All Chapters of Only I Remember: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

On the last day before the college application portal closed, an admissions counselor from Kensington University was still trying to convince Juliette Larkin to apply."Your scores are incredible. Stanmore would be a waste of your talent."Juliette shook her head, her face bright with affection. "My boyfriend and I made a promise. I can't back out on him."The recruiter paused. "What did your boyfriend score? We could put together a joint offer—"Juliette's eyes lit up. She reached for her phone to call Colton Hayes, but a push notification stopped her cold.Her best friend had just posted an update. [Finally, someone's coming with me to see those sycamore trees!]The video showed two application screens side by side, hers and Colton's.Colton had not selected Stanmore. He had chosen Lakewood, the school her best friend, Kelsey Tyndall, had been dreaming about for three years.Juliette could not believe it. She grabbed a cab and rushed straight to Colton's house, arriving just

Kelsey rushed to explain, "Juliette, please don't get the wrong idea. We didn't tell you because you're afraid of heights. You can't go on most of the rides. If we brought you along, you'd just be standing around watching us have fun. I didn't want you to be bored, so I didn't ask."Colton sounded impatient. "You don't even like places like that, so there was no point inviting you. Next time you want to go, we'll go together, just the two of us. You and Kelsey are different. She's a maniac, and she loves the thrill rides. You only like the carousel and, honestly, that's boring."Kelsey shoved him. "Excuse me? You love thrill rides just as much as I do!""What about the shirts?" Juliette pressed. "Why are you wearing matching outfits?""There weren't any stores nearby, and the park happened to be selling them, so we grabbed a pair." Colton grinned. "What's the matter, Juliette? Don't tell me you're jealous.""Juliette would never be jealous of us! I wouldn't be into you if you were

Colton and Kelsey did not reach out for the next two weeks.Juliette's mother, Christine Fulton, noticed that her friends had stopped coming around and could not help but ask, "How come Kelsey hasn't been over lately? You two never go out anymore. Did you have a fight?"Juliette shook her head. "No. We're all going our separate ways soon. There's no point being joined at the hip.""Going your separate ways?" Christine frowned, a note of reproach creeping into her voice."Aren't you all enrolled at the same school? Juliette, you can't just shut yourself in all the time. You should learn from Kelsey. Everyone adores that girl. Having a friend like her is something you should appreciate, not throw away over some petty grudge."Juliette's eyes stung. "Mom, do you really like Kelsey that much? Do you even know what she did?""Even if she did do something, you're the one making it a bigger deal than it needs to be. You're too young to be this difficult."Christine turned and headed in

The slap split Juliette's lip. She pressed her hand to her throbbing cheek and tried to explain. "I didn't push her. She lost her balance on her own."She did not want to cry, but the tears came anyway."You'd better pray that Kelsey is okay. If anything happens to her, I won’t call you my daughter anymore."Christine left for the hospital. Juliette stood in the doorway, unable to move.She could not sleep that night. Her mother did not come home, and Colton did not reach out. She had no word from Kelsey, no idea how she was doing. She had not pushed her, but Kelsey had still fallen because of her.Her phone buzzed and she grabbed it immediately.It was a message from a high school classmate. [Juliette, can you come downstairs for a sec? Your mom asked me to swing by and grab a few things for her.]Juliette did not think twice. She pulled the door open and ran downstairs.There was no one outside.She frowned and reached for her phone, but something struck the back of her head

"What do you mean?"Colton stared at the administrator. "That's impossible. Class of 2026, pre-med. Juliette Larkin. She submitted her application. How can she not be here?"His voice was rising. The administrator frowned and ran the search again."I'm sorry, but she's really not in the system. And it's not just the pre-med program. There's no incoming student by that name anywhere in this university.""No, you're wrong. Check again."Colton shoved past and lunged for the computer, typing Juliette's name over and over. No matter how many times he entered it, the result was the same. No records were found.The system did not make mistakes. That left only one possibility.Juliette had never applied to Lakewood. She was not here.Colton staggered backward, and her words from that night crashed through his head."I won't go to Lakewood. It's all yours."Colton, we're done."Kelsey, we're not friends anymore."From today on, the three of us will go our separate ways."She had m