The Boy I Trusted Sold My Dream For Another Girl

At Ashford Prep, on the afternoon the Common App closes, Chloe Ashford drops a poll into the party chat: whoever submits first, if he lands at her school, gets to be her boyfriend for a year. Adrian Whitmore taps submit before she finishes, then shows Zoe Bennett his record — Harvard, exactly what he and Zoe agreed on. Chloe, everyone knows, wants NYU Tisch.

Then an unknown number texts Zoe: Adrian did submit Harvard, but he changed her application to NYU Tisch, and Chloe has switched hers to match his. When Zoe reaches for her phone to check, Adrian takes it and pockets it, warning her not to embarrass him in front of everyone. Whispers call her the Valedictorian who can't read the room; Chloe needles her sweetly.

Harvard is the dream Zoe has chased since she was twelve, for the professor she wants to study under. The internal Early Decision cutoff is at five, and her application dies with it. For the first time, she refuses to back down and demands her phone back.