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All Chapters of They Bet I’d Stay: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

“You couldn’t help telling her, so you lost.” Chloe tapped Ethan’s shoulder. “You’re officially my personal servant for the next two months.”She pointed at the nachos between them.“Well? Extra jalape?os, please.”Ethan raised an eyebrow. “What was I supposed to do? Let Clair move three thousand miles away and do long distance? It was a joke.”He picked up a chip, piled it with cheese and jalape?os, and held it to her mouth.Chloe leaned forward and took a bite, smiling at him as she chewed.I sat across from them with my phone beside my plate. Eastmere University was still listed as my first choice.Ethan glanced at me.“It’s a bet, Claire. I’m just holding up my end. Don’t read into it.”When I said nothing, he reached for another chip.“Want one? I’ll make you one, too.”I tightened my grip on my fork.But as I looked at the chip he held out to me, piled with extra jalape?os, a sharp ache spread through my chest.“No, thanks. I don’t like spicy food.” He frowned. “Since when? You

Chapter 2

Ethan called half an hour later.“Claire, where are you? We’ve been looking everywhere.”I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling.“I went home.”“You went home?” Relief gave way to irritation. “Why didn’t you tell us? Do you have any idea how worried we were?”Chloe’s voice came from beside him.“Seriously, Claire? We’ve been out here looking for you, and you’ve been home this whole time?”I almost laughed.“You left me there. Why wouldn’t I go home?”“We didn’t leave you. We were just—”“I saw the group chat. You walked off on purpose and agreed not to answer my messages. You wanted to see if I’d cry.”Neither of them spoke for a moment.I thought they might at least feel guilty.Instead, Ethan turned it around on me.“You got your old number back?” Ethan asked. “Why didn’t you say anything?”I sat up.“That’s what you’re worried about?”“You’ve been reading our messages without telling us.”“It’s my group chat, too.”“Okay, but Chloe was kidding. You don’t have to turn this into a wh

Chapter 3

I used to do whatever my parents asked, hoping they’d spare some love to me.Give Chloe the bigger room. Cancel my plans because she didn’t want to go alone. Let her choose where we ate on our birthday.“That’s my girl,” Dad would say.Mom would squeeze my shoulder. “Thank you for being so understanding.”Those scraps of affection used to keep me going for days.Now Mom stood with Chloe, and Ethan waited beside them with a cake I couldn’t eat.The three of them waited for me to make everything comfortable again.“I’m tired,” I said. “I’d like to be alone.”“Don’t walk away while I’m talking to you,” Mom snapped.I stepped into my room.Dad’s voice carried up from the stairs. “What’s her problem now?”“She can’t stand being told she’s wrong.”“Then she can stay in there until she learns some respect.”I closed the door and leaned against it.My eyes burned. For a moment, I wanted to open the door and make them listen.Instead, I swallowed and crossed to my desk.I couldn’t stand another

Chapter 4

Ethan never called that night like he’d promised. Days passed without a word from him.Instead, he showed up on Chloe’s Instagram.On a roller coaster, her hands wrapped around his arm. At the zoo, holding out food for a giraffe while she filmed. Outside a movie theater, carrying two drinks beneath a romance poster.Every post called him her “personal servant.”She might as well have written, “He’s mine.”I didn’t comment. I packed. There was one thing I wanted to do before leaving for Eastmere.Before our exams, I’d promised myself a few days at the beach if I did well. My scores had exceeded even my own expectations.I’d earned this.The trip to Seabrook was paid for with prize money I’d saved from debate competitions. Two nights in a modest hotel, a round-trip flight, and no one to please but myself.Then I reached the gate.Chloe was sitting beside Ethan.He stood when he saw me, a pink backpack slung over one shoulder, her matching carry-on beside his leg. A travel pillow hung fr

Chapter 5

Ethan tied a pink ribbon around the gift box on his desk.He adjusted the bow twice, picturing my face when I opened it.A month of carrying Chloe’s bags and answering every call. All to get her to tell him what I wanted.He still believed the right gift would fix everything.Then his phone buzzed. He reached for it before the screen lit up.But the message wasn’t from me.Mom: Ethan. Is Claire with you?Ethan: No. Why?She called.“Ethan. She’s gone.”“What do you mean, gone?”“I went upstairs to get her for dinner. Her suitcase is missing. So are half her clothes.”Ethan’s hand stopped on the ribbon.“And everything you and Chloe gave her is in a garbage bag by her door.”He stared at the box.“Ethan? Are you listening?”“Yeah.”“Her father thinks she’s trying to punish us. We’ve had to get after her lately, and apparently she can’t handle being corrected.” Mom exhaled sharply. “Call her, would you? Maybe she’ll listen to you.”“I will.”“Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I even bothe

Chapter 6

Blocking Ethan’s number didn’t stop him.For the first few days, he tried Instagram, then email.You’ve made your point. Can we stop this now?Later, the messages changed.Your mom showed me what you sent her. What do you mean, you’re not coming back?Just tell someone you’re safe. Please.I’d broken up with him outside the restaurant. He didn’t get to keep me in a relationship by refusing to acknowledge it.I blocked each account without answering.Chloe made less of an effort.After a few messages telling me to stop upsetting everyone, she went quiet.With both of them finally out of reach, I found myself remembering things I hadn’t thought about in years.Ethan moved to town the year after my parents brought me home.We were both new at school. Neither of us knew where to sit at lunch.He set his tray beside mine.“Anyone sitting here?”I shook my head.By the end of the week, we were walking home together.Back then, he couldn’t stand Chloe.He’d come over with his bike and find me

Chapter 7

Mom looked me up and down.“We should have left you with your grandmother.”For a second, I couldn’t hear anything else.Students passed behind her, laughing on their way into the dorm. Someone held the door open, waiting for us to move.Mom didn’t lower her voice.“You turned down Westbridge to come all the way out here? What was the point, Claire? To get as far away from us as possible?”“How did you find me?”“Your grandmother finally told us. At least someone in this family understands what you’ve put us through.”Grandma would have told them I was safe. That I was happy.Apparently, all they’d heard was the address.“Can we talk somewhere else?”“No. You don’t get to hide from this.”A girl on the steps glanced over.Mom noticed.“Go ahead. Tell your friends how cruel we are. Tell them we worked ourselves to death raising you, and you thanked us by disappearing.”Heat climbed my neck.“Please lower your voice.”“Why? Are you embarrassed?”Dad stepped closer.“Your sister would nev

Chapter 8

By winter break, I had a waiting list.The tutoring center gave me extra hours, and two parents hired me for private lessons. I also put together a small holiday workshop for students preparing for spring debate tournaments.I rented a small apartment near campus so Gramdma can visit and stay wit me.I sent her pictures.She said the kitchen needed curtains. I told her she could pick them when she came.Then, for three days, she refused to turn on her camera.“The connection’s terrible, sweetheart.”“It worked fine on Sunday.”“Well, it doesn’t today.”On the fourth day, I heard someone in the background tell her not to put weight on her foot.“Grandma.”Silence.“Turn the camera on.”She’d been clearing a garden bed when she lost her balance and drove the edge of her shovel into her foot.A neighbor took her to the hospital.She hadn’t told me because I had finals.Then because I was working.By the time I found out, she was home, struggling between the couch and kitchen with a walker

Chapter 9

I looked at the phone.There had been a time when Ethan noticed everything.The lunch I’d forgotten. The shoes that rubbed my heels. The birthday nobody at home remembered until he arrived with a cake.I’d loved him because he made me feel worth noticing.But that same boy had watched me search a hotel for five hours while he knew exactly where my suitcase was.The good memories were real. So was everything that came after.He held the box closer.“Take it.”“No, thank you.”“Claire—”“We broke up. You don’t need to buy me anything.”His eyes reddened.“I blocked Chloe. Everywhere. I haven’t spoken to her in months.”I said nothing.“It can just be us again.”“It can’t.”“Why not?”“Because I don’t trust you anymore.”His hands tightened around the box.“I can earn that back.”I used to believe loving someone meant giving them every chance they asked for.Now I had a lesson to teach, a grandmother resting in the next room, and a life I wanted to get back to.“I don’t want to try again,

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