Chapter 4 .
Chapter 4 To silence any second thoughts , I opened my laptop right there on FaceTime with Maya .
Without hesitation , moments before the midnight deadline , I logged into the Common App portal and changed my acceptance from Columbia to Stanford .

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The cursor hovered over the Confirm Change button for just a second before I clicked , watching my future transform with a single mouse click .
Maya was ecstatic , practically bouncing off her bed .
Shed been begging me since junior year to join her at Stanford , painting pictures of California sunshine and Silicon Valley dreams .
Back in freshman year , Aiden and I had made a promise over late night study sessions and shared dreams .
Wed work hard , ace our SATS , and head to Columbia together .
The aerospace engineering program there had been his dream since the day his dad took him to the Air & Space Museum when we were twelve .
Even though I never loved the idea of harsh New York winters or felt particularly drawn to Columbias engineering focus , Id spent three years of high school making it my goal .
Every AP class , every SAT prep session , every extracurricular -all carefully chosen to match Columbias requirements .
Id even joined the robotics club just because Aiden said it would look good on our applications .
After being neighbors for so long , both our families had already pictured our future together .
His mom would invite me over for Sunday dinners , talking about how nice it would be to have both of us at Columbia , casually mentioning all her friends whose children had found their soulmates during freshman orientation .
Everyone , including me , thought Aiden and I would naturally become a couple after graduation the perfect high school sweetheart story .
Now , I couldnt find a single reason to go to Columbia anymore .
The thought of walking those same campus paths with him , sharing classes , running into him and Madison at the library or campus coffee shops it made me physically ill .
Or rather , after today , if I kept trailing after Aiden like his faithful shadow , I wouldnt be able to look at myself in the mirror .
I just needed to get as far away as possible .
Stanford , Berkeley , UCLA anywhere would do , as long as he wasnt there .
The entire West Coast suddenly seemed like the perfect escape .
If he was going to the East Coast , then Id head West .
Three thousand miles and three time zones felt like a good start to forgetting the last six years of my life .
17:40 Backup Girl No More : Adios To My V Card and My First Love