It happens to be you

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It was the eve of the SATs, and Jake, my transfer-student crush, was mad at me again.

Because I told him I didn't want to see him.

He told me to transfer schools.

Northwood High is pretty good, he said. I'll have you back when she cools down.

Don't make this hard for me, Sarah.

I nodded and agreed.

I packed my things, ready to leave.

His best friend tried to reason with him.

"You know Sarah has a hearing impairment, right? Do you think she'll be okay at another school alone? Won't she get bullied?"

"You guys grew up together, you used to like her so much. Can you really bear to send her away?"

Jake raised an eyebrow.

"That was then. 'First love can't beat the one who comes after,' haven't you heard?"

"Besides, I'll have her back in three months, tops."

Three months later, when Jake called to tell me to come back.

A cocky, carefree guy next to me chuckled into my hearing aid.

"Babe, you gotta close your eyes when we kiss."

"And no answering calls from random dudes."

...

The day the practice SAT scores came out, I'd jumped from fifth to third in the year.

While Mia had dropped from twentieth to somewhere in the thirties.

Someone commented, "Wow, Mia's score really tanked."

"And Sarah jumped two spots!"

Her eyes immediately welled up as she looked at me.

"Sarah, are you happy now?"

"Studying so hard every day, just so everyone thinks Jake made a bad choice picking me, huh?"

With that, she stormed out.

She didn't come back, even when the bell rang for class.

Our teacher, clueless about what happened, asked me, as class president, to go find Mia.

Half an hour later.

I found Mia sitting on the planter by the basketball court.

Jake was bent over in front of her, whispering sweet nothings.

I don't know what he said, but Mia started smiling through her tears.

The sunlight filtered through the leaves, dappling them both, like a scene straight out of a high school rom-com.

Seeing me, Jake narrowed his eyes. As if to avenge Mia, he tossed the basketball he was holding in my direction.

It hit my hearing aid.

After a buzzing sound, my left ear went completely silent.

Jake clearly hadn't expected that. A flicker of surprise crossed his face, quickly gone.

He walked towards me.

"Sarah, transfer."

"Mia has a temper, and she's always fighting with me because of you."

Just a month ago, he'd asked me, "Sarah, will you be my girlfriend after graduation?"

With the SATs so close, I instinctively wanted to refuse.

But Jake said, "Sarah, don't make this hard for me."

"Every day you're here, Mia is unhappy."

"You don't want to make things difficult for your dad, do you?"

My dad worked for Jake's family's company.

He was using my dad's job to threaten me, for Mia.

I knew my dad had worked at the company for years, from age twenty-two to forty-five. I couldn't let him lose his job in middle age because of me.

"Fine."

Jake seemed to relax.

"I'll have you back when she calms down."

Mia must have overheard. She walked over and tugged Jake's hand possessively.

"Jakey, I think Northwood High is just fine for her."

Northwood was known as the worst high school in the city.

Jake knew that, of course.

He just laughed casually.

"Okay, whatever you say."

I clenched the broken pieces of my hearing aid in my palm. They dug into my skin.

It hurt, but it also stopped me from crying.

After a while, I threw the pieces in the trash.

Then I turned and left.

Jake quickly arranged my transfer.

The whole school knew I was leaving.

As I packed my things, people whispered.

"No way, Jake's really kicking Sarah out for Mia? I thought they were childhood sweethearts?"

"Yeah, 'childhood sweethearts can't beat the one who comes after.' Jake used to be so good to Sarah. Ever since Mia showed up, he hasn't walked home with Sarah once."

"Such a shame. Sarah's grades are so good, she had a shot at Harvard or Yale. Transferring now will really hurt her chances."

"I heard she's going to Northwood. That place is known for being a troublemaker's den. If Sarah goes there, all her hard work will be ruined."

Under everyone's sympathetic gazes, I carried my things and prepared to leave.

As I walked to the stairwell, I overheard Jake's best friend trying to talk to him.

"You know Sarah has a hearing impairment, right? Do you think she'll be okay at another school alone? Won't she get bullied?"

"You guys grew up together, you used to like her so much. Can you really bear to send her away?"

Jake leaned against the wall and chuckled.

"What's there to not bear? That was then. 'First love can't beat the one who comes after,' haven't you heard?"

"Besides, I'll have her back in three months."

He seemed to sense something and looked up.

He saw me standing at the top of the stairs.

His gaze fell on my slightly swollen ear, and he frowned.

He instinctively stepped forward and took my hand.

"Come on, I'll take you to get a new hearing aid."

"Consider it my apology."

I shook my head.

"No need. That hearing aid was a gift from you anyway."

"Now we're even."

The moment he broke my hearing aid, the stinging in my ear made me decide I didn't want anything to do with him anymore.

Jake froze.

That hearing aid was a gift he gave me for my seventeenth birthday.

The Evans family never encouraged extravagant spending, and Jake didn't have much allowance. He'd worked two months of summer jobs to buy me that hearing aid, even dipping into all his savings.

Back then, the seventeen-year-old boy had slipped the hearing aid onto my ear while I was sleeping.

When I woke up and started crying in surprise, he'd clumsily tried to comfort me.

Jake used to be so good to me. Mrs. Evans had told me countless times to be her daughter-in-law. Jake would grin widely and say, "Duh, I've been raising my wife for years, you think I was doing it for someone else?"

Everyone assumed we'd go to college together, date, and get married.

Jake had grown up next door to me with his grandpa. We grew up together. He'd wake me up for school and carry my backpack every day.

He confessed his feelings for me, and I'd blushed and said yes.

Until Mia showed up, and everything changed.

When she arrived as a transfer student, Jake, sitting next to me, stared at her for a long time.

I knew then that something had shifted.

Sure enough, Jake and Mia grew closer and closer. He stopped walking to and from school with me, and the backseat of his bike became Mia's exclusive seat.

Even though I distanced myself from Jake, Mia still didn't like me.

She accused me of studying hard just to make people think Jake had made the wrong choice.

Gradually, even Jake started to believe it, and resented me for it.

He'd hold Mia's hand and scold me in front of the whole class for being manipulative.

Mia would cry and claim that I had no boundaries, that I was the third wheel intruding on their relationship.

But I had grown up with Jake. He was the one who confessed to me, the one who said we'd be together after graduation.

Jake just stood there, without explaining.

My heart completely shattered.

I distanced myself from Jake, thinking we could coexist peacefully.

Until today.

Jake opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But Mia across from him said, "Jakey, let's go. Let's go home together."

He looked at me once more, then left.

Back home, Dad cautiously brought up the idea of resigning and starting his own small business at the dinner table.

He carefully asked for Mom's and my opinions.

"If I start a business, life won't be as stable as it is now."

"And we're not exactly rolling in money. I was thinking of selling our house and getting a smaller one in the suburbs."

"What do you think?"

Mom frowned.

"Honey, maybe we shouldn't? Sarah's about to start college, and then after she graduates, we need to save for her wedding dowry. What if..."

"We're not young anymore."

They knew about me and Jake, so for years, even though many people tried to poach Dad away from Evans Enterprises, he never wavered. Knowing Jake was an only child, he was even more dedicated to his work there, and felt awkward about leaving.

Dad pursed his lips.

"Well, then..."

I suddenly spoke, interrupting him.

"Dad, I support you starting your own business."

I knew what Dad was capable of. He had experience, having been in the industry for years, and he had the necessary resources.

Due to my grandparents' health issues over the years, we didn't have much in savings.

He must have really wanted to start his own business, and he must have thought it through carefully, otherwise he wouldn't have asked us at this time.

"Do what you want to do."

Dad's eyes reddened.

Mom chimed in, "You've really grown up, Sarah."

"Honey, go for it."

Once the decision was made, Mom immediately contacted a real estate agent.

Although our house was old, it was in a prime location. Plus, Dad had set a reasonable price, so it quickly went under contract.

The new owners agreed to let us stay for a few more days.

Mom and Dad went to look at houses in the suburbs every day after work.

Until my birthday arrived.

Mom got off work early and asked me to deliver a few slices of birthday cake to the Evans family.

I hesitated for a moment.

But under Mom's urging, I walked to Jake's front door.

She didn't know Jake had forced me to transfer.

After all, Jake had maintained that I wanted to transfer on my own.

While she didn't agree with it, seeing the finalized transfer notice, she'd just sighed and hadn't said anything more.

Mrs. Evans opened the door.

Seeing me, she was delighted.

"Sarah, you're here!"

"Yeah, Mom asked me to bring over some cake."

Just then, I heard laughter coming from Jake's room. It was Mia's voice.

Sure enough, the door opened and Mia, wearing a short, skimpy dress, walked out of Jake's room.

Mrs. Evans looked embarrassed. "Sarah, she's... Jake brought her..."

I knew what she was trying to say. I shook my head.

"It's okay, Mrs. Evans. I delivered the cake, I'll be going now."

With that, I left.

I heard Mrs. Evans's scolding voice behind me.

"Jake, aren't you going too far? Didn't you used to like Sarah? You'll hurt her feelings like this."

"Sarah must be upset."

Then, Jake's nonchalant voice.

"Whatever."

The next morning, Mom, Dad, and I went to the new house with the movers.

Because of the price, Dad had chosen a nicely renovated pre-owned house.

It happened to be very close to Northwood High.

On my first day at Northwood.

I declined Mom and Dad's offer to drive me. I knew Dad was just starting his business and had a lot on his plate.

So I took my backpack and went to Northwood by myself.

The homeroom teacher was a chubby, balding man who beamed at me.

When we reached the classroom door, it was chaotic inside.

Because I couldn't hear in my left ear, my right ear was extra sensitive. Someone knocked over a chair, and I jumped.

The teacher gave me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, wait here for a second."

He then strode inside, hands on his hips, and bellowed, "Quiet down!"

No one paid attention

His face turned red. "Or I'll call your parents!"

That finally got them to quiet down.

"Today, we have a new transfer student joining our class."

I walked in, stood at the podium, and introduced myself briefly.

"Hi everyone, my name is Sarah. Sarah with an 'h'."

The class erupted in cheers.

"The transfer student is so pretty!"

"Quick, check if my hair is messed up!"

From the corner of the classroom, someone said impatiently, "Shut up."

Instant silence.

I was a little surprised. The teacher, looking exasperated, told me to sit in front of that person.

I hesitated.

The teacher reassured me, "It's fine, he doesn't hit girls."

Me:

So he hits people.

How scary.

My deskmate was a girl. She introduced herself.

"I'm Maddie. Maddie with an 'ie.' Just call me Mads."

I nodded.

The teacher walked in, and I quickly took out my textbook.

Northwood's curriculum was definitely different from my old school's.

During class, almost everyone did their own thing.

Some slept, some read novels, some even did their nails.

Paper airplanes carrying cheat sheets flew over my head.

The teacher seemed used to it. After taking a few sips of tea, she picked up her book again.

"Where were we?"

I carefully reminded her, "The third problem."

She nodded. "Right."

Then she looked at me in astonishment.

"Someone's actually listening to my lecture?"

Mads later told me that if Northwood was considered a failing school, then Class 13, where I was now, was the bottom of the barrel.

It was where all the failing seniors were gathered.

When I transferred, my homeroom teacher had practically begged the principal in tears to get me in his class.

Looking at Mads eating ice cream during class, I felt for the first time that the world was so bizarre, yet full of life.

After that, the teacher seemed more enthusiastic about teaching.

A few students, inspired by her, started to pay attention.

Until school ended.

Everyone rushed out.

I noticed the guy in the corner hadn't woken up.

The school was about to close.

I walked over and nudged him. "Hey, class is over."

He lifted his head, his eyelids heavy.

His narrow eyes looked straight at me.

His thin lips curved into a slight smile beneath a high-bridged nose.

"Thanks, wifey."