The Letter I Refused to Accept Chapter 04

The Letter I Refused to Accept Chapter 04

Cole pulled Chelsea behind him and shielded her. He let himself get covered in flour, but he didn’t let go of her.

I tossed the empty bucket at his feet and mimicked the way they always talked. “It’s a prank, right? So now we can all have fun.”

Chelsea’s eyes turned red, as if she’d been dealt a crushing blow. “Sienna, we were only celebrating your birthday. Even if you didn’t like it, you didn’t have to get back at us like this.”

Cole patted her back gently and helped her sit down on the couch. Then he turned to me, and his eyes were like ice.

“I gave you way too much credit, Sienna. You don’t deserve it when people are good to you. Do you have any idea how much effort Chelsea put into planning these surprises for you?”

I looked around the ridiculous room. There was the door rigged with a bucket of flour, the water balloons hanging overhead, and that toy snake they’d used who knew how many times. So that was what they meant by being good to me.

I forced a smile, but there was nothing in my eyes. I was about to say something when my phone started vibrating, and I had to stop.

The caller ID said Union University Financial Aid Office. I froze for a moment. Then I heard the first thing the person on the line said, and all the color drained from my face.

“A review has found that the information on your application doesn’t match your actual circumstances. Your need-based grant and student loan applications have been denied.”

The director’s words kept echoing in my ears. No matter how I tried to explain, the answer was always no.

My hands shaking, I opened the report someone had filed against me. The line for large purchases was highlighted in bright red. And at the bottom, the name in the signature box belonged to someone I’d known for more than ten years.

I read it over and over, refusing to believe it. I kept reading until the letters blurred, and the words never changed.

I raised my head stiffly, and my eyes went blank. “You filed the report.”

Cole paused. As if I’d caught him at something, he looked away awkwardly.

“I found out you’ve got a steady income now, and there’s a record of a big purchase. You don’t qualify anymore.”

“Sienna, need-based aid and student loans should go to people who actually need them.”

I almost wanted to laugh.

A steady income. Did he mean my pay from waiting tables at the restaurant, or what I earned handing out flyers outside school one sheet at a time?

And the big purchase. I clenched my fists as hard as I could.

That was a year’s worth of savings. I’d planned to use it for Cole’s eighteenth birthday present, a month from then.

Because I was poor, I’d never given him anything expensive. The handmade little things I’d stayed up for nights to make had looked like a joke next to his pile of expensive gifts.

But every time, he’d held them like they were treasures and told me he’d keep them forever.

I’d cried and promised him that on his eighteenth birthday, I’d give him something different for sure.

I never imagined that the gift I’d planned with so much hope and so much care would one day become the evidence that destroyed my only way forward.

He hadn’t even checked what that big purchase was before he rushed to nail me to the wall with that report.

I didn’t even have the strength to cry anymore. All I felt was deep exhaustion and how ironic it all was.

Chelsea chimed in. “Sienna, don’t be upset. Cole told me you have a part-time job. I get it, there’s nothing wrong with a girl being a little vain.”

“But taking money that doesn’t belong to you to feed your vanity isn’t a personality flaw. It’s a moral problem.”

She was so full of righteous outrage that she looked like an angel defending justice. But she was still wearing the birthday hat that was supposed to be mine.

If none of this had happened today, she probably would have done the same thing as always and stolen my one chance to make a wish.

Exhaustion crashed over me. I opened my mouth, but for a long time, I couldn’t get a word out.

I walked slowly over to Cole and set the promise ring he’d once given me on the table.

“Cole, we’re done. Whoever you want to be with from now on has nothing to do with me.”

Then, before either of them could say anything, I pushed the door open and left.

When I got home, I packed up everything Ruth and I would need to move. Last of all, I closed my eyes and dialed a number.

“Mom, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll do what you said. I’ll bring Grandma, and I’ll come overseas for school.”