My Childhood Sweetheart Cheered as The Transfer Damsel Ruined My Future — Idiot, She Ruined YOURS! Chapter 09

My Childhood Sweetheart Cheered as The Transfer Damsel Ruined My Future — Idiot, She Ruined YOURS! Chapter 09

“Hailey, want to speak at orientation?”

First day at MIT. Professor Williams called me in.

“Sure.”

“We heard what happened. You still crushed your exams. That takes guts.”

“Better than the guy who got wrecked.”

She nodded. “Luck helps. But keeping your head straight? That’s what saved you.”

Everything moved fast after classes started.

At his Instagram, Austin’s apology post stayed pinned for three days.

He posted this whole essay. Said he was biased. Said he let Katie trash me. Said he spread lies without checking.

Sorry to me. Sorry to everyone.

Nobody backed him up this time.

Megan Clarke messaged me. “Hailey, I’m sorry. I talked shit about you with Katie. She fooled me too.”

Blocked. Done.

Getting fooled doesn’t mean you didn’t help twist the knife.

Emma told me Katie made bail. School took back all her awards.

Her mom showed up crying. “My daughter just wanted a FRIEND. How’s that a CRIME?”

Mr. Hayes brought his lawyer. One sentence:

“She wanted a friend? She’s got one-her partner in crime.”

Austin applied everywhere else. Rejected. Every single school.

He wasn’t going to jail, but his face was all over the internet.

His dad cut him off-no money, nothing. Couldn’t pay for private school. Too proud for anything “lower.”

So he went to community college. Only option left.

First time I saw news about him was on TikTok.

MIT Reject at Community College Gets ROASTED by Roommates.

In the video, Austin sat on a dorm bed, face dark.

“Yo, didn’t you say you were going to MIT?”

Another guy laughed. “MIT didn’t want you, so you came to slum it with us?”

Austin kept his anger in check. “Stop filming me. I don’t BELONG here.”

“If you don’t belong here, why’d you come? Your name’s on the acceptance letter, right?”

He raised his hand to block the camera. Someone shoved him.

“What are you ACTING for? We’re all community college now. You think you’re BETTER?”

Video cut off.

Comments were brutal.

“Wait, isn’t this the dude who said community college was a ‘life experience’?”

“Experience card activated.”

“Hope he enjoys his permanent subscription.”

Opening ceremony day, I stood on stage.

“I used to think working hard was just about results. Turns out it’s also about having the confidence to wait for truth when everyone’s against you.

Don’t let anyone else run your life-especially people who think they know what’s best for you. And never give up your boundaries for someone else’s sob story.”

When applause erupted, I saw my face on the big screen.

Calm. Clear. Not a trace of damage.

After the ceremony, my phone buzzed.

“Hailey, I saw your speech. You really made it somewhere I can never touch.”

“School’s hell. They mock me. Trash my stuff. Throw my books in the fountain. I finally get what it feels like when

everyone’s against you.”

I turned off my screen.

Soon another message popped up.

“Can you come see me? Just once.”

I blocked the number.

That evening my high school classmate Emma sent me a screenshot.

Austin posted a photo on Instagram-him under a streetlight, caption just one line:

“No second chances.”

Emma asked, “You really don’t feel anything?”

“No.”

She sent a sighing emoji. “Austin’s really going through it.”

I looked at MIT’s campus lights glowing outside my window and slowly typed my final reply:

“He’s hurting because the knife he handed out finally came back around.

And I’m going to see the world from a place he’ll never touch.”