I'm Not Her [GxG]

PROLOGUE

They say everything happens for a reason. I used to think that was just a way for people to make sense of their messes. But that night, when my sister begged me to cover for her messed up decision in life-to pretend to be her on a date with some stranger...

I started to wonder if maybe, just maybe, it was true. That everything happens for a reason.

It should've been easy. A single night, a quick dinner, and I'd be done with it. So I did what my sister Amira said, sat across from a woman I'd never expect to met. Sachzna Valeri Heimsworth. I remember her deep blue eyes, her gentle laugh, the way she'd lean forward like she was trying to draw something out of me. And maybe it was the way she looked at me—or who she thought I was—that made it hard for me to admit the truth.

In the end, I didn't have to. I left, told her it wouldn't work, that maybe she deserved better. I walked away, convinced I'd done the right thing... for her, for my sister. I told myself it was over. Just one night, a memory to bury. But as the months passed, I'd think about her sometimes, the way she looked when I left, hurt but too strong to show it. I tried to push it aside; I wasn't going to see her again, right?

Until my first day of college.

When my literature professor walked in, and I felt my heart drop like a stone. It was her. Sachzna. Only now, it was Ms. Heimsworth.

The look on her face when she saw me said everything. Anger. Hurt. She recognized me in an instant, and I could almost feel her plotting a dozen ways to ruin my life. I get it. She thinks I played her, and the worst part is, I can't even blame her for it.

But she's got it all wrong. I did this for my sister, and now I'm the one taking the fall. No one knows the truth except me. And now, every interaction, every glance she throws my way is a reminder that my life in college won't be easy with her around. Ms. Heimsworth, with that cold, unreadable expression, is just waiting for me to mess up. I can feel it. She'll make sure I fail, even if it means dragging me down with her.

I need to find a way to tell her the truth. To tell her I'm not her.