into the camera, promising to marry me one day.

All destroyed by his own hand.

He let go of the mouse, his face cold.

"In future memory videos, you won't appear."

He just wanted to provoke me.

But he didn't know those words would come true very soon.

After they left, I received a flight notification.

The plane would take off tomorrow morning.

I closed the laptop and zipped my suitcase.

Soon, I would do exactly what they wanted—never appear in front of them again.