Chapter 2 · Before the SATs, I Choose Me

The group chat went silent for a moment.

Andrew frowned and typed: [April, stop being snarky.]

Lily acted all sympathetic. [Is April jealous or what? We booked a huge private room at the bar. Come hang out and study with us.

[April, don't be such a stick in the mud. You must come.]

Everyone was itching to join in. [Wow, really? Lily, you're the best. You have no idea how suffocating it is to sit in the classroom all day.]

Lily snapped a photo of the table. [There's fruit and red wine. It's the last day. Time to treat ourselves.]

Someone hesitated. [But we've got the exam tomorrow. Should we really be drinking?]

Andrew chimed in with an expert tone: [A little drink before bed can help you sleep and make you more productive when you study.]

With that, everyone who was hesitant quickly changed their mind. [If the top student says so, we have to go. Maybe we'll ace the exam tomorrow.]

Lily immediately sent her Venmo handle in the group chat, telling everyone to chip in for the private room and drinks.

She poked me. [April, you and Andrew are so close. You must be the first to pay up.]

I let out a cold laugh.

Lily usually kept her grades looking decent by cheating off her classmates.

But with her actual scores, she wouldn't make it into a community college. She couldn't care less, and she wanted to drag the whole class down with her.

But I wasn't about to get involved. If they couldn't make basic choices as grown-ups, that was their problem.

If I tried to step in, they might end up resenting me.

I replied: [Not going.]

Then, without a second thought, I left the group chat.

There was no reason to ever keep in touch with these crazy classmates again.

Soon, Andrew called me.

He sounded seriously pissed off. "April, do you really have to make me look bad? Lily was trying to be nice, and this is how you act."

Lily chimed in, sounding all hurt, "April, you're not coming? Are you going to snitch to our parents or something?"

Andrew barked at me, his voice full of warning. "April, if you dare snitch, don't dream of signing up for the same major as me in college."

We'd promised each other we'd both apply for the Computer Science Major at Kambridge University.

It wasn't about feelings; we shared the same ambition. But that was all there was to it.

I didn't blink. "I'm not that bored. Have fun."

They were playing games with their own future. I wished them to really enjoy it.

Andrew went quiet for a few seconds, then snapped, "April, you'd better mean what you say."

I hung up and went right back to my notebook of mistakes.

In my previous life, as soon as my scores dropped, I immediately started picking apart where I lost points and what went wrong.

This time, I was gunning for first place.

At 11:30, I packed up and went to bed on time. Andrew posted a huge group photo on his social media. It was obvious he'd blocked his parents from seeing it.

Everyone was holding a drink, clinking glasses and toasting, while their textbooks had long since disappeared.

Almost the whole class showed up, except for me.

The caption read: [Forget about the one who doesn't fit in. The best part of being young is having the people you love and your friends right by your side.]

On the SAT day, I made it to the exam hall without a hitch.

I wasn't exactly early, but a bunch of my classmates hadn't shown up.

The ones who did looked like they'd crawled out of bed, probably still hungover from last night.

Andrew was rubbing his temples, looking rough.

The exam hall doors were open, and after checking our admission tickets, we could head right in.

As I got in line, Andrew took Lily by the hand and maneuvered me out of the way, slipping ahead of me.

Lily turned around and made a face at me. "Sorry, April, I want to go in first."

I glanced at Andrew's pencil case but didn't say a word.

Andrew thought I was giving in, so he shot me a confident grin, took out the white envelope from his pencil case, and opened it slowly.

He said, "April, when I get first place, I'm taking Lily with me to Kambridge University. You'd better stop picking on her."

The next second, his smile suddenly froze.

Chapter 2

The group chat went silent for a moment.

Andrew frowned and typed: [April, stop being snarky.]

Lily acted all sympathetic. [Is April jealous or what? We booked a huge private room at the bar. Come hang out and study with us.

[April, don't be such a stick in the mud. You must come.]

Everyone was itching to join in. [Wow, really? Lily, you're the best. You have no idea how suffocating it is to sit in the classroom all day.]

Lily snapped a photo of the table. [There's fruit and red wine. It's the last day. Time to treat ourselves.]

Someone hesitated. [But we've got the exam tomorrow. Should we really be drinking?]

Andrew chimed in with an expert tone: [A little drink before bed can help you sleep and make you more productive when you study.]

With that, everyone who was hesitant quickly changed their mind. [If the top student says so, we have to go. Maybe we'll ace the exam tomorrow.]

Lily immediately sent her Venmo handle in the group chat, telling everyone to chip in for the private room and drinks.

She poked me. [April, you and Andrew are so close. You must be the first to pay up.]

I let out a cold laugh.

Lily usually kept her grades looking decent by cheating off her classmates.

But with her actual scores, she wouldn't make it into a community college. She couldn't care less, and she wanted to drag the whole class down with her.

But I wasn't about to get involved. If they couldn't make basic choices as grown-ups, that was their problem.

If I tried to step in, they might end up resenting me.

I replied: [Not going.]

Then, without a second thought, I left the group chat.

There was no reason to ever keep in touch with these crazy classmates again.

Soon, Andrew called me.

He sounded seriously pissed off. "April, do you really have to make me look bad? Lily was trying to be nice, and this is how you act."

Lily chimed in, sounding all hurt, "April, you're not coming? Are you going to snitch to our parents or something?"

Andrew barked at me, his voice full of warning. "April, if you dare snitch, don't dream of signing up for the same major as me in college."

We'd promised each other we'd both apply for the Computer Science Major at Kambridge University.

It wasn't about feelings; we shared the same ambition. But that was all there was to it.

I didn't blink. "I'm not that bored. Have fun."

They were playing games with their own future. I wished them to really enjoy it.

Andrew went quiet for a few seconds, then snapped, "April, you'd better mean what you say."

I hung up and went right back to my notebook of mistakes.

In my previous life, as soon as my scores dropped, I immediately started picking apart where I lost points and what went wrong.

This time, I was gunning for first place.

At 11:30, I packed up and went to bed on time. Andrew posted a huge group photo on his social media. It was obvious he'd blocked his parents from seeing it.

Everyone was holding a drink, clinking glasses and toasting, while their textbooks had long since disappeared.

Almost the whole class showed up, except for me.

The caption read: [Forget about the one who doesn't fit in. The best part of being young is having the people you love and your friends right by your side.]

On the SAT day, I made it to the exam hall without a hitch.

I wasn't exactly early, but a bunch of my classmates hadn't shown up.

The ones who did looked like they'd crawled out of bed, probably still hungover from last night.

Andrew was rubbing his temples, looking rough.

The exam hall doors were open, and after checking our admission tickets, we could head right in.

As I got in line, Andrew took Lily by the hand and maneuvered me out of the way, slipping ahead of me.

Lily turned around and made a face at me. "Sorry, April, I want to go in first."

I glanced at Andrew's pencil case but didn't say a word.

Andrew thought I was giving in, so he shot me a confident grin, took out the white envelope from his pencil case, and opened it slowly.

He said, "April, when I get first place, I'm taking Lily with me to Kambridge University. You'd better stop picking on her."

The next second, his smile suddenly froze.