When Love Walked Away

Synopsis

The spring formal was three days away. On TikTok, Hailey Vanderbilt, Jackson Carter's "childhood sweetheart", was twirling in a custom dress I had spent the entire semester designing. She stood in front of the white columns of the Kappa Kappa Gamma house. The lavender satin caught the sunlight and glowed. The caption read, "Prom season preview. When his frat pin is on your heart, but your heart belongs to someone else #SpringFormal #KKG #SororityLife." I typed a comment right away, "Keep it. I wasn't going anymore anyway." Five seconds later, the video was gone. Then my phone blew up. Hailey was calling. "Chloe, oh my God, why would you say that? You know I was just trying it on for photos." Her voice had that practiced, shaky edge. I knew it too well. Before I could answer, Jackson changed his Instagram profile picture. It was a photo of him and Hailey standing in front of the ATO house. They were both dressed up, smiling as if I had never existed. Then he called. "Hailey and I grew up together. Our families have been close since the Greenfield Country Club days. If you're going to act like this, maybe we shouldn't go to the formal at all." But I wasn't being dramatic. I just didn't want to go.