Chapter 1

My childhood friend Manuel George had no idea that my life had quietly ended the summer after the SATs.

Five years later, at our class reunion, someone casually mentioned me.

"Manuel, it's been five years. You've let go of the grudge over your mother's passing, right?"

He shook his head with a smile. "Of course I have. Besides, she lost her mother too."

Then, feigning casual curiosity, he asked, "Oh... now that you mention it, she didn't come to the reunion, did she? How's she been these past few years?"

The room fell utterly silent. Everyone stared at Manuel in shock.

He looked confused. "Huh?"

Finally, our class president Bentley Lopez spoke after a long pause, "You don't know? Carolyn... she's been dead for five years. She died right after the SATs."

*****

Everyone knew Manuel George always kept me safe, like I was something he had to protect at all costs.

We grew up together, planned to go to the same college, and even picked out names for our future kids.

But everything just disappeared that afternoon, like it had never existed at all.

His dad and my mom were caught together in bed, barely dressed.

His mom walked in, saw everything, and in her despair, she threw herself out the window.

Manuel was right downstairs when it happened, and her blood stained his school uniform.

In just one night, his family was shattered.

He was once shining like a star, but then he crashed down into darkness, staring at me with endless hatred in his eyes.

He despised me, ripped apart everything we ever planned or promised, and told me to stay the hell away from him.

So when I found out I had terminal cancer, I didn't feel despair or fear. All that was left was numbness and a cold, hollow emptiness.

Maybe once I was gone, he wouldn't hate me anymore. Maybe the chains that kept him trapped would finally break.

When I got back to school, it was time for chemistry class.

I forced myself to make it to the lab, ignoring the pain in my body, but the teacher put me in a group with Manuel and Emory Humphrey.

The guy who used to always hold my hand, afraid I'd get hurt in the lab, now didn't even bother to look at me.

He spent the whole class talking to Emory, carefully teaching her every step, treating me like I was invisible.

My hands kept trembling uncontrollably, tormented by my illness.

Just as I tried to pick up the cup of alkaline solution, my wrist suddenly went limp.

The cup crashed to the floor, and the pungent, stinging liquid splashed all over Emory's arm.

Emory screamed in pain, her arm instantly flushing bright red.

Manuel's face turned stormy, and he slammed his foot into the stool I was sitting on.

I didn't see it coming, so both the chair and I went down hard.

My elbow banged against the dusty floor, and I hissed in pain.

Every word Manuel spat out felt like a poisoned needle, and his gaze was cold, like icy hooks sinking into my skin.

"Carolyn, are you trying to get yourself killed?" he snapped.

Fighting through the pain, I hurried to explain, "I swear, I couldn't hold it. I'm so sorry... My hands just wouldn't stop shaking..."

But Manuel just shut me out, not even listening.

He picked up the tearful Emory in a princess carry and strode straight toward the infirmary.

Just as he reached the doorway, he suddenly paused, turned, and glared at me with eyes colder than ice.

"Carolyn, if you dare hurt Emory like this again, I guarantee your fate will be even worse than today!" Manuel snapped.

With those words, he left without so much as a backward glance, carrying Emory in his arms.

I finally managed to sit up, every part of my body aching, but none of it hurt as much as my heart.

That was the first time he'd spoken to me since everything went down.

I never expected he warned me because of another girl.

This time, I was out of his heart for good.

Since our group was short-handed, we couldn't finish the experiment, so the teacher punished me by making me stand outside the classroom.

As soon as the bell rang, every single student from all the classes flooded out into the hallway.

When they saw me standing there, pale as a sheet, they stared at me with a mix of curiosity and disdain.

"Yikes, what happened to her?"

"No clue. Maybe she's learning how to hook guys just like her mom did."

"Yeah, like mother, like daughter..."

"Just stay away from her, she's seriously gross!"

The whispers around me washed over like a wave of thorns, seeping into my ears and making my eardrums and heart clench tight.