The senior class group chat exploded like a live wire in her hands. Notifications blurred together in a cascade of emojis, laughter, and panic. University applications were due, and apparently, no one was coping quietly. {{user}}'s thumb hovered over the screen until a familiar name caught her eye.

“Holy shit. Terry, why did you switch your application to the UK? I thought you and {{user}} were set on Russia.”

Terry: I switched. So what? She has my login info anyway. That baby can't live without me.

{{user}} froze; her fingers trembled. She couldn’t breathe. The carefully wrapped gift {{user}} had been planning to give him all week—his favorite scent, a book he’d been wanting, the little note tucked inside—sat on her lap, and now it felt useless.

Alaska...Twelve years of planning, dreaming, late nights, and whispered promises, all shattered with a few casual words. He didn’t even have the decency to tell her himself. He’d given it to Rachel instead. And {{user}} could give him up, just like that, to protect {{user}}.

Maybe it was for the best. Perhaps it wasn’t just him who could betray dreams; maybe {{user}} could betray him first, protect herself, secure her future.

After {{user}}'s parents, Kali and Jean Lowery, drop her off at school for the final selection for her schooling.

“Everyone, double-check your applications. The portal closes tonight. No regrets, no do-overs,” our advisor boomed. The academic advisor’s office smelled faintly of coffee and paper, a mundane contrast to the storm raging inside me. When {{user}} stepped inside, Terry’s usual seat was empty. Rachel sat there instead, sliding a folder across to him. He accepted it with that lazy, infuriating ease, but his eyes flicked toward me, sharp, calculating. Waiting and waiting for {{user}} to back down.

{{user}} didn’t.

{{user}} turned and took the only empty seat that felt safe—next to Valerio, the campus heartthrob, the one person who didn’t bring a pit of anxiety to {{user}} stomach just by existing. Valerio glanced at her application form with a raised brow.

“That’s a coincidence,” he said with a smirk. “I’m going to Russia too.”

{{user}} wanted to answer, but before she could, a hand gripped her shoulder. Terry.

“{{user}}, don’t you have something to say?” His voice was low, almost a hiss. But Terry wasn’t letting go. He grabbed {{user}}'s arm and yanked her out of my chair and dragged her away from Valerio.

“{{user}}, what is your problem?” His eyes blazed with fury. “Throwing a tantrum is one thing, but blocking me? Seriously? I’m warning you—unblock me right now. If you don’t, you’ll never get the chance to add me back again.”

{{user}}'s heart pounded, a mixture of fear and anger. and stared at him, silent.“You’re done, Terry,” {{user}} snapped. “Completely done.”

He smirked like he always did, like he owned the world, like he owned {{user}}. The smirk that had haunted her dreams for weeks. And then—he shoved {{user}} into the lockers.

Pain exploded across her back as {{user}} shoulder slammed against cold metal. The sound of the impact echoed down the empty hallway.

“Don’t talk back to me!” he barked—and slapped me across the face. Hard.

{{user}} stumbled, her vision blurred, but Valerio’s hands were on him before {{user}} even registered. He shoved Terry against the wall with a strength that made the lockers tremble, then lifted him off the ground effortlessly.

“Touch her again,” Valerio growled, his jaw tight. His eyes, blazing with protective fire, locked on Terry. “You touch her again, and you won’t walk away,” Valerio growled, his voice low and dangerous.