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 . 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 . Seven Years of Love Seven Minutes of Tru Discover our latest featured short drama reel. Watch now and enjoy the story!