Let Him Stumble While You Climb Chapter 01

Let Him Stumble While You Climb Chapter 01

After our SAT scores came out, I stumbled across a post online.

[Who Says a Community College Student Can’t Date an Ivy League Student? Don’t Want Long Distance? Then Go to the Same School!]

The comments were already blowing up.

[Is OP dreaming? Somebody drop the tutorial for turning a community college student into an Ivy League student.]

OP replied: [Other way around. I’m turning an Ivy League applicant into a community college student.]

[Holy shit! OP has lost her mind! Your boyfriend’s gonna kill you!]

OP replied: [He loves me. How could college possibly matter more than I do?]

[No way. OP has to be all talk.]

OP replied: [Screenshot attached.]

OP: [Look closely. What do you think this is?]

I opened the image. The two screenshots showed the same Common App account, but the list of elite universities had been replaced by a single community college.

“Who’s the poor guy?”

Then my gaze landed on the applicant’s name.

[Caleb Davis]

He was my best friend since childhood, the boy who had promised that we would attend an Ivy League school together.

He is my FATED MATE.

The post continued.

OP: [My boyfriend’s birthday is next week, and I’m going to surprise him with this. I’m keeping it from him until then. I trust you guys, so don’t rat me out.]

[OP, let’s hope it’s a pleasant surprise, not a nasty shock.]

[I can’t imagine the look on her boyfriend’s face when he finds out his applications were withdrawn. I wish I could be there to see it.]

OP replied: [I’ll livestream the whole thing so you can all watch. His future could never matter more than love.]

I opened the full-size image again.

My heart pounded as I checked the name and Common App ID one more time, unable to believe what I was seeing.

It was Caleb Davis, my best friend since childhood—the boy who had promised that we would attend the same university and had spent more than ten years working toward that goal with me. Between us, we had filled two rooms with SAT practice tests and prep books.

My body moved before my brain caught up. My hand shook as I called him.

“Pick up. Come on, pick up.”

He finally answered on the tenth call.

Before I could say anything, Caleb’s lazy, slightly irritated voice came through the phone.

“What do you want? Why are you blowing up my phone this early?”

A few days earlier, we had gotten into a huge fight because he had stood me up to spend time with Vivian.

We were still giving each other the silent treatment, but none of that mattered now.

“So you were the first one to crack,” Caleb said, sounding smug now that I had called him first.

“Where’s Vivian?” I asked without bothering to respond. “Caleb, did you give her your Common App username and password? Do you have any idea—”

A sweet, girlish voice cut me off.

“What business is it of yours?” Vivian leaned closer to the phone. “Just because you’re Caleb’s best friend since childhood doesn’t mean you get to be this possessive. You might as well be his mother!”

I heard Caleb chuckle and, from the soft rustle over the line, pictured him rubbing the back of her neck.

“It’s fine,” he soothed. “Vera just wants to make sure she and I get into the same school. She’s been clinging to me since we were kids, so she’s used to having me around.”

I heard Vivian give an unhappy huff, followed by another rustle as she apparently threw herself into his arms and whined, “You’re all mine. What’s wrong with me knowing your password? She’s just jealous of how close we are!”

Suddenly, I had nothing left to say.

I held the phone and listened quietly as they flirted with each other.

It was seven in the morning. Why they were together at that hour and what had happened between them needed no explanation.

Deep inside me, my wolf whimpered in pain.

As much as I hated to admit it, Caleb really was my true mate, chosen for me by the Moon Goddess.

When the unspoken attraction between us had been at its strongest, he had once kissed me while he thought I was asleep.

Then Vivian appeared, and everything changed.

Forget becoming mates. After eighteen years as his best friend, I had somehow become the outsider, even the villain.

“Anything else?” Caleb asked. “If not, I’m hanging up. I still need to make Vivian breakfast.”

He paused.

“And Vera, I know you look down on Vivian because she’s going to community college, but you need to show some basic decency. I don’t want to hear you insult her again.”

It felt as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over me.

The panic that had been burning inside me went cold at his words.

“Did you hear me? If you insult her again, we’re done as friends.”

I said nothing.

I simply ended the call.

What did Caleb’s future have to do with me anymore?

If he did not care about it himself, then he could go to community college.