Chapter 3
Jade's POV
The words hung in the air for a moment.
"What do you mean you're not going to Boston?" my dad asked slowly. "Jade, you already submitted your Early Decision application to BU. That's binding."
"I withdrew it." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "I submitted applications to UCLA, USC, and Berkeley instead."
My mom set her fork down. "When did you do this?"
"When I came home from camp."
They looked at each other with that silent parent communication thing they did, and then my mom turned back to me with concern written all over her face. "Honey, does this have something to do with Noah? Did something happen between you two?"
Everything happened between us. But I couldn't tell them that. I couldn't tell them I'd given up my actual dream school to follow some guy across the country, only to find out he thought I was just practice.
"I just realized UCLA is where I really want to be," I said instead. "It's always been my dream school. I shouldn't have applied ED to BU in the first place."
My dad leaned back in his chair and studied me for a long moment. "And Noah knows about this?"
"Not yet."
"Jade." My mom reached across the table and took my hand. "You two have been planning this together for over a year. He's going to show up here eventually asking questions."
"I know." I pulled my hand back and pushed my food around my plate. "But this is my decision. My life. Not his."
My parents exchanged another look and I could see my mom's eyes getting a little wet, which made my chest feel tight. But then she nodded.
"Okay," she said softly. "If UCLA is what you really want, then we support you completely."
"We do," my dad agreed, though he still looked worried. "But you need to be prepared for Noah's reaction. He's not going to take this well."
I already knew that. I'd spent the last two weeks imagining every possible scenario, every argument he'd make, every way he'd try to manipulate me into changing my mind. But I also knew I wasn't going to budge. Not this time.
"I can handle it," I said.
The next two weeks passed in this weird limbo state. I spent most of my time in my room, obsessively checking the UCLA housing portal and watching campus tour videos on YouTube until I could navigate the school in my sleep.
I followed film students on Instagram and studied their work, imagining myself shooting on those same locations, editing in those same labs.
My phone kept buzzing with texts from Noah. I'd blocked his number the day I got home from camp, but he'd figured out pretty quickly that something was wrong. Unknown numbers started popping up with messages that were obviously from him.
"Why aren't you answering?"
"Did I do something?"
"Jade, this isn't funny."
I blocked every single one without responding.
Zoe called me constantly but I kept making excuses about being busy with college prep. I wasn't ready to tell her yet. I wasn't ready to say out loud what had happened, to admit how completely I'd been fooled.
It was a Wednesday afternoon in mid-August when the doorbell rang. I was upstairs reorganizing my closet for the third time that week. I'd been sorting through what to bring to UCLA, what to leave behind, what to donate. It felt therapeutic in a weird way, like I was physically removing all the versions of myself I'd pretended to be.
"Jade! Someone's here for you!" my mom called from downstairs.
I wasn't expecting anyone. Zoe was at her family's beach house for the week. I grabbed my phone and headed down, and that's when I saw him through the front door window.
Noah. Standing on my porch with two Starbucks cups in his hands, wearing that stupid grin he always wore when he thought he was being charming.
My stomach dropped so hard I actually felt dizzy for a second.
I thought about going back upstairs and pretending I wasn't home, but my mom was already opening the door with that polite smile she used for guests.
"Noah! What a nice surprise," she said.
"Hi, Mrs. Adams." He held up the coffee cups. "I brought Jade's favorite. Thought we could finalize our Boston plans since we leave in two weeks."
He walked past my mom into the living room where my dad was reading the newspaper. Dad looked up, he folded the paper slowly and set it aside.
"Jade!" Noah's smile got bigger when he saw me on the stairs. He crossed the room and tried to hand me one of the coffees. "There you are. I've been texting you for weeks. Your phone broken or something?"
I didn't take the coffee. "What are you doing here, Noah?"
His smile faltered just slightly. "Confirming our travel plans, obviously. We need to figure out if we're flying together or separately." He set my untouched coffee on the side table. "My dad said we can use his car once we get to Boston. We'll have so much freedom! We can drive to New York on weekends, go to—"
"Noah." My mom's voice cut through his rambling. She cleared her throat and glanced at me, then back at Noah. "Jade isn't going to Boston."
