Chapter 5: The Last Laugh

The private group exploded as soon as Benjamin's announcement appeared in the class group chat.

"What the heck?"

"Didn't Rachel and Silas say Sonia never checked her college application? I bet they're eating their words now."

"Holy crap!"

In the class group chat, I followed everyone else's lead and replied, "Thank you, Mr. Miller."

Then, I switched back to the private group. "So, Defense Technology Institute is a community college, huh? How did I not know that?"

After that, I tagged both Silas and Rachel.

"You two should probably update your definition of a community college."

The chat went completely silent.

For the first time since I'd received that video, I allowed myself to smile.

I wasn't smiling because I'd embarrassed them. I was smiling because the future I'd been told I'd never have was suddenly within reach.

My mother rushed into my room a few minutes later, still wearing her work clothes.

"Sonia! Is it true?"

I turned my laptop toward her and showed her the admission letter.

Her eyes widened as she read the words.

"Aerospace Engineering… Defense Technology Institute?"

She looked at me in disbelief before pulling me into a tight hug.

"You got in! You actually got in!"

I laughed against her shoulder, but my eyes stung with tears.

"Mom, I told you I'd find a way."

She pulled away and held my face between her hands. "But when did you apply there? I thought you'd already submitted your application to Bradford."

For a second, I didn't know what to say.

I couldn't exactly tell her that my fifteen-years-older self had sent me a warning from the future.

So I simply smiled. "I changed my mind at the last minute."

My mother stared at me for a moment before laughing softly.

"That's my girl."

That evening, my phone started buzzing again.

This time, it wasn't messages from the class group.

It was Silas calling.

I watched his name flash across the screen until the call ended.

A minute later, another call came in.

Then another.

Finally, a message appeared.

"Sonia, we need to talk."

I deleted it.

Another message arrived almost immediately.

"I didn't know you'd changed your application."

I stared at those words and let out a quiet laugh.

Of course he hadn't known.

He'd been so confident that he'd already decided my future for me.

A few minutes later, Rachel sent me a message from a different number.

"Congratulations, Sonia. I really am happy for you."

I didn't answer.

Then another message appeared.

"Can we please forget what happened? We're all going to different schools now. There's no reason to ruin our friendship over a prank."

A prank.

That word made my fingers tighten around the phone.

They had tried to steal years of my life and still called it a prank.

I opened my cloud storage and looked at the screenshots I'd saved.

Then I opened the audio recording from graduation night.

Their voices played clearly through my headphones.

Rachel admitting what they'd done.

Silas admitting that he'd changed my application.

Every word was there.

I backed up the files again and saved another copy to a separate drive.

I wasn't going to retaliate recklessly.

I was going to make sure they could never rewrite what happened.

The next morning, I received an email from Defense Technology Institute.

They had invited me to an academic orientation program for outstanding incoming students.

The email included a sentence that made my heart stop.

"We look forward to seeing you on campus and learning more about your interest in aerospace research."

I read that sentence three times.

Aerospace research.

The exact words my future self had spoken.

I slowly leaned back in my chair.

For the first time, the video from fifteen years in the future didn't feel like a warning anymore.

It felt like a promise.

I looked out the window at the morning sky.

"I'm coming," I whispered.

"This time, I'm going up there."