Chapter 1
At noon, on the last day of the SAT, my childhood sweetheart woke me up while I was dozing over my desk and whispered in my ear, "You're ugly."
His friends nearby burst out laughing.
He explained later that he'd lost a round of Truth or Dare and the penalty was to tell a girl she was ugly.
He said, "Out of all the girls present, I only know you well, so you're the only one I could pick. I didn't mean it. How could you be ugly? After all, I'm going to marry you someday."
I once asked him, "One point can matter a lot in the SAT. Do you think one wrong multiple-choice answer can separate us forever?"
He smiled and said, "No, because no matter what, we'd end up together."
But now he'd lost a stupid game and chose to humiliate me, without caring that it might mess with my exam that afternoon.
I realized then that even if the exam hadn't changed anything, his choice alone showed we weren't on the same path anymore.
And so, I quietly applied to a different university and walked toward a future without him.
*****
It rained heavily for several days during the SAT, and the cloudy sky finally cleared up on the afternoon of the last exam.
Lunch break was short. My childhood friend Arian Reyes asked me to go to the library together after lunch to rest a little before heading back to the exam hall.
However, I soon regretted going to the library.
Arian and I were not in the same class. He kept chatting with his friends in class, even comparing answers from the morning's exam.
Although I didn't want to join their conversation, I was forced to listen in, and seemingly heard that I had answered a few questions incorrectly.
But it wasn't like I could do anything about those mistakes now.
I didn't want to continue listening, as it would ruin my mood.
I only wanted to make the most of the remaining time to rest, review, and ace the last exam.
Looking around, I saw many classmates were already resting their heads on the table.
I interrupted Arian and quietly reminded him, "If you guys want to chat, can you go outside? There's another exam this afternoon, and many people want to rest."
Arian paused, then smiled, "Hannah, you're right. We'll all go outside now."
He took his friends to the hallway.
As he passed me, a boy gestured apologetically at me. "Sorry, Hannah. You rest well. Hope you're able to ace your exam this afternoon."
Arian smacked the boy on the head. "Get out of here. Don't bother her."
He turned his head and smiled at me. "Hannah, don't mind them. Just rest."
I lay my head on the table, thinking I could finally get some rest now that it was quiet.
But the study area and the hallway were only separated by a pane of glass. Moreover, the door wasn't properly closed.
Their voices continued in my ear, as irritating as a mosquito's hum.
Every now and then, they would burst into laughter.
Even with my eyes closed, and feeling drowsy and exhausted, I couldn't rest because of the noise.
Time was ticking away and soon we'd have to enter the exam hall again. I couldn't help but feel anxious, which made it even harder to rest.
Just then, someone patted my shoulder.
I opened my eyes, propped myself up, and saw Arian.
He bent down, his face so close to mine that his hair brushed against my cheek.
My heart began to race, and my face flushed.
I'd secretly liked Arian for years, which was why I reacted this way when he was so close to me.
His warm breath fell on my neck.
I retreated slightly, but Arian, as if emboldened by my reaction, moved even closer.
He didn't seem to mind being so familiar with me.
He started, "You..."
I wanted to ask, "What are you doing?"
But he interrupted me after one word, finishing his own sentence. "You're so ugly."
His words were clear and his tone was firm.
His face was full of cold indifference, something which I'd never seen from him.
Laughter erupted in the hallway again.
The boy who had spoken to me just now remarked loudly, "You were so domineering when you chased us out just now. Now you don't even dare to make a peep after Arian told you you're ugly."
Someone chimed in, "All guys should have a childhood sweetheart. Then they can discipline her and get them to behave."
"Look at Hannah's face. She's stunned. Does she think Arian was about to confess to her?"
Arian's friends burst into laughter, some clutching their stomachs, others pointing at me.
One more person had joined them: Josie Bennett.
She pursed her lips, her eyes curved into a smile as she looked at me, her face radiant.
If I didn't know she was ridiculing me, I might have been happy that such a pretty girl was smiling at me.
Josie was a repeat student, the newly crowned campus belle of our school.
She was also the only girl among the crowd in the hallway.
I didn't know when she arrived, nor how well she knew Arian. After all, she and Arian weren't in the same class.
Just then, Arian explained, "Hannah, we couldn't focus on revision, so we were playing Truth or Dare. I lost and chose Dare, and had to tell a girl that she's ugly. You have no idea how terrible I felt telling you that.」
After that, he walked towards his friends without waiting for me to respond.
He turned me into a laughingstock, then abandoned me.
My heart grew cold.
Was he still the Arian I liked?
Once, to protect me, he wouldn't back off even when he was beaten black and blue.
Just a week ago, he'd swore we'd be together no matter what.