Chapter 2

At the sound of my footsteps, they sprang apart.

Cole rushed forward, desperate to explain. "Evelyn! Juliette and I were just... we were figuring out how to talk to you. You really need to think this through. Going to Texas is the best choice for you."

I stared dead into his eyes.

A question that had been buried for two lifetimes finally floated up.

"Cole, why did you fall in the water that day?"

He froze. Juliette’s face went white for a second.

"It—it was an accident," Cole stammered, dodging my gaze. "The bank was slippery. I lost my footing."

I looked at his shifting eyes. I knew I wouldn't get the truth out of him. I turned and walked away.

The house was suffocatingly empty. My dad’s things were exactly where he had left them. I started sorting through the clutter, trying to keep myself busy.

Not long after, a knock came at the door.

It was exactly who I expected: Juliette.

She wore a perfectly crafted expression of worry and walked right into the living room, so familiar it was like she had a key.

"Evelyn, I was so worried about you. I came to keep you company."

I didn't reply. I stepped aside, letting her in, and closed the door.

I wanted to see what performance she had prepared.

Juliette sat on the couch, offering a few sighs about my dad before pivoting smoothly back to college.

"I know you're mad, Evelyn, but Cole means well," she said. "He feels so guilty about Daniel. He wants to make it up to you. Why do you have to push him away time and time again? Columbia is a top school, but going to New York alone... it’s going to be so hard. I’m going to study in Denton, too. Even if we're not at the same school, we'll be in the same city. If you and Cole go, the three of us can stay together. Wouldn't that be great?"

She kept pushing, trying to force me to change my mind.

For three years of high school, the three of us had been practically inseparable.

After a study session senior year, Cole had confessed his feelings to me. Juliette had been right there, laughing and cheering us on.

I had never suspected her.

But looking back now, the signs had been there all along.

"Where I go to school has nothing to do with you," I cut her off. "If you want to stay by Cole so badly, just go to Texas with him. Why keep coming here to convince me?"

Juliette’s smile shattered.

A few seconds later, her eyes welled with tears.

"How can you say that, Evelyn? We’re best friends. I’m doing this for your own good."

I took a step toward her, staring straight into her panicked eyes.

"For my own good? Or for yours?"

She instinctively shrank back half a step, but her mouth kept moving. "I don't know what you're talking about. You're just too consumed by grief. It's making you paranoid."

I scoffed.

In my past life, Juliette had claimed she’d been tricked by a guy outside our circle, gotten accidentally pregnant, and was too terrified to tell her family. I took care of her every need, stayed by her side through the pregnancy, and even used the money my dad left me to subsidize her.

But I didn't know the baby in her belly was Cole’s.

I was such a fool.

A suffocating tightness gripped my chest.

"My decision won't change."

"I am going to Columbia."

I opened the front door.

"It's getting late. You should go. And don't come back."

Realizing she couldn't sway me, Juliette’s expression completely darkened.

Her voice turned cold and sinister.

"You have no idea how much we've bent over backwards for you, Evelyn," she sneered. "Cole only puts up with you because he remembers Daniel saved him. Why do you have to treat all his care like malice?"

She slammed the door and left.

I stood in place and closed my eyes.