04

Ethan and I had known each other since middle school.

My parents wanted a son. Since they got me instead, food was treated like a reward I hadn't earned.

The day I met Ethan, I was close to starving.

His basketball rolled to my feet during lunch. He called for me to pass it back. I bent down—and fainted.

When I woke in the hospital, Ethan was slumped in a chair beside my bed, fighting sleep. The second my eyes opened, he shot upright like I'd caught him committing a crime.

“Everyone saw it,” he said. “The ball never touched you, so don't even think about suing me.”

I stared at him, picked up the paper from the bedside table, and held it out.

LOW BLOOD SUGAR, it said.

He clicked his tongue. “You girls and your diets. Passing out in front of half the school—were you trying to scare us to death?”

I pointed at my hollow cheeks.

“Does this look like a diet?”

He studied me for a long moment.

“You'd look better with some weight on you. Do you feel that?”

“Wow. Thank you. I feel deeply appreciated.” I set the paper down. “My family won't feed me, though, so I owe you for the hospital bill. Got any homework you don't want to do? I can pay you back that way. You saved my life. I can also serve as livestock. Need a human horse?”

I was completely serious.

Ethan looked overwhelmed. “Is your family that poor?”

“No.”

He jumped to his feet. “Then you are trying to scam me.”

I dug through my clothes and pulled out an old photograph.

In the center, my parents cradled my newborn brother and smiled at the camera. At the very edge, half my face was visible above a mountain of laundry.

I tapped the little girl in the corner.

“That's me. When I was younger, I did the laundry in exchange for meals. Now they want to marry me off to an old man. I said no, so they stopped feeding me and paying my school fees.”

Ethan stared at the picture.

I patted his arm.

“So, benefactor, I'm not scamming you. The most valuable thing I own is me. Want to invest? If I stay alive, I'm going to make something of myself.”

After that, Ethan decided the best way to infuriate his wealthy family was to date the mouthy girl with cheap clothes and dyed hair.

I became Ethan Ward's scandalous girlfriend.

I stayed that way for seven years, all the way through college.

If the world hadn't ended, I would've graduated, landed a six-figure job, and lived an annoyingly successful life.

I was sure of it.