“My boyfriend and I made a pact: Stanford first, then the world. But an hour before the deadline, he gave it all up for another girl. He chose to stay at the local state university, for Anisa, a girl who seemed so helpless. He arrogantly assumed I would give up my future to follow him. He didn't know, in that moment, he was the one I was letting go. I vanished from his world. He thought I was overreacting, that I'd come around in a few days. But when I boarded that plane to California, I wasn't just leaving him behind. I was choosing myself, for the first time.”