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

Perry Hughes' desk was stuffed with love letters again. He sent me $40, as usual. "Tsk. Take care of these for me?" I nodded. That night, I was about to throw the love letters away. Then I noticed that the letter at the very bottom was signed by the girl Perry had a crush on.

For three years, a Carthen University genius tutors me online. When the SAT is finally over, I finally confess my feelings to him during the last moments of our final voice call. I whisper, "Actually, I really like—" Before I can finish, a sharp beep cuts me off. He hung up. Heartbroken, I pack my bags and head to Bellridge University alone. Once classes start, rumors fly about a brilliant upperclassman looking for a heartless freshman across Carthen University and Bellridge University. Wait a minute. Why does his voice sound exactly like my genius tutor?

When I missed the passing grade by one point, my best friend dragged me to a bar. She said there was nothing a drink couldn't fix. I drank until I blacked out. When I woke up, a man lay beside me, all cool eyes and tightly leashed control. I left two hundred dollars on the nightstand and ran for my life. I thought I'd never see him again. Then, on the first day of the new semester, the class I'd failed had a new professor. I looked up at the podium. The man from that night stood at the lectern, opened the roster, and read my name in a cool, even voice. "Vivian Harper, come see me in my office tomorrow." The color drained from my face. Convinced he was here for payback, I stayed up all night writing a transfer application. The next day, I clutched my transfer application all the way to his office. Before I could work up the nerve to speak, he pulled out a sheet of paper and studied me with an unreadable expression. "I've read the assignment you turned in." "Care to explain why a positive pregnancy test was bound into your term paper?"

We can't settle on our holiday plans, so my girlfriend, Janine Simpson, starts a group chat with the three of us. "Let's roll the dice. Whoever gets the highest number decides. That's the fairest way." My friend, Mitchell Stone, rolls a six and wants to go to Marisport. I roll a one. I wanted to go to Rosemont. Rosemont isn't a random pick. It's the place my late mother had always wanted to visit but never got the chance to. This year marks five years since she passed away, and I've promised her I would see Lake Azure for her. Janine knew that, too. Three months ago, she held my hand and promised she would go with me this year. "Fair's fair. You lost the bet." She sends a little pat-on-the-head sticker in the group chat. This is the 27th time this year that I've rolled a one. The week before, I'd lost when we were choosing a restaurant for our team dinner. The week before that, it was a movie. Then yesterday, I used Janine's tablet to look up travel guides and accidentally came across her synced text messages. Her chat with a friend sat right at the top. "I sent you the dice plugin. It can roll whatever number you want." "Thanks. Cameron can get quite stubborn. This is the only way to get him to agree to things." I stared at those messages for a long time and placed the tablet back where I found it. She has known all along what Rosemont meant to me, and it turns out I haven't been losing because of sheer bad luck. I've been losing because she has already taken someone else's side. I leave the group chat and book a direct flight to Rosemont. On the first day of the holiday at 7:00 am, I will board the plane alone.

The SAT results have just been released. I'm the top scorer in the city, and three girls my father raised alongside me also earned the three best scores after me. When it's time to apply to college, Dad says that the three of them will be joining me in whichever college I choose. I choose Heathshire University, my dream school. But on the day before applications close, the three of them drug me and haul me to Stallion Club. "It's all his fault! We followed him to Heathshire University in our previous life, which led to Michael falling into depression and taking his own life!" "I heard that the boss of Stallion Club has a thing for young, innocent men like Samuel. Maybe he'll be so satisfied that he helps us escape from the Carter family, too!" "Once the dust settles, the Carter family's reputation will be ruined for good, and Samuel won't be able to fulfill his dream of getting into a top university. We'll also regain our freedom, and we can be with Michael then!" None of them notice the sneer on my face. No one else knows that the boss of Stallion Club is my long-lost older brother—and he's fiercely protective of me. They'll regain their freedom, huh? Only the dead can truly consider themselves free. The three of them can go to hell and keep their beloved Michael company there.

When our SAT scores came out, my four childhood friends came over to my house for drinks. Halfway through the night, someone suggested a game of truth or dare. When it was my turn, my stepsister, Selena, dared everyone to show which colleges they planned to apply to. The four of them opened their laptops. Each screen showed an application preview for the University of Alaska. Liam, the childhood friend I'd had a crush on for years, sent me a draft application with my information already filled in and pointed to my SAT score: 1580. "We said we'd be together forever. "You haven't applied early decision to an Ivy yet anyway. So how about it? Do you dare go to the same college as us?" So, in front of everyone, I added the University of Alaska to my application. Amid the whistling, Liam leaned down and kissed me deeply, his answer to my confession. The day my acceptance letter arrived, I took a bag of freshly baked muffins to Liam's house. But from inside, I could hear several of them talking about me with contempt. "Is Catherine really going?" "Of course. I watched her submit the application myself!" "Thanks to Selena, a few fake application pages were enough to get rid of that annoying tagalong." "Come on. If you ask me, Liam has it worst." "Relax, man. This little dating game will be over soon. School starts any day now." I froze, clutching the paper bag. Then the door opened. My four childhood friends came out, with Selena in the middle of them. The moment they saw me, their smiles vanished.

The first month of school, I found out the whole school was calling me a leech behind my back. That vicious nickname was coined by my childhood friend Sebastian's new influencer friend, Chloe. Because as far as they were concerned, I always rode to school in Sebastian's car, spent his Venmo, and lived near the old Rivers family estate. But that wasn't the truth. I brought my ruined homework to Sebastian and asked why he let them smear me. He just laughed. "It's a high school joke. Chloe just likes to joke around. Don't be so sensitive." "Besides, you're always riding in my car, following me around. People thinking that... well, it's kind of normal." I froze. Cold went through my whole body. So this. Over a decade of quiet company and quiet protection. In his eyes, I was just a leech. I didn't explain anymore. I applied for early graduation. Off to Columbia University. But when he found out I was leaving, Sebastian went insane, searching everywhere for me. "Maya, where are you going?!"

I was a two-hundred-pound girl. But on the night of graduation, I slept with Nova, captain of the Ashbury Ravens hockey team. The next morning, laughter drifted down the hotel hallway from his teammates. "Nova slipped his room key to Sienna last night, right?" "What, you think he'd give it to the Zamboni? That tub of lard. One look at her gives you nightmares for three days." "Did you guys see her reporter's notebook? It's covered in Nova's name. She's actually got a crush on Nova. Disgusting." So the room key that had slipped into my notebook wasn't meant for me. And the name he murmured against me in the dark wasn't mine either. My eyes burned with humiliation. I got dressed, walked out alone, and disappeared for six years. Six years later, my mother, Diane Quinn, was three months behind on her dialysis bills, and the sports website I worked for was on its last legs. My editor, Claire Bennett, slapped a file on my desk. "Nova. Newly crowned MVP. Not one interview in six years. Land him, or you're out."

A new app has recently gone viral online, called "Talk to Your Future Self". Minutes before my SAT, I decide to give it a try—mostly because everyone else is doing it. I type, "Dear Future Me, did I end up marrying Winona Lane?" The screen flickers, and a second later, a text from an unknown number appears. "Yes. You did. The wedding is spectacular." My heart pounds. I tighten my grip on my phone and immediately type another question. "Was Benjamin Scott my best man? He's my best friend!" The reply comes almost instantly. "Yes. But he isn't just your best man. He's also the man who spends your wedding night with your wife." The smile vanishes from my face. Another message appears. "You never have to deliberately lower your grades or sacrifice your future just to stay with her. She intentionally fails her exam so she can apply to the same college as Benjamin—the guy who is always at the bottom of the class." My fingers tighten around the phone. "She asks you to give up your dream school for her. Not because she can't bear to be apart from you, but because she doesn't want Benjamin to feel inferior to you just because you do better than he does." Just then, the warning bell rings, signaling that it's time to enter the exam room. But my entire body has gone cold, and I can't move. Then another message appears. It's the final one, also the one that shatters everything I think I know. "If you don't believe me, go to the motel behind the school after the exam. You'll see the truth for yourself."