explains why.
in MC's telling of Bella, Zoey dropped out of school to go surfing, and apparently succeeded and even made a life there with a boyfriend and probably friends.
the interlude gives us back a girl who leaves school and her family to learn surfing, but in the end she does not learn surfing and has to somehow retrieve her online diploma, which however having a lower value does not allow her to be accepted by the colleges there (but Dawe and Arieth's BR I'm sure will accept her). a girl who decides to cut ties with MC to let him live his life, but then decides on the contrary to swoop in to his father's house so as not to be left out of his life.
doesn't she?
As I wrote above, you read the interlude with your eyes closed.
It is not she who decides to break off her relationship with MC, but the little bitch MC cannot decide to go with her, although she seems to love her and, as we know from the future, is still suffering.
Secondly, during the course of the game we were not told that she had made a life there and that everything was working out for her. MS said that after some time they simply stopped communicating.
And as we know from the Interlude, Zoe was no good at surfing at all. And Zoya was running out of money, and what she received in the tattoo parlor was too little. And then it dawned on her that her idea was not the smartest and most thoughtful.
And after that we see the character's personal growth. She's finishing her studies and yes, it may be far-fetched that she got a shitty diploma, but her return is completely justified.
I'm biased of course because I like Zoey.
But everything is not as bad as you say.