Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 265

Elara

Spring arrived with the kind of gentle insistence that made even the Bronx feel hopeful. The morning I received the envelope from RISD, my hands trembled so violently that I nearly dropped it on the kitchen floor. The paper was thick, expensive–the kind of stationery that carried weight before you even read the words.

“Open it, Raven urged from across the table, her coffee forgotten as she leaned forward with barely contained excitement. Diego had abandoned his sketchpad entirely, and even Yuki had emerged from her room, drawn by the tension crackling through our small apartment.

I slid my finger under the seal, forcing myself to breathe as I unfolded the letter. The first words blurred together-“We are pleased to inform you‘–and suddenly I couldn’t see anything at all through the tears.

I got in, I whispered, the reality of it hitting me like a physical force. I actually got in..

Raven’s shriek could probably be heard in Manhattan. She launched herself at me, nearly knocking over both our chairs as she wrapped me in a fierce hug. “I knew it! I fucking knew they’d be idiots not to take you!”

Diegd was grinning, Yuki was clapping, and I was crying–not the silent, controlled tears I’d learned to shed in Blackwood, but the messy, overwhelming kind

that came from something breaking open inside my chest. This was real. This was mine. No one had bought it for me, manipulated it into existence, or held

it over my head as leverage.

My phone buzzed with a text from Raven: We’re going out tonight. No arguments.

I looked up to find her watching me with that fierce protectiveness I’d come to rely on. “What about you?” I asked, suddenly aware that I’d been so consumed by my own news that I hadn’t asked about her applications.

She shrugged, but her smile was genuine. “Parsons waitlisted me. FIT offered a spot. Not as prestigious as RISD, but–she met my eyes–we’re both getting

out. That’s what matters.”

The weight of that truth settled over us both. We were leaving. Actually leaving.

“We’re going to be in different cities, she said quietly, and I heard the question underneath: Will we still be us?

I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “Distance doesn’t change friendship. You think a couple hundred miles is going to make me forget my best

friend?”

‘Dramatic much? But her eyes were wet.

I’m an artist. Drama is our medium.‘ I squeezed her fingers. “Besides, when you graduate and become some hotshot designer with your own studio, you’re

giving me a job. We already agreed.”

She laughed, that sharp, bright sound that always made me feel less alone. ‘Deal. But only if you promise to paint something that doesn’t make me cry for

once.‘

“No promises.”

We spent the rest of breakfast planning–tentatively, carefully, like people who’d learned not to count on good things lasting but were willing to try anyway Diego suggested we frame our acceptance letters side by side. Yuki offered to help me move when the time came. The apartment felt full in a way it never had before, packed with the kind of future I’d stopped believing I deserved.

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Chapter 265

Later, after everyone had left for class or work, I sat alone at the kitchen table and pulled out my phone. There were people I needed to tell. People who’d earned the right to know.

Ms. Rivera’s response came within minutes: I always knew you had it in you. This is just the beginning, Elara. Make them remember your name.

I stared at those words until they blurred, remembering her steady faith even when I’d had none in myself. She’d been suspended because of me, pushed out because I’d dared to challenge the wrong people. But she’d never once made me feel like it was my fault.

Thank you, I typed back. I won’t let you down.

Calling Mamá was harder. I waited until I knew she’d be on her lunch break, sitting in that small break room. When she answered, I could hear the exhaustion in her voice–twelve–hour shifts did that to a person.

“Elara? Is everything okay?”

“I got into RISD,” I said, the words tumbling out before I could second–guess them. “The letter came today. Full scholarship. I’m going to study art in

Providence.

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