ra's

ugh the thick air between

his tone filled with frustration as if I was somehow at

oment, I didn't even fee

y. "I explained every

brushed aside as "excuses." No matter what I s

ever matte

small ways my parents had always

to study alone. She was given gifts for every small ac

party. I wore hand-me-downs. S

h a cracked screen I cou

ey always found a way to make it se

hed again, cuttin

her you're simply not worki

stead of worrying about money, mayb

e already past eighteen and you still haven't

ment, my chest tight, bu

e after being expelled from

but I didn't give him

e memories clawed their way back. My

ened when I was out th

htly as I spoke, the

th silver, Alpha Ke

lightly, but I f

around my neck, m

wounds reopening, but I di

n the process... they da

wavered. His face stiffened, and his eyes darte

old now, "should know better than anyone

followed was he

ession darkened, and suddenly, he lash

"Your grades were always at the bottom, an

dn't flinch. I held his gaze

rst in my class, year after year," I said

onfidence wavering. The disb

t even know which school I went to. So ho

m. My chest ti

e I had studied, how I had lived, o

mily hadn't even bothered to learn the na

I sat alone at a small desk, studying late into the night, hoping

ng had been exposed, did

aims he has my interest at hea

arents now, shifting the

demanded, "what schoo

l cold arrogance seemed to falter as he r

usly as the room grew tense again. The whispering aro

said softly, breaki

ts said

ok their heads in quiet disbelief, others whispere

bling, and every new truth was an

e asked me, "Where exactly did you go

eath caught in my throat, the words

oor, my hands tigh

ford High School

of my high school, the en

h stared at me, struck as if lightning h

, and even Keith's Beta aura wavered for a mo

wn across the country for it

who your family was or how much money yo

year, I had pushed myself to the top. One step

sharp, defensive, almost desperate. "Impo