The Game Where I Lost My Last Finger And Him Chapter 01

The Game Where I Lost My Last Finger And Him Chapter 01

At the party after the SAT, someone suggested a reverse Never Have I Ever game, where each person named something they had that the others did not.

Chloe Harper was the first to speak.

“I got a direct-admission offer from Northbridge, so I didn’t take the SAT.”

The private room erupted with cheers and teasing.

In senior year, anyone who made the national Olympiad team could secure a direct-admission spot.

I had spent more than half a year preparing for it, only to end up in the hospital with a severe allergic reaction right before the competition and miss it completely.

Silently, I put one finger down.

After several rounds, only Chloe and I were left with one finger still raised.

Her expression turned sweet.

“I have a boyfriend.”

The room went dead silent for a second before exploding.

Almost instinctively, my eyes went to Ethan Shaw in the corner.

He had told me countless times, “Audrey, after the SAT, we’ll be together.”

But he was leaning back on the couch, and from beginning to end, he never looked at me.

Someone whistled and shouted, “Then prove it. How do we know you really have a boyfriend?”

Chloe rose from her seat and walked over to Ethan.

In front of everyone, she cupped his face, bent down, and kissed him.

He did not push her away.

He did not even glance at me.

Slowly, I lowered my gaze and put down my last finger.

I lost.

And it was not just a game.

The private room dissolved into whistles, screams, and applause.

“Holy shit. I knew those two had something going on!”

“When did this happen?”

Chloe straightened up, her face flushed as she smiled.

“We made it official the day the SAT ended.”

Everyone’s attention was on the new couple.

No one noticed me sitting in the corner, stunned into silence.

I sat there and watched Ethan lift his hand after the kiss, casually wiping the corner of his mouth.

“Come on, tell us how it happened.”

“Who confessed first? Details. We need details.”

The teasing came in wave after wave.

Chloe gave Ethan a shy glance before she began.

“It really wasn’t anything special. The day the SAT ended, I asked him to meet me…”

She described every detail: how she had texted Ethan, asked him to meet her, held his hand, and said, “Let’s be together.”

With every detail she added, the laughter in the room grew louder.

And with every detail, another pair of eyes flicked toward me.

“Wait, weren’t Ethan and Audrey basically a thing? They grew up together, didn’t they?”

“Who said that? When has Ethan ever looked at Audrey that way?”

“Audrey? You mean that desperate tomboy who kept throwing herself at him?”

“Exactly. Who would even like a girl like that? Ethan isn’t into ugly girls.”

“The meal that triggered Audrey’s allergic reaction? Ethan made it himself. He did it so she couldn’t compete.”

“Chloe wanted that guaranteed-admission spot, and Audrey was her biggest competition. Of course she had to get Audrey out of the way.”

“Brutal. Audrey was nothing but a stepping-stone.”

Chloe put on an embarrassed expression, but the triumph in her eyes was impossible to hide.

“Audrey, I’m sorry. I only mentioned the guaranteed-admission spot to Ethan once. He only did it because he cared about me too much. If you want to blame someone, blame me…”

So everyone had known.

Everyone except me.

Or maybe I should have known a long time ago.

Back in freshman year, Ethan had started keeping his distance from me.

When we ran into each other at school, he would lower his head and walk away as if he did not know me.

When I chased after him and asked why, he said, “Don’t let people get the wrong idea.”

I thought he was just embarrassed.

And when I saw him in the hallway chatting with Chloe, smiling so warmly…