Chapter 7

By the end of the semester, Ethan went from straight A’s to failing multiple classes.

When Sarah came back from the school meeting, her face was completely pale.

That night, I could hear her screaming through the walls of our house.

"Your father and I worked ourselves to the bone to pay for your tuition and prep classes! You’re on the verge of graduation, and you're just throwing it all away?!"

"You could date anyone, anytime! Why does it have to be during your senior year?!"

"Do you have any idea how hard Chloe is working? She studies until midnight every single night!"

"How did you become like this? Tattoos?! Who taught you that?!"

I tried to tune it out, but our houses were close, and Sarah was completely hysterical.

At 11:00 PM, I was fully focused on a tough physics problem when someone knocked on my door.

Weird. My mom never disturbed me when I was studying.

I opened the door. My mom stood there, looking uncomfortable. "Chloe... can you come out for a second?"

I walked into the living room and saw Sarah sitting on our couch, her eyes red and swollen.

The moment she saw me, she burst into tears again. "Chloe... Ethan ran away."