The day that I went to school to pick up the
expulsion papers, there were so many people
waiting outside.
There were students, and also reporters.
For days, that post went viral around different
schools.
I was known as a copycat now.
Sarah’s work was getting tons of attention.
People were calling her a star.
I got out of a cab, and someone yelled out,
“Ashley, do you have anything to say about the
copycat accusations?”
“If you copied it, why would you do that? You
can’t just take someone else’s work.”
“I heard that you were adopted. Do you think
the Smiths will recognize you now?”
I stopped running, and looked at the cameras.
I took off my mask, looking them right in the
<
“I’ll say this one last time, I did not copy
anyone’s work. And I don’t need the Smiths to
recognize me, because I don’t consider them
my family anymore.”
Everything went crazy at my words.
Meanwhile, Mr. Smith rushed out from his black
car.
He pushed through the crowd and slapped me
hard across my face. “What kind of nonsense
are you spouting?!”
I fell to the ground, but no one came to help
- me.
Mr. Smith turned to the cameras and yelled.
“I will tell you all the truth, in front of all the
media.
“Ashley, is our adopted daughter, from an
orphanage. We have always treated her as our
own daughter.”
“But she has a bad character. She was bad at
school, cheated on exams, and lied all the
time.”
“Every exam, from high school to college, she
cheated to get good scores.”
<
“My wife and I, we’re so heartbroken. This time,
she cheated on her sister’s research just to get
attention.”
“We don’t want a daughter like that! From
today, Ashley is not a part of our family!”
People started screaming at me. They
surrounded me.
Suddenly, a water bottle flew out of the crowd,
slamming against my head and knocking me
out.
The ambulance cleared the chaos.
When I woke up, the room was empty, and my
phone kept buzzing.
I ignored the pain, and grabbed my phone. It
was all hate mail, telling me how terrible I was.
My story was online now.
I was a horrible copycat, a heartless monster.
I had no tears left to cry.
I went to the bathroom, threw away my phone, and climbed to the roof of the hospital.
I stood on the edge, feeling the cold wind for
the last time.
“Ashley!” A voice called out behind me, with a
List
<
I turned around and saw Jake walking to me.
I’d lost so much weight. Jake didn’t see it.
I was up here, it felt like the wind could blow
me away.
Jake frowned, “Ashley, get down from there!”
He thought, like always, that I would just step
back, all tearful, and do what he asked.
I started to laugh, I shook my head, looking at Jake, “Jake, did you give my lab notebook to
Sarah? Did you, along with the Smiths, force the school, to expel me?”
Jake looked surprised, but he didn’t answer,
and I knew.
“Ashley, don’t think too much, those things are not important to you.”
“You will always be my girl, and my future
wife.”
“I will make it up to you, don’t be so stubborn.”
If this had been a different time, I would have
run to him, happy he accepted me.
But I was hurting, my whole body was in pain.
I covered my chest, trying to keep myself warm. Jake rushed over, grabbing me, and pulling me
<
Letting me go, Jake sighed, looked down at me,
and said, “Ashley, I know that you’re not happy,
but don’t joke around like that.”
“You just wanted to make me and Sarah feel
bad?”
I didn’t answer. I looked at Jake, and I felt like I
was looking at a stranger.
He didn’t see the hard work, the pain, the hurt.
He just saw me as a brat, a crybaby, trying to
get his attention.
I didn’t think that I should die for a guy who
didn’t understand me.
They weren’t worth it.
I got up, and walked slowly to the stairwell.
Jake, seeing me walking away, followed.
Just around a corner, Jake’s phone rang.
He looked down, hesitated for a moment,
before calling out to me.
“Ashley, I will make it up to you, I promise…”
Before he could finish, I went back inside the
room.
Jake felt bad, like he was losing something.
Sarah sent him some text messages. Jake
hesitated for a moment, and then left the
hospital.
Since I was mad at him, maybe he shouldn’t be
with me now.
I went back into the hospital room, grabbed my
papers, and went to the airport.
Before getting on the plane, I shut off my
phone, and tossed it in the airport toilet.
Goodbye to all of this.
Chapter 2
- 10.
Jake didn’t show up at the hospital until the
next day.
The room was familiar, but a stranger was in
the bed.
He rushed in, grabbed the person by the arm.
“Where’s Ashley?”
The person got spooked, and hit the nurse call
button.
The nurses showed up. “Sir, Ms. Smith was
discharged yesterday.”
Jake frowned. “Where did she go?”
<
The nurse gave him a look, not recognizing him.
“The patient left the hospital. Wouldn’t her
family know where she is?”
Jake was stumped. He stormed out of the
hospital and jumped in his car, speeding home.
He tried calling Ashley nonstop, but all he heard
was the dial tone.
Jake mashed the gas pedal. His frustration was
bubbling up.
After all this crap, Ashley was still being a brat.
When he got home, he was going to give her a
piece of his mind!
He went through the familiar streets, but he
didn’t know that his Ashley wasn’t coming back
to this city they’d shared for all those years.
Jake raced back to the mansion. The place was
dead quiet.
He stopped the housekeeper. “Where’s
Ashley?”
She looked confused. “Isn’t she with you, sir?
She hasn’t been here in a while, she settled up
and told us we were fired, I’m leaving today.”
Jake looked all over the house, but Ashley was
<
He blew up. He grabbed a vase and smashed it
on the floor.
Ashley had some nerve! She couldn’t get
attention by jumping, now she was just running
away.
Night fell. In a crowded, loud bar, Jake sat in a
dark corner, alone.
Girls in skimpy outfits kept trying to flirt, but he
wouldn’t even look at them. The manager would
shoo them away.
“That’s Jake. Which Jake, you ask?
“Get outta here, man. He’s not in the mood.
Don’t go near him.”
Jake heard nothing. He just drank his whiskey,
glass after glass.
He hadn’t heard from Ashley in a whole week.
