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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SARA
Itake a deep breath as the college portal homepage finally loads on the library computer. This is it. The moment of truth that will determine my entire future.
Beside me, Martha squeezes my hand tightly, her nails digging into my palm. I glance over and see she looks as anxious as I feel, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the screen.
“You ready for this?” Martha asks under her breath.
I let out a shaky laugh. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
With trembling fingers, I type in my login details and hit enter. The screen changes, displaying a list of my courses this semester. As I move the mouse pointer over the exam results link, my heart pounds erratically.
“Just click it already!” Martha urges impatiently.
I take a deep breath and click. The page refreshes, and for a moment, all I see is a blur. Then, the individual letter grades come into focus, and I gasp, straight As across the board. Even in my most challenging classes, I’ve somehow managed to score perfect marks on every single exam.
“Oh my god,” I breathe, hardly daring to believe it’s real. “Martha, look! I got all As!”
Martha lets out a shriek that earns her a stern “Shhh!” from the mousy librarian at the front desk. But my friend is too excited to care, practically bouncing in her seat as she takes in my results.
“I knew you could do it!” she exclaims, beaming at me. “Didn’t I tell you that you were worrying for nothing?”
I can’t stop smiling, giddy with relief and lingering disbelief. “I know, I know, you were right. I should have had more faith in myself.”
After a month away from classes, I was convinced I had ruined my grades for good. But by some miracle, I’ve come through with flying colors.
Suddenly remembering Martha is also waiting on her results, I urge her to log in and check. She quickly types in her details, both of us holding our breath. When her grades appear, As across the board just like mine, we turn and wrap each other in a massive hug.
“We did it!” I laugh, squeezing Martha tight.
My friend laughs with me, practically lifting me up in her enthusiasm. I hear another louder “Shhh!” from the front, but we’re too thrilled to care.
“Can you believe it?” Martha says as we finally separate. “After everything that’s happened, we still kicked these exams’ butts!”
I grin and nod. It’s been a hell of a semester, but somehow we made it through. A week ago, I would never have imagined I could bounce back after missing so many classes.
Straight As. Even in classes I was convinced I had failed. Some part of me wonders if this is all just a dream and if I’ll wake up any minute to find out it was too good to be true.
I'm still grinning at my perfect grades when my phone starts buzzing in my pocket. Pulling it out, I feel my smile fade as Lorenzo's name flashes across the screen. For a moment, I consider just ignoring the call again. I hit decline and wait for the inevitable follow-up texts.
Sure enough, a few seconds later my messaging app chimes with a new notification. Taking a deep breath, I open it up and start scrolling through the flood of texts from Lorenzo.
"Sara, I need to talk to you."
"Pick up the phone!"
"Sara, please, I just want to know you're okay. Text me back."
I roll my eyes at the faux caring tone. As if he actually cares how I'm doing.
The next texts are more aggressive.
"You're being childish and immature."
"I'm your fiancé, you can't just not answer when I call."
"If I don't hear from you in the next 10 minutes, I'm coming to find you."
