Senior year was absolutely brutal. I grinded for three whole months–pulling all–nighters, cramming leetcode problems, and doing so many mock interviews I could literally answer ‘tell me about yourself in my sleep.
All that grinding paid off when I snagged the top spot and scored an internship offer at TechFlow, one of the biggestpanies in Silicon Valley.
My boyfriend River ckstone came in 42nd.
At least we’d be interning together, right?
Yeah, no. Before I could even post about it on my story, River drops this bomb in our texts:
[Poor Vivian got cut at 51st ce. She’s been crying nonstop.]
[You’re ranked first, so you won’t have trouble finding other jobs. I already declined the offer using your name, so Vivian can move up from the waitlist to be the 50th official hire and take the position you freed up.]
I’m staring at my phone….
Excuse me?
My hands are literally shaking. Like, the AUDACITY of this man???
I immediately called HR, exining who I was and what happened.
After a pause, they said apologetically:
“Ms. Sterling, we’ve already filled that position with an alternate candidate.”
I hung up and checked Vivian’stest Insta post fromst night (and OF COURSE it’s already got 200+ likes):
“Finally got what I deserved! Never giving up pays off
“1
The photo showed River holding up her eptance letter, both of them grinning like idiots.
I called my mom, voice steady despite everything:
“Mom, forget the internship. You and Dad were right–I’ll start preparing to take over TechFlow directly!”
Mom went quiet for a few seconds, probably shocked I’d finally made up my mind.
She sighed softly, but her voice carried relief: “Good. You’re finally seeing sense.”
After hanging up, I watched the rain pattering against my window. Weirdly, I felt… calm.
Wes Cheating On Me!
54.4<b>% </b>
Then River’s notification popped up:
[Stop being so dramatic, babe. Don’t be a drama queen. She’s your friend too. Stop being so selfish and think about her feelings for once.]
I actuallyughed out loud reading that garbage.
When I called him back, my voice was ice–cold:
“River, is my hard work really that worthless to you?”
“Drama queen? I busted my ass for this opportunity–why should I hand it over to her? When you made this decision
for me, did you think about MY feelings for even a second?”
River had the audacity to sound defensive:
“Look, you’re smart enough to get a job anywhere. Vivian’s… different.”
I cut him off: “So because she’s useless and bombed the interview, you get to throw away my opportunity? River?”
“I’m a person, not some tool for making other people’s dreamse true.”
My voice was final: “If you actually cared about me, you wouldn’t dismiss everything I’ve worked for.”
Instead of apologizing, River kept defending her:
“How can you talk about Vivian like that? She works hard too!”
“You obviously have the ability to apply again and get another offer, so why won’t you help out a friend this time? The three of us could have interned together! I never thought you’d be this selfish.”
Iughed bitterly, feeling my heart turn to stone.
“Interned together“-those words hit like a knife.
I really thought he got it, you know? Like, he SAW how hard I worked for this. But apparently I’m just some side character in his little rom that he can write off whenever it’s convenient for his main character moment with
Vivian.
I didn’t bother arguing anymore:
“Fine. <i>Go </i>intern with her then.” And hung up.
River’s words wereughably ironic.
Did I need this internship? Like he said, probably not. But what I needed was for my effort to be respected.
I stared at my phone screen, those messages still stinging.
54.6%
I was supposed to consider Vivian’s feelings–who was considering mine?
I’d chosen this internship because of River. I wanted us to work together, to stand beside him based purely on merit,
not family money.
That’s all it was.
But now I realized some paths you have to walk alone.