Chapter 2 In a single second, everything I had worked for was reduced to one letter. F. I couldn't breathe. I slumped against the heavy door and stared at the page, reading it again and again until the letters blurred and scrambled under my gaze. My knees weakened until I was sitting on the cold floor. The hallway noise faded. The video, the whispers, the stares, none of it mattered anymore. No.No.No. This had to be a mistake. I repeated it under my breath, scanning the name at the top of the page. Sierra Riven. It was mine. I searched the page for a comment, a note, anything that explained it. There was nothing but the grade. Every step had gone right: my proposal, my thesis, every revision. That project was seven months of my adult life. Seven months of late nights in the library, of reading and research, of working until my hands cramped. I had given it my sweat and my tears, and for what? To fail? I had never failed at anything before. An F was a grade I had only ever se
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