Chapter 3

Maren's POV

When it's all settled, something shifts in my dad's expression. "Maren, you want me to go put some pressure on the Ellerys and the Morrows?"

My mom holds out her phone. "The school's security footage just came through from the Department of Education. Everything's on there. Audio too."

I smile, but there's nothing warm about it. "No. Don't say anything yet. If they want to throw their futures away that badly, let them."

The summer after senior year is the kind where some families are celebrating and others are quietly falling apart.

Fern's social media is nonstop. One day it's a photo from a yacht in Miami, sun in her hair, captioned: "Best view is always the people next to you." Nash and Declan are in the corner of the frame, loaded down with shopping bags like a pair of bellhops. The next day it's a new designer bag, captioned: "Thank you to my two knights, always giving me the best."

All summer long, her feed reads like a highlight reel of everything she's taken from them.

The message underneath it is obvious, even if she never says it directly. She's not just showing off. She's making sure I know exactly what I'm missing. No friends, no one, left behind.

I'm not angry. Honestly, it's almost funny.

She thinks my application is locked in at community college. She has no idea I already fixed it, or that I spent part of July touring my future campus with my family.

Go ahead, Fern. Enjoy it while it lasts. The higher you ride this, the harder you're going to fall.

Late August, the week before move-in.

To celebrate the senior class, the school hosts an awards ceremony at one of the nicer hotels downtown. Faculty, students, and a room full of parents dressed like the occasion means something.

The Ellerys and the Morrows are exactly where you'd expect them to be, right in the middle of it.

Nash's mom and Declan's mom work the room in designer dresses and serious jewelry, laughing a little too loudly, accepting compliments like it's a full-time job.

"I heard Nash did incredibly well this year," one parent says.

Nash's mom straightens up, beaming. "He did. Honestly, he barely had to try. That's just how he's always been."

Declan's mom isn't about to be outshined. "Declan worked so hard this year. Up past midnight almost every night. He actually told me to start planning the celebration dinner. Said the letters should be here any day."

"You must both be so proud. Those boys are going places."

The two of them eat it up, and then some. By the time they're done, they've moved on to comparing notes on whose parenting style deserves more credit.

I sit off to the side with a glass of juice and watch the whole thing.

Nash and Declan spent the entire summer lying to their parents. Fake screenshots, fake updates, buying themselves time. Their plan was simple: hold it together until school started, and by then there'd be nothing anyone could do about it.

Then the music cuts.

The principal steps up to the mic, grinning like he's been waiting all night for this. "Parents, students — this is the moment we've all been looking forward to. Tonight, we get to celebrate the seniors heading to some of the best schools in the country, and hand-deliver their acceptance letters right here."

The room applauds. Nash's mom and Declan's mom both get to their feet, craning toward the stage like their names are about to be called.

One by one, students walk up to collect their letters. The applause keeps coming. And with every name that isn't Nash or Declan, the two women get a little more restless. Their eyes keep moving toward the door.

Then the doors open.

A delivery worker in uniform pushes inside, slightly out of breath, holding a stack of envelopes. "Sorry to interrupt — the distribution center got backed up today and a few letters didn't make it out on time. The addresses were all local, so I figured I'd just bring them over."

The room goes quiet.

Nash's mom and Declan's mom are already moving toward him.

"Is there one for Nash Ellery?"

"What about Declan Morrow?"

The worker checks the stack and nods. "Ellery, Morrow, and..." he glances down again, "Voss. All three are here."