Chapter 3: Goodbye, Old Life

2.

Caleb quickly arranged my transfer paperwork.

His family had always had connections, and it seemed like the forms processed themselves overnight. By the time I arrived at school the next morning, the news had already spread.

The whole school knew I was transferring.

My locker was covered with sticky notes—some wishing me luck, some just asking if the rumors were true. Someone had drawn a broken heart and a sad face on my locker in dry erase marker. Drama spreads fast in Ohio—faster than cafeteria rumors. A few teachers pulled me aside to say I was making a mistake, but I just nodded and kept moving.

As I packed, I could hear people whispering around me:

The voices blended together—pity, curiosity, and a little bit of schadenfreude. I tried to tune them out as I stuffed my textbooks and spiral-bound notebooks into a box.

"No way, is Caleb really sending Lillian away for Aubrey? Weren’t they childhood sweethearts?"

Someone had scrawled a heart with a crack through it on the whiteboard in the back of the classroom. The world loves a good drama, and today, we were the stars.

"See? Guess old friends just can’t compete with new faces. Caleb used to treat Lillian so well. Ever since Aubrey showed up, he never walked her home again."

I remembered all those evenings we’d raced to beat the streetlights coming on, sharing stories and dreams. It felt like a different life.

"What a shame. Lillian’s grades are so good—she had a shot at an Ivy. Transferring now will definitely mess that up."

A heavy, suffocating sense of loss wrapped around me. I traced my finger over my old chemistry notes, thinking about what might’ve been.

"I heard she’s going to Maple Heights High. That place is notorious for troublemakers. If she goes there, all her hard work might go down the drain."

I felt my hands clench tighter around my backpack straps. The words stung, but what choice did I have?

……

Enduring their sympathetic glances, I hugged my things and prepared to leave.

I kept my chin up, blinking back tears as I walked through the halls for the last time. The sunlight streaming through the big front windows painted stripes across my path. My shoes squeaked quietly with every step.

At the stairwell, I overheard Caleb’s friend urging him:

He sounded desperate, like he was trying to shake some sense into Caleb. I paused, just out of sight, heart thumping in my throat.

"Did you forget Lillian has a hearing impairment? If you send her to another school alone, what if she gets bullied? You two grew up together, and you used to like her so much. Can you really send her away?"

His words echoed off the cinderblock walls. For a moment, I held my breath, hoping Caleb might change his mind.

Caleb leaned against the wall, chuckling lightly:

He looked cool and unconcerned, but there was a hollow ring to his laugh. "What’s there to regret? The past is the past. Haven’t you heard? Childhood friends can’t beat someone who falls from the sky. Besides, in three months, I’ll let her come back."

He tossed his backpack over his shoulder like it weighed nothing. But for me, the words landed like a punch.

As he finished speaking, as if sensing something, he looked up.

His eyes found mine. He froze. The sunlight caught the swelling on my ear, and his smile faded just a little.

He saw me standing at the stairwell entrance. His gaze landed on my slightly swollen ear, and he frowned.

His expression shifted, surprise flickering before he composed himself. The mask slipped for a heartbeat, replaced by a shadow of concern.

He subconsciously stepped forward and grabbed my hand:

His grip was gentle but insistent, like he was trying to bridge a gap that was already too wide. "Come on, I’ll take you to get a new hearing aid. Consider it my way of making it up to you."

I shook my head:

"No need. That hearing aid was a gift from you. Now we’re even."

My voice was steady, but my heart was pounding. I wanted him to feel the weight of what had changed between us, even if he pretended not to.

When he broke my hearing aid, the stabbing pain in my ear made me resolve never to get tangled up with Caleb again.

I’d spent enough years circling him like a moon in his orbit. That sharp, electrifying pain in my ear—followed by the total silence—felt like a wake-up call. It was time to break free, no matter how much it hurt.