Maiikling Kwento tungkol sa Plot Twists at Romance, at mga Nobela ng Bias na may Campus

After two years of barely speaking to my husband, Nathan Holt, the last place I expect to see him is my cousin's dorm. It's freshman move-in day, and he's helping Camille Collett make her bed. Camille is my cousin's roommate. Her eyes crinkle at the corners whenever she smiles. She catches me looking at Nathan and immediately loops her arm through his. "Hi. This is my boyfriend. He was worried about me moving in by myself, so he took the day off to come with me." I think of the text Nathan sent me yesterday. "Business trip. Won't be home this week either." I smile and say nothing. Nathan turns around, and shock flashes across his face the moment he sees me. But he recovers almost instantly and holds out his hand. "Hi, I'm Nathan Holt. I'm not her boyfriend. We're just friends." He's convincing. Anyone watching would think we'd never met before. So I play along and shake his hand. "I'm Natalie Kenney, Esther Sullivan's cousin." Camille gives Nathan an annoyed look. Then she notices the wedding ring on my finger and relaxes a little. "Natalie, you're so pretty. You're already married? But you're so young. What a shame." I look down at my ring. I haven't taken it off once in three years. Then I glance at Nathan's ring finger. It's bare. Suddenly, I can't stand the ring on my finger anymore. I slip it off. "It's not a shame. I'm getting divorced."

Right before the last full-length practice exam ahead of the SAT, my boyfriend, Blake Romero, who had always ranked in the top ten, somehow ended up with a score of zero. His eyes were red as he clung to me, his voice shaking while he said he had developed severe test anxiety. "Samantha, there's no way I'll get in this year. Can you stay back and retake the year with me? I can't do this without you." Looking at how pale he was, I almost gave in. On my way to the school clinic to grab him some meds to calm his nerves, I accidentally overheard him talking to a girl from a poor family. "Blake, what if Samantha finds out you're lying to her?" His voice turned soft, almost indulgent. "Relax. She loves me so much that she would give up anything for me. Even if she finds out, so what? Besides, her family's loaded. Losing a year won't matter to her. Arrington University only has two spots this year. As long as Samantha doesn't take the exam, those spots are ours." Standing outside the door, I felt as if I had just had a bucket of ice poured over me. So this was his plan! He was willing to ruin my future just to clear the way for the girl he really cared about. What he didn't realize was that Arrington University had only ever been my backup, something I chose just to stay by his side. Without him dragging me down, I could aim for something better.