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Semua Bab Stolen Scholarship: No Forgiveness: Bab 1 - Bab 10

10 Bab

Chapter 1

Kevin Chase was on his knees, his voice breaking."David, Diane, you're like second parents to me. I'll spend the rest of my life paying you back, even if I have to work myself to the bone."Mom pulled him to his feet, her eyes going red. "Silly boy, what's there to pay back? We're family."Family.I stood off to the side, watching, my fists clenched."Mom, this is what three years of hard work earned me. Why does it go to him?"Her face fell instantly."Nathan, why are you being like this?" She grabbed my wrist and hauled me aside. "You know what Kevin's family situation is like. His parents are farmers—just putting him through college was already a stretch. This is his only shot.""And me? I'm your actual son. My parents are both college professors. So I'm just supposed to hand my opportunities to someone else?"The people around us were starting to stare.The advisor rubbed his hands together, clearly at a loss for what to say.Dad finally spoke, his tone leaving no room

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Chapter 2

Dad's expression shifted.Mom stood up, her patience clearly running out. "Nathan, what do you want? Kevin's already kneeled, he's already apologized. Are you trying to drive him to his death?""I'm trying to drive him to his death?"I stared at her, not quite believing what I'd heard."He knelt because he wanted to. He apologized because he took something of mine. What exactly am I driving him to? I just want back what's mine!""What do you mean, took? Your father and I agreed to this! Kevin is a kid we've been supporting—his business is our business!"The murmuring around us grew louder."Poor Nathan. His own parents treat him worse than the one they took in.""The Reeds have always been so good to Kevin. I saw them buying him a coat at the mall last week—must've been over a hundred and fifty dollars."My head buzzed with static.Last winter, I'd worked a part-time job until ten at night, riding my bike back to campus with my fingers frozen stiff. The twenty-dollar coat I'd

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Chapter 3

There was a note tucked inside too. Grandma's handwriting shaky and uneven.[Nathan, this is 75,000 dollars. It's everything I saved up over my whole life, put away for you in secret. Your parents don't have their heads on straight. They can't be relied on. Keep this for yourself, for whenever you need it.]My eyes went hot.Seventy-five thousand dollars.That was enough.Enough for tuition, enough to live on, enough to get me through a year in Olweyn.I tucked the passbook into my bag, locked up the house, and headed home. Tomorrow, I'd go take care of the paperwork.When I got home, the living room lights were still on. Mom and Dad sat on the couch with Kevin between them, watching TV, laughing about something.The laughter stopped when I walked in.Mom frowned. "Where have you been, this late?"I didn't answer, just headed straight for my room."Stop right there!" Mom stood up. "I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?"I stopped and turned around."What?"She looked thrown o

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Chapter 4

They had transferred my money to Kevin.All seventy-five thousand dollars. That was the money Grandma had left for me.Not a word to me, and it had all gone to him.I looked at Kevin.He kept his head down, not daring to meet my eyes.But I saw it—the corner of his mouth twitched up."Mom."My voice shook."That money was Grandma's. She left it for me.""I know."Mom said it like it was the most reasonable thing in the world. "But you're our flesh and blood. Everything in this family will be yours eventually anyway. Kevin's different. Nobody's got his back. If we don't help him, who will?"I looked at her face. A face I'd known my whole life.For the first time, it felt like a stranger's."So my money should just go to him?""What do you mean, your money?" Dad frowned. "Your grandmother's money is family money. And family money—we decide how it's spent."Family money.I laughed."Dad, right before she died, Grandma told me she'd saved that money for me in secret. She s

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Chapter 5

I looked at Dad."So?""So can't you just let this one go, pretend the money never existed?"Dad's tone softened."Kevin going abroad brings honor to this family. Once he makes something of himself, he won't forget you."Won't forget me.I nodded.Then I turned, grabbed Kevin's arm, and yanked him out from behind Mom."Nathan!" Mom shrieked.I ignored her and looked at Kevin."The money. How much is left?"His face went white."I—I paid for tuition, bought a plane ticket, and... sent eleven thousand five hundred to my parents..."Eleven thousand five hundred dollars.Sent to his parents.Using Grandma's money.I tightened my grip on his arm."Kevin, that money was my grandmother's. She left it for me."He started crying. "Nathan, I was wrong. I'll pay it back, I swear."Mom rushed over, trying to pry my hand off him."Nathan, let go of him! We're the ones who spent the money. Why are you taking it out on him?"I shoved her off. She stumbled and hit the coffee table

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Chapter 6

The room went silent for three seconds after I said it.Then Mom exploded."What did you just say?" She lunged at me and slapped me across the face. "You ungrateful brat! I raised you for eighteen years, and this is how you repay me?"My cheek burned.I didn't flinch. I just looked at her."Raised me for eighteen years? Mom, add up everything you spent on me in eighteen years—does it even come close to what you spent on Kevin in three?"Her hand went up again. Dad caught her wrist."That's enough!" Dad's brow furrowed. "Nathan, do you understand what you're saying? Cutting us off? You don't just say something like that.""I'm not just saying it."I looked at both of them. "I mean it."Kevin picked that moment to peek out from behind Mom, his eyes red-rimmed."Nathan, don't do this... David and Diane only did it for my sake. If you want to blame someone, blame me. I'll go, I'll leave right now..."He turned like he was actually going to walk out.Mom grabbed his arm, her vo

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Chapter 7

Mom hugged him, patting his back, but the look on her face had already changed.He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, then closed it again without a word.Dad cleared his throat. "That's enough for tonight. Nathan, go to your room. We'll deal with this tomorrow."I looked at the three of them.Mom, arms around Kevin.Dad, brow furrowed.But the air in the room had already shifted.Some things, once they crack open, don't go back together."No need." I turned toward the door. "I said we're done. That's final.""Nathan!" Mom caught up to me. "You stop right there!"I turned back to look at her."Mom, that seventy-five thousand dollars of Grandma's—take your time paying it back. I'm not in a rush."Then I pulled the door open and walked out.…It was raining by the time I left that house.No umbrella, no bag—just my phone and a bank passbook with a zero balance.I stood outside the gate to the complex, rain soaking through my clothes, shivering with cold.M

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Chapter 8

The data was mine. The charts were mine. The first draft was mine.Kevin had only put his name on it.I handed the materials over to the staff member in the academic affairs office. She flipped through them, frowning."You're sure about this?""I'm sure." I held her gaze. "I want the school to reopen the review on Kevin Chase's grad-school admission and his sponsored study-abroad spot."She nodded. "We'll look into it."I left the office, and my phone rang.It was Mom.I hung up.It rang again.I hung up again.The third time, I answered."Nathan!" Mom's voice was sharp. "Have you lost your mind? You went and reported Kevin to the school?"Word traveled fast."Mom, I reported the truth.""What truth? Kevin wrote that paper himself. What gives you the right to say it's yours?"I laughed."Mom, you're a biology professor. You, of all people, should know whose data that was."Mom went quiet."I ran that experiment through three hundred sleepless nights in the lab. Has K

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Chapter 9

I stood there and watched Kevin walk away.My phone rang. It was my advisor."Nathan! Good news! Given your situation, the school's decided to give you back that Olweyn spot. And they've gotten you a full scholarship on top of it!"I froze."Professor, say that again?""A full scholarship! Tuition completely waived, plus a living stipend! Come in and get the paperwork sorted!"I hung up and stood there in the wind. My eyes went hot without warning.So the universe hadn't been blind after all.That night, I went back to my dorm to pack.My phone rang. It was my mother.I hesitated, then picked up."Nathan!" Mom's voice was worn thin. "The thing with Kevin—did you report him?""Yes."She went quiet for a long moment.Then she said, "Do you know he almost killed himself?"I gripped the phone and said nothing."He called me last night, said he was going to jump in the river. Your father and I searched for him half the night before we found him and brought him home."Her vo

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Chapter 10

I blocked that number too.…Kevin was completely public enemy number one now.No one at school wanted anything to do with him. His dorm mates filed a joint petition to have him kicked out.The grad schools he'd applied to all turned him down once they found out his paper had been plagiarized.The seventy-five thousand dollars was just about gone—what was left, his parents had taken to build a house back home.He was broke.One day, I was studying in the library when he stormed in, walked right up to me in front of everyone, and dropped to his knees."Nathan! Please! Help me out!"Everyone turned and stared.I looked down at him.He'd lost a ton of weight, his eyes were sunken in—nothing like the polished guy he used to be."I'm begging you! Get your parents to take me in—I've got nowhere else to go!""My parents?" I stared at him. "Aren't they your parents?"His face froze for a second."Didn't you say my mom scraped together fourteen thousand three hundred dollars for

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