Both Reborn: Betray Me, Lose Everything

Synopsis

When I was seven, the Lincolns covered my full tuition. Tiffany Lincoln brought me from our small town to the city and had me sit right beside her only son, Ethan Lincoln, in class. The first day we met, Ethan pulled a drumstick from his lunchbox, dropped it onto my plate, and said, "You're way too skinny." Later on, Winnie Clayton transferred into our class, and the three of us became inseparable. Then came senior year of high school. Our school had only one direct admission nomination to Ashbourne University. I earned it. Winnie didn't make the cut. She never said a word about it. She enrolled at a college halfway across the country instead. Two weeks into the semester, she jumped from the sixth floor. Ethan and I carried that guilt for twelve long years. At twenty-nine, I was diagnosed with ALS. On my final night, Ethan held me close, soaking the back of my shirt with his tears. "Ella, I love you. I've loved you since we were seven. "But if there were a second chance, I wouldn't let Winnie go down that road again. Whatever it takes," he said. When I opened my eyes again, I was right back on the day they posted the nomination list. The afternoon sun cut sharply into the classroom. Next to the whiteboard hung the bright announcement flyer, my name sitting on the very first line. [Luella Sutton, Direct Admission to the Department of Biological Sciences, Ashbourne University.] I sat at my desk for a long time, staring at those words while the memory of Winnie falling from the roof replayed in my mind. She wore a white dress, standing on the dorm roof with the wind whipping her hair across her face. The sky had been clear that day. I was thousands of miles away, sitting through a lecture at Ashbourne, letting my phone buzz thirty-seven times before finally picking up. Ethan didn't break down on the line. He only said three words. "Winnie is gone." Those three words crushed the next twelve years of my life into a dull, flat gray. And now, here I was back in high school, looking at that same announcement. In my previous life, I took that spot. This time around, I had already planned to decline it and pass the opportunity to Winnie. As long as she stayed alive. My way of making amends matched Ethan's. Yet before I could act on it, someone had already made the move for me.