Forward, Without Him Chapter 13

Forward, Without Him Chapter 13

He’d barely left when my phone buzzed.
I hesitated for three seconds. Picked up.
“Taylor Sullivan!!!”
Lexi’s voice hit like nails on a chalkboard.
“You reported us to the school?! Are you insane?! Do you know what happens to me if I get expelled? I’m finished!! I’m completely done!!”
I held the phone a few inches from my ear.
“Say something!! What do you even want?! The student conduct board just contacted me — they said someone reported us for identity theft for messing with your college acceptance!! Was that you?! Was it or wasn’t it?!!”
I waited until she ran out of steam.
“Yes. It was me.”
“What, did I fake the screenshots and the access logs?”
Silence on her end.
“But — you took a gap year and got into MIT! Even if we logged into your account, we didn’t actually hurt you in any real way!”
Her voice dropped. Went smaller. A little guilty.
“The fact that I got into MIT is about me. It has nothing to do with you going easy on me.”
She tried again.
“Can’t you just think about how long we’ve known each other–”
I cut her off.
“Don’t bring up something that doesn’t exist.”
Another silence.
Then Lexi completely fell apart, sobbing.
“Taylor, I know I was wrong. I really do!”
“Just forgive me this once. I swear I’ll never go near Ethan again. Email the school and tell them it was a misunderstanding. Please just drop it–”
Listening to her, I felt something almost like disbelief.
After everything, she still thought her only real mistake was sleeping with my boyfriend.
Like handing the garbage back to me would erase what she’d actually done.
I turned her down without hesitation.
“What you did broke the law. The school will handle it through the proper process. I’m not withdrawing anything.”
“You bitch!!!”
I didn’t wait for more. I hung up.
At three that afternoon, Ethan called too.
His voice was nothing like the days before. Wrecked. Worn down.
“Taylor. You’re the one who filed the report?”
“Yes.”
“…Why?”
“You broke the law. I’m the victim. Protecting my rights is exactly what I’m supposed to do.”
“Taylor.”
He went quiet for a moment. Almost a whisper.
“If I get expelled, it goes on my permanent record. My life is over.”
I said:
“When you clicked Decline on my application, did you stop to think about whether my life would be over?”