**My Mom Secretly Canceled My Full-Ride College Scholarship So I’d Stay Home and Raise My Sisters—But She Forgot the School Could Trace Who Logged Into My Account.**

I practiced my graduation speech in an empty classroom because I couldn't stand hearing it echo in our kitchen. Talia, my best friend since seventh grade, sat on a desk eating pretzels.

"You're giving a speech about open doors," she said. "You better walk through one."

"It feels fake."

"It'll be fake if you tell people everything works out because you try hard. Some things don't. Say that."

I rewrote two paragraphs. I talked about teachers who loaned textbooks and bus drivers who waited for kids running late. I said opportunity should never require a person to prove they had no one depending on them.

At rehearsal, Ms. Calder quietly told the principal that the scholarship announcement needed to wait until my review was over. Nobody had to make a public declaration about a private dispute.

Afterward I found Cleo waiting outside with Simone. Mom had allowed the visit, but only for twenty minutes. Cleo carried a cardboard city with tiny streetlights. Our science project.

"It works," she said, snapping on the battery. "I fixed the loose wire by myself."

I smiled so hard my cheeks hurt. "Of course you did."

She studied me. "Are you really going?"

"I'm trying to."

"I'm mad," she admitted. "And I still want you to."

We hugged beside the gym doors while Maisie chased a dandelion across the grass.

That night Ms. Ward emailed the time for my review: Wednesday, nine thirty, video conference. I read the instructions twice. The panel wanted a clear account of the unauthorized withdrawal and any evidence I could provide.