Blake's face shifted from pale to flushed, over and over.
After a long moment, he suddenly flung the torn admission slip back at me.
"Melissa, you're the one who tried to stop me from going out with Annika! That's why I got so worked up! This is your own fault!"
With that, he grabbed his friend and bolted out of the classroom as if escaping a fire.
The moment the door shut, I heard laughter erupt in the hallway.
"Blake, that top-student Melissa is totally your lapdog. You tore her admission slip and she didn't even dare complain!"
"Yeah, she's such a timid little thing. Not at all like Annika—so bold and carefree..."
Their words stabbed into my heart like needles.
My tolerance, my kindness, he actually mistook it for cowardice.
Blake and I had worked side by side since middle school, pushing each other to grow.
Getting into Yale together was the future we once promised each other. But ever since he met Annika outside of school... everything changed.
Today's Blake clearly no longer wanted any shared future with me.
Thinking of this, I tossed the torn admission slip into the trash bin and knocked on the homeroom teacher's office door.
"Teacher, about the guaranteed admission to Stanford... I've made up my mind. Stanford suits me better than Yale."
My teacher beamed. "Good. You should never have given it up. The physics lab at Stanford will let you shine."
When I got home, my parents were relieved to hear I didn't need to take the exam after all.
They had always worried when I insisted on giving up the secure Stanford recommendation for Blake's sake. Now, at least, things turned out the way they had hoped.
We had barely finished dinner when a frantic knocking sounded at the door.
When we opened it, standing there were Blake's parents—both pale with worry.
"Melissa, do you know where Blake went? He only sent us one message, then stopped answering our calls. The exam is tomorrow! Where could that child have gone?"
My mom turned to me too. "Melissa, you two are usually together..."
"Auntie, I don't know." I cut my mother off and looked directly at Blake's mother as I answered.
"Melissa... then do you know where he normally goes?"
I forced a stiff smile. "Auntie, I really don't know."
With no clues, Blake's mother could only shake her head helplessly and leave.
The moment the door closed, my dad poked his head out of the room.
"Did you two have a fight? How could you not know where he'd go?"
I simply smiled and went back to my room.
Of course I wouldn't say a word.
Let him enjoy his wonderful night with Annika.
My mother was the head of the parents' committee, so early the next morning, she pulled my father and me along to the exam site to serve as volunteers.
We had barely arrived when I saw Blake's parents rushing around anxiously.
The moment they spotted me, they hurried over.
My homeroom teacher was right behind them, breathless.
"Melissa! Blake never returned home last night. Weren't you two together at school yesterday? Did he tell you where he was going?"
My teacher added urgently, "Melissa, you know how important this exam is to him. The test is about to begin and he's still nowhere to be found. Think carefully—where could he have gone?"
Looking at Blake's frantic parents made something soften inside me for a moment.
But the image of my own parents' horrific deaths from the previous life flashed violently in my mind—and my heart went completely cold.
