After Rebirth My Class Beauty Led Cheating and I Stayed Silent Chapter 15

After Rebirth My Class Beauty Led Cheating and I Stayed Silent Chapter 15

September 1st.

Move-in day.

When I rolled my suitcase into the dorm, the hallway was packed with freshmen hauling boxes and parents making last-minute trips back and forth.

Mom helped me make the bed, hung my clothes one by one in the closet, and finally stood in the

middle of the room to look everything over.

“All right. That should be everything.”

She dusted off her hands, then turned to me, her eyes already starting to shine again.

“Mom…”

“I’m not crying.” She waved one hand and sniffed. “I’m happy.”

She came over, cupped my face in both hands, and looked at me for a long moment, like she was

trying to memorize every detail.

“Be good to yourself here. Eat properly. Sleep properly. And if anything happens, call me right

away.”

“I know.”

She let go, picked up her bag, and stopped at the door for one last glance back.

“Tessa.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m proud of you.”

I smiled.

“I know.”

Then she left.

I stood by the window and watched her walk down the tree-lined path below the dorm, getting smaller and smaller until she disappeared into the flow of people near the front gate.

My phone buzzed.

Delaney had sent me a picture of her dorm room, a quad. She was standing in front of her bed

throwing up a peace sign.

Delaney: [I moved in too!!! My roommates are super nice!!!]

I sent back a thumbs-up.

Then my phone buzzed again.

Unknown number. Text message.

Tessa, this is Sienna. I’m using my lawyer’s phone. I only want to say one thing. You don’t need to

reply.

Then the next line.

You knew something was going to happen, didn’t you.

I looked at the words.

My thumb hovered above the screen.

Five seconds. Ten.

Then I hit delete.

No reply.

Not because I felt guilty. Not because I felt ashamed.

Because the answer no longer meant anything to her.

What did it matter whether I knew or didn’t know?

She made her choice.

She was living with the consequences.

It was that simple.

I set my phone down on the desk and turned to start arranging my bookshelf.

One book at a time. Textbooks. Notebooks. Everything else.

At the very bottom was a little red braided charm, the so-called good-luck token Sienna had given

me before the SAT.

I picked it up and looked at it in my palm for a while.

The braid had already started to fade.

I walked to the window and pushed it open. The early-September wind blew in from the north,

carrying the dry, open feel typical of autumn in the Northeast.

I set the red braid on the windowsill.

When the wind passed over it, it swayed a little.

I didn’t throw it away.

And I didn’t put it back in a drawer either.

I just left it there.

Like a period at the end of a sentence.

Not the end of hate. Not the end of love.

The end of I am no longer responsible for any of you.

Outside the window, the campus stretched under the trees.

Someone rode past on a bike.

Someone else headed toward the library with a stack of books in their arms. A student sat on a

bench playing guitar.

The September light was beautiful.

Not harsh. Not heavy. Just right.

I drew in a deep breath and pushed the window open all the way.

The wind poured in, lifting the pages of my books, stirring the curtains, brushing the loose strands of hair across my forehead.

I closed my eyes.

My heartbeat was steady. My breathing was even. My spine was whole. My limbs were whole.

Alive.

Cleanly alive.

That was enough.