6 - What Ethan Knew All Along
That night, after everything that happened at graduation, I finally told Chloe the full story.
We sat on the floor of my small apartment with the lights dim. I showed her the rest of the documents I had been collecting for over a year.
“They didn’t just take my scholarship,” I said quietly. “They tried to make sure I couldn’t graduate at all.”
Chloe looked confused. “What do you mean?”
I pulled out a folder I had never shown anyone before.
“In my second year, I suddenly lost access to my student portal. My financial aid was marked as ‘incomplete.’ When I went to the office, they told me someone had called pretending to be me and asked to cancel my aid. They also said my address had been changed.”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
“They changed your address?”
I nodded.
“To a P.O. box in another city. For almost three weeks, I couldn’t receive any official letters from the university. I almost lost my housing. I had to sleep on a friend’s couch while I fixed everything.”
I looked down at my hands.
“When I confronted my mother about it, she said I was being dramatic. She said I must have forgotten to update my information. But I knew it was them. They wanted me to fail so badly that they were willing to sabotage my entire education.”
Chloe was silent for a long moment.
Then she asked, “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
I gave a small, tired smile.
“Because I kept hoping they would stop. I kept hoping that if I just worked harder, they would eventually be proud of me. But they never were. They only got worse.”
Chloe reached over and held my hand.
“You don’t have to hope anymore,” she said. “Now everyone knows the truth.”
I nodded.
But deep down, I knew this was only the beginning.
May you like
My parents weren’t the type to go down quietly.
And I had a feeling they were already planning their next move.
