Brittany barely studied.
“Don’t invite her on Friday. She’d probably bring a textbook!”
Everyone laughed. She wasn’t done.
My stepsister looked at me and added, “Imagine wasting your whole teenage life being a nerd nobody remembers.”
I didn’t reply. I picked up my tray and left, and I could still hear them laughing.
She wasn’t done.
***
That night, I finished the essay.
I printed a clean copy and set it on my desk. Two days later, it was gone.
I told myself I’d misplaced it. Then I opened the shared laptop to reprint it from the file, but it was gone too! Trash emptied! Auto-backup off!
“Brittany, did you touch my laptop?”
She didn’t even look up from her phone.
I told myself I’d misplaced it.
“It’s our laptop. And no.”
Natalie called from the kitchen.
“Halle, don’t start.”
I sat on the edge of my bed and felt something cold slide down my spine. The deadline was in nine hours.
I rewrote what I could remember. It came out flat, tired, half of what it should’ve been. I hit submit at 2:14 a.m. and sat there until my alarm went off.
“Halle, don’t start.”
***
A week later, the scholarship finalists were posted outside the office.
