Left Behind Countless Times, This Time, I’m Leaving Them Chapter 06

Left Behind Countless Times, This Time, I’m Leaving Them Chapter 06

I answered, put it on speaker, set the phone on the desk, and went back to sorting through the star spectrum

data.

“Vesper! Where the hell have you been?”

Paige’s shrill voice filled the room.

In the background, Dawn complained impatiently.

“We’ve been home for seven days, and she hasn’t said a word in the family group chat. She didn’t even like.

my new post.”

“She didn’t get into college, and now she’s acting all high and mighty.”

Seven days.

They’d been back in Seattle for seven whole days before they realized someone was missing from their own

home.

“Answer me!” Paige shouted. “Get back here right now. There’s laundry piling up and nobody’s cleaned the

floors.”

“I’m not coming back.”

I kept my eyes on the screen, my voice calm.

The line went silent for a beat.

“What did you say?”

“I’ve already enrolled at the University of Chicago. I’m majoring in astrophysics. I’m never coming back to the Taylor house.”

Paige sounded like she’d just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.

“The University of Chicago? Are you so jealous that your sisters got into UW that you’ve lost your mind?”

The more she talked, the more certain she became.

“You barely spoke when you were a kid. You never let us come to any of your school activities. And you think

you could get into the University of Chicago?”

“Vesper, I honestly don’t know how I ended up with a vain, lying daughter like you!”

I didn’t explain.

She’d never attended a single one of my competitions. Never looked at my application materials.

In her mind, I’d always been the ordinary, quiet, worthless fourth child.

“If you’re so capable, then stay out there for the rest of your life,” she snapped. “Don’t ever set foot in this

house again!”

She hung up abruptly.

I stared at the dark screen and dragged her number into my blocked contacts.

At the same time, back at the Taylor house, Paige threw her phone onto the couch.

Logan had just walked in when she pointed at him.

“Call her old school! Find out right now where Vesper is hiding!”

Luna carried a fruit platter over to Paige.

“Mom, don’t let her get to you.”

“Vesper’s always been so quiet and full of herself. She probably didn’t get into college and is too

embarrassed to come home.”

“Now she’s throwing around the University of Chicago’s name to scare us.”

Dawn sneered. “If she really got a full scholarship, I’ll give her my new laptop.”

Solara nodded too. “Schools like that don’t just care about grades. They want research experience and

recommendations too.”

“Vesper never even stands up for herself at home. How could she get into a school like that?”

Logan’s face darkened as he called the school.

He eventually got the contact info for the director of the regional youth science program.

How could Vesper possibly know someone like that?

The director was Wyatt Evans, who oversaw high school astronomy research and college recommendation

programs across Washington State.

Logan deliberately put the call on speaker so everyone could hear Vesper get exposed.

“Mr. Evans, I’m Vesper’s father.”

“She hasn’t come home for days, and she’s been lying to us about getting into the University of Chicago.

Could you help me find out if she’s staying with some classmate?”

“Mr. Taylor?” Wyatt’s voice perked up. “I was just about to reach out to you. Congrats!”

“Vesper ranked first overall in the Washington State Youth Astronomy Research Program.”

“She had the highest scores in all three categories this year, mathematical modeling, star brightness

measurements, and data analysis.”

“The University of Chicago offered her a full scholarship to study astrophysics.”

“Her research report was also recommended for the North American Young Astronomers Forum!”