Chapter 2

Everyone immediately got it.

"Don't worry, our lips are sealed."

"Tsk, getting her college application changed to a place thousands of miles away from home is a fair price for Theo's attention."

Everyone laughed at that statement.

Lily looked at Theo with starry eyes. He affectionately returned her gaze.

They looked like they were living in their own world. I could not help but burst into tears.

I thought to myself that I would never get back with Theo ever again.

So, I decided not to join the class reunion. Instead, I immediately went home.

On the way home, I kept receiving text messages.

Theo urged me to hurry up and be there at the class reunion.

[Do you know what time it is? Why aren't you here yet? Everyone's waiting for you.]

[You're embarrassing me.]

The other few friends also mentioned me in the group chat.

[Emma, are you alright? It's not nice of you to be this late for our first class reunion after graduation.]

[Lily's here early. You're the only one who's late.]

[Welp, she's the genius in our class, and she's going to North University soon. No wonder she looks down on us.]

Fiona sent a laughing emoji.

Immediately after, all classmates also sent the same emoji to mock me.

I stared at my phone as my fingernails dug into my palm.

The feeling of being shunned reminded me of my junior high school days.

Because of my introverted nature and good grades, everyone did not like me.

Some classmates drew on my books, and I was always left alone during PE class.

I constantly heard people whispering my name during recess and free periods. Sometimes, they would laugh.

When I turned around, they would act as though nothing had happened.

I felt so uncomfortable, like the feeling of an uncut tag on a sweater constantly scratching against my skin.

It would scratch me from time to time, yet it left no wounds.

At that time, Theo was in a different homeroom. It was two floors away from my homeroom.

However, when he realized something was wrong, he immediately went to my homeroom and warned everyone.

He claimed that I was the most important person to him, and no one was allowed to bully me.

During the entire freshman year, he would accompany me to go to school and home. He would even visit me during recess, and he missed the bell a few times because of that.

Even my parents said, "Theo's such a good kid."

They were happy for us to be a couple.

However, he changed my college application and led the entire class in shunning me.

I typed on my phone.

[I've heard it. Don't pretend anymore…]

Theo replied in the group chat.

[Alright, stop joking. If Emma cries and complains to her parents, I'll still have to pacify her later.]

I stared at that sentence and did not cry.

I suppressed my tears.

Then, I deleted the words I typed and put my phone away. I did not reply to any one of the text messages. All I did was go back to my parents.

After giving them a brief rundown of the night, my mother teared up as she felt sorry for me.

"How could Theo possibly do that? I can't believe he's allowing people to bully you like that.

"I'll talk to his parents tomorrow. How could he be such a bully…"

My father's expression darkened as he went to his study. Then, he brought his laptop to the living room and comforted me.

"There's still time now for us to change your college application back."

I looked at their concerned gazes and shook my head.

"No, I'm not going to change it."

My mother was stunned. She held my hand and questioned me very worriedly.

"Emma, have you really thought this through? That's been your dream university all throughout high school."

My father was very busy at work, so he was rarely at home. However, my mother knew how much I aspired to go to North University.

I had North University posters on my walls, and I wrote my aspirations to North University in my journals.

However, she did not know that I only liked North University because of Theo.

Things were no longer the same.

I wanted to live my own life.

It would be a life without Theo.

I looked up and said firmly, "I'm not going to change the college application.

"In the first place, I wanted to go to North University because of Theo.

"But he changed my college application and got together with another girl. He even shunned me with the other classmates…

"I don't want him anymore.

"I want to go to South University!"

That summer, I did not meet up with any of my classmates.

However, they kept talking about me in the group chat.

Some of them said that I was aloof and arrogant for not participating in any class activities.

Someone even asked Theo in the group chat when he would be breaking up with me. They told him to not lower his standards in choosing a partner.

Sometimes, someone would even share a video of South University and mention me and then pretend like they had sent it by mistake.

Whenever that happened, other classmates would send stickers to mock me.