Semua Bab I Took My Future Back: Bab 1 - Bab 10

At 3:30 p.m. on January 15, I finished filling out my college applications and went to the mall with my parents to celebrate.While we waited for our coffee, a stream of comments suddenly appeared in front of me.[You're still celebrating? Chloe, the prettiest girl at school, scored just ten points lower than you on college entrance exam. She hired a hacker to delete your application to Valemont University before you could submit it.[Your application to Valemont University is gone. If you don't catch it before tonight's deadline, you can kiss that school goodbye![When your relatives find out at your graduation party, your parents will never hear the end of it. You'll end up at a community college, where some loser with bleached hair will sweep you off your feet. Before those two years are up, you'll have two kids.[Years of hard work, ruined in one day![College choices close at five. You have an hour to stop this.[Get home, now!]I froze. Leaving my coffee behind, I grabbed

Even when Ryan started spending more time with Chloe and stopped walking to school with me or waiting for me at lunch, I made excuses for him. More than once, he said, "Gwen, can't you get a few more questions wrong this time? Chloe cries every time you beat her."Each time, I told myself, "It's alright. Being the best can be lonely."I never imagined he would delete my application.But the comments kept coming.[Ryan's been planning this for a while. He likes Chloe because she's pretty, but he can't let go of you after all those years together. He wants both of you.[Then he did badly on college entrance exam. With his grades and test score, community college was his best option.[He couldn't stand the thought of you both leaving him behind, so he paid a hacker to delete your applications to Valemont University. He wants to drag you down with him.[Good thing you can see my comments. You have 30 minutes until the deadline. There's still time to fix this.]Chloe's eyes lit up

My voice still shook, but I made myself speak clearly. "Hello. I need to report a crime. Someone broke into our college application accounts and deleted our applications. We think it's someone at our school."Chloe's head snapped up. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were wet with tears, but she went still when I mentioned our school."Where are you now?" the dispatcher asked.I gave her my address, our names, and an account of what happened. "Save any evidence you have, including screenshots," the dispatcher said. "I'll pass this along to an officer."I gripped the phone. "But applications close at midnight. We only have a few minutes left. What if we miss the deadline?""Contact the university's admissions office and explain what happened," she said. "Keep your phone nearby so an officer can reach you."As soon as I hung up, more comments appeared.[You called the police? That's hilarious.[What proof do you have? Can the police see me?[You two little girls think crying

[Gwen, I heard someone deleted your college application. Is that true?[Did it happen to Chloe, too? Who would do that to you two?]Someone else sent me a screenshot. The school's official account called the reports of "application tampering" a misunderstanding and warned students against wasting police resources.My hands shook with anger. Someone deleted my application twice, and a doctor found foreign material in my eyes, yet the school still had the nerve to call it a misunderstanding.Chloe jumped to her feet after reading the statement. "I'm posting about this!"I caught her arm. "Wait. They'll twist whatever we say. Let the police investigate first."Chloe sat back down, her jaw tight. Then more comments appeared.[It won't matter. The school will protect me.[You two little girls can't win against us adults.]I stared at the last line. "Officer Schultz, there's another message."He turned to me. "What does it say?"I read the comments aloud, word for word. His expres

"You always came in first. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't catch up." Chloe kept her head down. "I thought you looked down on me.""I didn't," I said. "I'm just bad at talking to people and making friends."Chloe sniffled. "Then work on it."I blinked, and she looked up at me with red eyes. "I'll work on it, too. No more pretending I don't care. I wanna be your friend."I couldn't help smiling. "Okay."She held out her hand. "Friends?"I took it. "Friends."Word spread fast after that. When the police released a statement, people were furious. Our assistant principal conspired with a college admissions officer to sabotage our applications, even arranging fake health screenings to plant devices in our eyes.Seeing it all laid out made my skin crawl. The school tried to bury the story, but it was too late to keep it quiet.The school district opened an investigation. The principal was suspended, Paul was fired, and police arrested everyone involved. The school rushed