Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 261 - Chapitre 270

SavannahThe next morning came fast. I didn’t even realize I’d slept until the sunlight slipped through the curtains. For a second, I just stayed in bed, trying to remember where I was. And that was when it hit me, I was in my dad’s house. Not school, or the dorm. I was back to the house I grew up in. The same one I’d sought my freedom from and been desperate to leave all through high school. Ironic right? After all this time, I wasn’t forced or coerced to leave the school. It was my decision, and this was the first morning of the change I’d asked for.I heaved a deep sigh and forced myself to get up, then I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and looked at my phone. There were a few missed calls and some texts, but I didn’t open them. I wasn’t interested in what they were, and that was also partly because I knew what it was about. If I went ahead and opened these messages, if I did, I might hesitate, and I’d promised myself I wouldn’t.I groggily stood up, dressed up in my comfy pajamas, and mad

SavannahThe first week of school was supposed to be the hardest. It was a new environment, one that admittedly I was still having trouble finding my place in, but I had convinced myself that I would adjust quickly. I managed to convince myself it would be like every other transition I had ever gone through, that it would just be a matter of time, just a matter of routine. Yet the moment I stepped into those classrooms, surrounded by the kinds of people I had only ever seen in glossy magazine spreads or televised conferences, I realized how wrong I had been.It wasn’t that I didn’t belong here on paper. No, no, it wasn’t that. My last name carried enough weight to open these doors, and my acceptance letter was proof that my credentials were good enough to earn me a seat among them. But sitting at my desk in those polished, echoing halls, I felt like a guest at someone else’s banquet. I was present, yes, but never really part of it.The others didn’t have to try to show where they came

SavannahThe morning after the boardroom meeting, I woke up to the shrill buzz of my alarm and the sickening realization that I had overslept. My eyes shot open immediately, and I scrambled out of bed with my heart pounding in panic. The sunlight pouring through the curtains was already too bright, a hot reminder that I had stayed in bed longer than I should have.I quickly got out of bed and rushed to throw on my clothes, barely managing to pull my hair into a half-decent bun. I picked up my notebook from my study table that I’ve not actually used since I got here, slid it into my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and bolted out of the dorm room. The hallways blurred as I jogged through them, ignoring the sideways looks from students who were already polished and composed for the day. I couldn’t be late. No, not this week. Not when everyone was already watching me like I was an experiment bound to fail.I keep jogging steadily towards the lecture hall, and that’s when it happened. A fi

SavannahWinning that debate should have felt like a victory, but in the days that followed, it became clear it hadn’t changed anything at all. If anything, it only made things worse. The whispers didn’t stop when I walked into class. They only grew sharper, like needles pricking at the edges of my skin. I felt the side glances every time I took my seat, the subtle shuffles of notebooks and the pointed way conversations died down just as I passed. It was as though winning against Julian had branded me with a mark they couldn’t forgive.I told myself it didn’t matter, that I had done what I came here to do, but pretending not to notice was impossible. I had thought that proving myself in class would at least earn me a sliver of respect, yet instead, it felt like the walls had only grown higher. I was still on the outside, and now, I wasn’t just ignored, it felt like I was being targeted as well.I know it may seem like I’m overreacting or just making enemies where they weren't, but I p

SavannahThe week leading up to the boardroom test felt like one long blur of planning and second-guessing. Every spare minute outside of class, I spent trying to rally up a small team of people who could help me with the task. The board hadn’t made things easy, and I knew better than to walk into that room without some kind of backup.At first, my mind wandered to Devon. Reaching out to him felt like the obvious move. He knew me, he knew how I worked, and together we’d gotten through challenges before. But each time I thought about picking up my phone, something inside me stopped. If I wanted to make this transition real, if I truly wanted to leave my old life behind, then I couldn’t keep going back to the same people, the same patterns. I couldn’t expect comfort and change at the same time. And so I refused to call him.Instead, I forced myself to step into unfamiliar waters. I started paying closer attention in my business classes, watching how certain students handled themselves,