جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 10

"It does not matter how well you scored. You cannot stand by and watch your sister fall apart."Dad’s tone allowed no argument.I looked down at the contract. Both Bria’s name and mine had already been filled in."What is this supposed to mean?"I asked, although I already knew.Lorelai stood and grabbed my wrist. Her tears fell on cue."Audrey, I am begging you. Bria did not do well this time. She already wrote a goodbye letter."I rented a place near the school. You two can live together, and you help her study for a year. Then you all go to Edgemont together next year. Please?"Every word sounded like a plea. Yet the apartment had already been rented. The contract had already been printed. The pen had already been uncapped.This was not a discussion. It was a done deal.Bria was not my real sister. She was the child Lorelai had brought when she married into the Linden family.Bria had not carried the Linden name originally. Lorelai had changed it to win points with my fat

The hospital room reeked of disinfectant, and the air felt so heavy it was hard to breathe.Besides Bria lying in the bed, the room held the enrollment director from the repeat‑year school, a psychiatrist, and a handful of Logan’s friends.Two documents sat neatly on the bedside table. One was a pledge to accompany a student through the repeat‑year program. The other was a voluntary withdrawal form for my college application.They had come prepared to break me, and they had even brought an audience and witnesses to make sure it stayed that way.The moment Bria saw me, her tears started falling.She struggled up from the bed, did not bother putting on her shoes, and dropped to her knees in front of me."I know I was wrong. I should not have gone after Logan. But I am scared of repeating the year alone. Just sign the papers and stay with me for one year, please. If you do, I promise I will keep going. I will stay alive."She wept with every ounce of helplessness she could muster.

Early the next morning, the police called in everyone who had been present.Faced with the access logs, Bria cried as though her heart were breaking."I just thought the room felt stuffy. I wanted some fresh air on the roof. I really was not planning anything."She clung to the hem of Logan’s shirt. He stepped forward without hesitation to vouch for her."Officer, she was already in the middle of a breakdown. She could barely stand on her own. There is no way she could have planned something like that."It was just an accident."The officer looked at me and waited for my response.I did not argue. I took a USB drive in my uninjured left hand and held it out."This contains the audio I recorded at the dinner table last night, photos of the enrollment contract, and the text I received about the unauthorized review of my application."They did not just try to force me to give up my spot. They also used my personal documents without my consent."When the recording played, Logan’s

A joint review panel between the school and the Edgemont University admissions office assembled quickly.Because the allegations involved serious misconduct, I was instructed to suspend all public statements and remain in the dormitory while the investigation was underway.Logan finally panicked.He ran to the school gate to intercept me but was stopped by security outside the fence. All he could do was shout through the iron bars."Audrey, believe me, I had no idea Bria was going to post those screenshots!"I will talk to her right now and get her to take back the accusations. Do not be scared."I stood by the flower bed and watched him put on his show.He believed this was enough. He would show up, yell a few things through a gate, and that would count as being on my side.He went back to Bria.Mr. Tierney told me that Logan confronted Bria in her hospital room and demanded to know why she faked the screenshots.Bria only cried and asked him, "Did you not say that no matter

Last on the recording was the enrollment director, his voice bright with excitement. "A 1560 scorer tagging along as a study partner and the top scorer in the state repeating senior year. Once those two headlines drop, we will not even need to print brochures next year!"When the audio ended, the silence in the room was absolute.The color drained from Logan’s face. He shot to his feet and stared at me in disbelief.Bria fell apart completely. She turned and fixed her eyes on Logan. "You recorded it. You have been playing me this whole time?"Logan opened his mouth. "I was afraid you would actually jump that day, so I recorded everything to cover myself.""So you were never trying to protect anyone."I looked at him, my gaze empty."You were only ever protecting yourself."The truth was out.The grand devotion, the crippling depression. None of it had been real. It was a scheme stitched together from greed and vanity, and nothing more.The investigation’s findings came down s