Chapter 3

The next morning, the ruckus coming from downstairs woke me up.

I blearily climbed out of bed and headed downstairs, only to see Alexis sitting on the living room couch, clad in a dress.

Upon spotting me, she waved at me with a smile. "Ethan, today's our graduation ceremony. Why aren't you ready yet?"

My high fever had left me in such a daze that I hadn't read any of the class group chat messages.

Before I could say anything, Samuel stepped out of his room.

He was wearing the suit I had painstakingly learned how to sew together myself half a year ago. The small rabbit and fox stitched onto the chest pocket were identical to the ones on Alexis' dress, as I had meant for us to match.

I had never sewn anything in my life before, so I had pricked myself with the needles countless times during the process of making the dress and suit.

Samuel clutched the hem of his suit jacket anxiously. "Ethan, I really like this… Mrs. Grant said that it suits me really well, but if you're unwilling, I can take it off immediately and return it to you."

Despite his words, his grip on the suit jacket only tightened.

Alexis hurriedly came over to defend him. "Ethan, you have so many other suits. Sam only wants this one, so why do you have to force him to take it off?"

The commotion drew Mom's attention, and she came out to say, "Ethan, could you not be so petty? I was the one who told Sam to wear it. It's only a suit. Just wear something else."

It felt like someone had shoved a mouthful of glass shards down my throat.

"I'm not forcing him to do anything," I muttered.

However, no one was willing to listen to me.

…

By the time I rushed through my preparations and was ready to leave the house, I discovered that they had left me behind once again and had gone ahead to the school.

At the graduation ceremony, Alexis and Samuel, as the valedictorians, were chosen to give a speech. As they stood there on the stage, shoulder to shoulder and in matching outfits, they appeared to be the perfect couple.

Alexis took his hand without any hesitation and led him onto the stage, afraid that he'd be nervous giving his first public speech.

After they finished, the crowd below the stage erupted into teasing cheers.

"Alexis and Samuel are so perfect together! I heard that they even chose to attend the same university! Is there anything more romantic than that?"

"Oh, I can't agree with you more! They're such a power couple! As if anyone could not support them!"

"Did any of you notice the matching designs on their outfits? It's subtle yet so sweet!"

Someone suddenly said, "Hold on, I thought that Alexis likes that childhood friend of hers?"

Everyone fell silent, and those who knew me turned to shoot me pitying looks.

Instead of speaking, I turned to glance at the empty seats behind me, which had been specifically reserved for my parents.

A friend asked me, "Ethan, aren't you the apple of your parents' eyes? I'm surprised to see them absent on such a special occasion."

My gaze drifted to a spot nearby, where my parents were sitting behind Samuel and Alexis. Shaking my head with a bitter smile, I replied, "Yeah, they're not coming."

And I didn't need them to anymore.

A short while later, our guidance counselor, Ms. Edith Carletta, summoned me to her office. Pointing at the college admission form I had filled in, she let out a deep sigh.

"Ethan, you did so well on your SAT, so why didn't you apply for Jocaster University? The university you applied to, Greenhill University, is also a top institution, but it's also over 1,300 miles away from here. Maybe you should reconsider this."

How laughable. From the moment our results were announced till now, the only person who had ever shown any concern for my results had been Ms. Carletta.

"Ms. Carletta, I've already thought this through and made up my mind. But thank you."

Greenhill was over 1,300 miles away from Jocaster, a distance that I never wanted to cross to return here ever again.