I Called Myself Ten Years Later—and Exposed My Cheating Boyfriend Chapter 01

I Called Myself Ten Years Later—and Exposed My Cheating Boyfriend Chapter 01

The night before the SAT exam, I was staying late in an empty classroom, recording a time-capsule video for my future self, ten years down the line.

Except it connected like a live video call.

I was staring at myself, ten years from now.

“Did I get into Bramford’s accelerated program? Is Audrey still my best friend?”

“If everything went the way I planned, I’d have my master’s by now. Julian and I are probably married — we’ve been together since high school.”

“Maybe we even have a baby. I already picked out a nickname.”

My cheeks heated. I was getting way ahead of myself, and I didn’t care.

But the second future-me heard Julian Sterling’s name, she fell apart.

“Julian swapped your pens for disappearing-ink pens so Audrey could take valedictorian!”

“You didn’t get into Bramford. You had to take a gap year.”

“Julian put on this whole brokenhearted act and said he’d wait for you long-distance.”

“Then he turned around and made it official with Audrey. They became the school’s ‘It’ couple everyone obsessed over.”

“Chloe, you’re such an idiot! You got played and you still thanked Audrey for ‘looking after’ your boyfriend!”

***

The feed cut out.

I stared at my own face on the black screen. I couldn’t move.

Part of me wanted to write the whole thing off as a stress hallucination. Julian and I had known each other our whole lives.

We grew up together, and Bramford had been the plan for as long as I could remember. I was still trying to make sense of it when Julian appeared behind me and tapped my shoulder.

“Chloe, SAT are tomorrow. What are you spacing out for?”

“Don’t come crying to me when you don’t get into Bramford.”

“I won’t!” I grinned and punched his arm.

There was no version of the boy in front of me that matched the person future-me had described. I almost laughed at myself for falling for my own anxiety dream.

It was just nerves. I was losing it before I’d even taken the test.

But when I got back to the classroom, Julian dropped a pencil case on my desk.

“Knew you wouldn’t have anything ready, so I put this together for you.”

“Just put your ID in there and you’re set for tomorrow.”

“I made one for Audrey, too, so stop giving her your stuff. She’s got her own this time.”

He tossed an identical case into Audrey Mercer’s desk next to mine. My smile froze, and Julian noticed.

“Chloe, what’s wrong?”

I shook my head and kept my face blank. The second he walked away, I yanked a pen from the case and scrawled a few words across my notebook.

Two hours later, when I checked the page again, the ink was gone. Every letter had vanished.

I grabbed the next pen and got the same result.

My stomach dropped.

Julian had actually given me disappearing-ink pens.

That meant everything future-me had said was true. I looked over at Julian’s desk, then Audrey’s — they had both left for the day.

I swapped my pens with theirs. Every pen Julian had left for himself and Audrey worked fine. The ink stayed.

I was shaking. I wanted to grab him by the collar right there and demand an answer.

I held it together, barely.

The next morning, right before we walked into the testing room, Julian checked my pencil case himself. Audrey was leaning against the lockers right next to us.

“Same pens, same school. We’re getting into Bramford together.”

I smiled, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “You gave Audrey the same ones. You trying to get in with her, too?”

Julian paused, then reached over and playfully nudged my shoulder. “That’s on you. Every time I give you something, you hand half of it to her.”

Audrey always said Julian wasn’t good enough for me. Julian always said Audrey was fake. The two of them couldn’t stand each other — constant bickering, constant sniping, and I was always stuck in the middle playing referee.

So I never once doubted either of them.

I’d trusted them with everything I had. And they were the ones who destroyed me.