Chapter 1
The day college admissions results dropped, Ryan Mitchell literally broke the internet.
Perfect SAT score, perfect ACT, valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA this guy was basically academic royalty. Every news outlet was thirsting for interviews, and Tik Tok couldn’t stop making videos about him.
And what does our golden boy do? Posts his acceptance letter to Harvard on his socials with a picture of him kissing Sienna, captioned: “Only the best for my queen @sienna_hart“.
The senior group chat absolutely lost its mind.
IBRO RYAN REALLY IS THAT GUY… like how is this fair???]
[Stop I can’t handle it–brain AND looks AND he’s loyal? This is giving main character energy!
[Sienna really won the lottery! Your man is literally perfect bestie!]
[They’re so endgame it’s not even funny]
Right in the middle of all the hype, one message totally killed the vibe: [Ugh I’m so jealous of Sienna… I’ll never have someone who loves me like that]
It was from Nina Park
The quiet scholarship kid who transferred junior year. Her comment made everyone go silent for like… an uncomfortably long time.
Sienna was typing a response when she sair Ryan had Venmo’d Nina $5K with the message: [You will. Trust me.]
Look, Sienna always knew her boyfriend had a hero complex.
He’d give Nina his hoodie when she was cold, slip gift cards in her locker, Venmo her money every time she posted something sad on her Close Friends. Classic nice guy behavior.
But then Harvard called with their “legacy plus one” offer basically, if Ryan enrolled, they’d
fast–track one additional student of his choice.
He picked Nina.
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When Sienna found out, he hit her with the puppy dog eyes and his whole speech: “Babe, you know Nina’s situation. If she doesn’t get out of here, her family’s gonna make her drop out and get married. She needs this.”
“Plus, you’re smart as hell. You’ll get into BU or Northeastern, and Boston’s Boston – we’ll practically be neighbors.”
He had their whole future mapped out. Too bad he didn’t know that Nina had been planning her own moves. Right before the application deadline, Nina somehow got into Sienna’s CommonApp account and switched all her college choices to some random community college in Oregon.
Ivy League dreams? Gone. Community college in the middle of nowhere? Not exactly the plan.
If his love came with conditions, then maybe it was time to bounce.
“Sienna, sweetheart, I just got off the phone with the study abroad coordinator at NYU London,” her mom said. “Everything’s set for fall semester. But are you absolutely sure about this? You and Ryan have been joined at the hip since diapers. Him at Harvard, you in London… that’s a lot of distance, honey.”
Sienna stared at her phone, flashbacks hitting her hard.
Ryan’s second birthday party. His parents had set up this whole cute “what will he be when he grows up” thing with toy cars, books, and sports stuff scattered on the floor.
This kid ignored everything, crawled straight to Sienna, and just… clung to her like a koala.
Both families were cracking up, making jokes about their “future son–in–law” already knowing what he wanted.
And damn, he really never wavered.
Preschool meltdowns if they got separated. Elementary school pickup duty where he’d wait by her classroom religiously. Middle school where he suddenly became a straight–A student just to get into her advanced classes. High school when he basically claimed her in front of the entire school.
Their parents ate it up, always joking about planning their wedding.
Everyone just… knew they were it for each other.
Then Nina transferred in junior year.
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Girl was clearly struggling – packed lunches from the food pantry, same three Target outfits on rotation, scholarship kid trying to fit in at their bougie prep school.
When the popular crowd started being bitches to her, Ryan would shut that shit down immediately. Sienna backed him up she wasn’t about to let people bully the new girl.
But Nina started… lingering.
Walking Ryan to his car, bringing him coffee, showing up to every lacrosse game with homemade snacks.
Everything shifted after the accident in chemistry lab.
That old ceiling fixture finally gave way, and Nina straight–up launched herself in front of Ryan. Ended up with cracked ribs and a concussion, spent weeks in the hospital.
After that, Ryan was different around her.
More protective, more… tender. And now he’d given her his Harvard recommendation.
Sienna couldn’t figure out if it was survivor’s guilt or if he was actually catching feelings.
But she knew what Ryan’s full attention felt like. And this split–focus version? Hard pass.
“It’s not gonna be long distance,” she said quietly into the phone. “Mom, we’re just… different people now. Maybe it’s time to break up.”
“Seriously? You and Ryan?” Her mom’s voice went up an octave.
“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”
Dead silence, then a heavy sigh. “Well, you’re eighteen. There’ll be plenty of fish in the sea. When you leave for London, I guess we’ll have that awkward conversation with his parents.”
“Have what conversation?”
Ryan’s voice made her jump.
She turned to find him standing in her doorway – because of course he still had a key and just
walked in whenever.
Black joggers, some expensive hoodie, hair perfectly messy like he’d just rolled out of a magazine shoot. The golden hour lighting wasn’t doing her any favors either, making him look all stupidly perfect.
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Once upon a time, that look would’ve made her melt. Now she felt… nothing.
“Just my mom being dramatic,” Sienna said, hanging up.
Ryan didn’t seem suspicious, just held up a fancy shopping bag. “Ready for tonight? I got you something for the senior dinner.”
He stepped closer, doing that thing where his voice gets all low and intimate. “Trust me, you’re gonna look incredible.”
Sienna grabbed the bag without much enthusiasm.
Right. Senior dinner at that bougie country club. Honestly, she’d rather stay home and binge Netflix, but whatever. Last hurrah before London.
She went upstairs to change into whatever Ryan had picked out – some designer dress that probably cost more than most people’s rent.
When she came back down, Nina was sitting shotgun in Ryan’s Tesla.
“Hey Sienna!” Nina waved nervously, smoothing down her dress.
A dress that was literally identical to Sienna’s, just in navy instead of emerald.
Ryan must’ve seen her expression because he immediately went into damage control mode. “I was at Nordstrom getting your dress and figured Nina might need something too, so…”
He reached out like he was gonna tuck her hair behind her ear – his classic move. “It’s not a big deal, right?”
Sienna stepped back before he could touch her.
Not a big deal? The Ryan she used to know could barely remember other girls‘ names, let alone go shopping for them.
But here he was, playing fairy godmother to Nina Park.
How times change.
At the country club, Nina was playing up her whole “poor little me” act.
And Ryan was completely buying it – fixing her plate, refilling her champagne flute, getting all heart eyes whenever she’d get excited about the fancy appetizers.
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That look on his face made Sienna want to throw up.
“Sienna! Come take a shot with us!” A group of their friends swarmed over with tequila.
Sienna was a total lightweight, but whatever – last night as a high schooler, right? She grabbed a shot glass just as Ryan swooped in and took it from her.
“She’s the DD tonight,” he lied smoothly, downing her shot. “I got her.”
Everyone started hooting and hollering.
“Bro, like half our class wants to toast the valedictorian tonight,” Jake laughed. “You gonna cockblock every single drink? You’ll be plastered!”
Ryan pulled Sienna against his side, that cocky grin spreading across his face. “Don’t care. My girl stays sober, I’m happy.”
Classic Ryan – protective boyfriend mode activated. The whole table ate it up.
After the teachers bounced, someone broke out a bottle of Grey Goose and suggested Never Have I Ever.
Ryan kept getting called out on everything.
First round: “Show us your most recent DM.”
It was from Sienna, obviously. Some inside joke about their calc teacher.
Second: “Camera roll, no skipping.”
Literally just a Sienna Hart photo dump. Her laughing at lunch, sleeping in AP Lit, that candid from homecoming where she didn’t know he was taking pictures.
Third: “Notes app. Let’s see what secrets you’re hiding.”
Page after page of Sienna intel. “Hates when people chew with their mouths open, gets hangry if she skips breakfast, always cold so bring extra hoodies, cries at dog videos on TikTok…”
“Ryan, this is honestly psychotic,” Emma squealed. “But like, the romantic kind of psychotic!”
“Y’all are gonna be long distance though,” Tyler pointed out. “College guys hit different. What if some Harvard dude steals your girl?”
Ryan looked totally unbothered. “Please. Besides, Sienna got into Emerson. Twenty minutes on the T,
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and she’s right there.”
Sienna’s stomach dropped.
That was the plan. Before Nina hijacked her CommonApp and sent her to bumfuck nowhere.
She looked over at Nina, who’d gone ghost white and was practically wringing her hands.
Guilt much?
Sienna was about to say something when Nina lost the next round. Her punishment: kiss whoever was sitting to her left.
Which happened to be Danny – sweet kid, but definitely not leading man material.
Nina looked like she was about to cry. “Can I… can I do something else instead?”
“Hell no!” everyone shouted. “Rules are rules!”
Nina closed her eyes, practically shaking as she leaned toward Danny.
Right before their lips touched, Ryan shot up, pushed Danny out of the way, and kissed Nina instead.
“Just breathe,” he murmured, way too intimately for someone who supposedly loved his girlfriend.
