Chapter 1

To be fair, Mom forced me—someone with a heart condition—to participate in the fitness test.

At five hundred meters, my heart started hurting. I reached for my medication.

The moment I pulled it out, Victoria Hayes, the class president, snatched it away and threw it aside.

"Only five hundred meters and you're already faking it? Just because your mom is the assistant principal doesn't mean you can slack off."

She glanced toward Mom in the distance and said ingratiatingly, "Ms. Carter, Aria is trying to give up again. Don't worry, I'll make sure to encourage her to keep going."

Mom looked at me coldly, without a trace of sympathy on her face.

"Everyone else can run. Why can't you? Are you just being a drama queen? Today, you're going to finish this fifteen hundred meters even if you have to crawl!"

I gritted my teeth and kept going, but my chest felt like it was exploding. My vision gradually darkened.

At one thousand meters, I collapsed on the track. I couldn't get up anymore.

My soul slowly rose into the air as I looked at Mom with guilt written all over my face.

I'm sorry. I've disappointed you again.

This time, I really can't finish the fifteen hundred meters.