, I was Liam St

his papers, and coached him

ure he had everything

name celebrated in every local newspaper. I was the reason

o them, I was just Ava Clark, the quiet girl

the gradua

was thick with the smell of

ole senior class was here, celebrating the end of

ft stage at the front of the r

nd Skye Miller, his new girlfriend.

queen of the prom, soaking i

lence. The music died down

voice confident and loud. "We did it!

owd ch

his eyes scanning the room before they landed on me. He gave me a cold, dismissive look

was where you went when you had no other options.

ice sickly sweet. "We want to be togeth

looked directly at me again. His voice was c

You should come to Northwood with us. You know you can' t ma

whispers. "His lapdog." "She' ll d

spilled coffee on his history textbook and made me kneel on the library floor to apolog

e me had always compelled me to obey him, a strange, suffocating f

y now, to accept my fate as his s

, something w

sure in my mind, the one that had been there for

e in seven years, my mind was clear. My own though

blic shame, all the times I bit my tongue unt

was not the quiet whisper everyone was used to. It was

N

d. A shocked silence

ked genuinely stunned, as if his dog ha

asked, his voice losi

er. "I' m not going to community college with

e was not used to being de

trying to regain control. "You' r

bey without a second thought. I braced myself for the familiar

re was

ed to be. I felt a dizzying sense of release, o

st hysterical laugh. It

Liam," I said, my voice ringing with a stre