I could do nothing but cover my face with my hands. Jere had no filter between his brain and mouth sometimes. Whatever thought popped into his mind quickly navigated to his mouth. Of course, he wasn'twrong. Like an idiot, I’d admitted to jerking off to a certain celebrity the other day. There was one important thing about Jere, however. As long as you weren’t a bully, he was the best friend anyone could ask for.
“Hey, Danny!” Linda said as she rushed to hug me tightly. She passed me a pink flier. “Don’t forget to vote for me as your next prom queen.”
“Isn’t prom in May?” Jere inquired, leaning closer to steal a look at the flier.
“It doesn't hurt to get a head start,” she said, biting her lip at him as if she wanted to ask him to be her date. She’d asked last year too, but he’d passed on the event entirely to hang out with me, because I didn’t want to go.
The funny thing was, Jere wasn’t the only one to have changed these past few years. I was still a nerd, still a Mathletics champion that would rather solve mathematical equations by myself than listen to what the teacher was talking about in history class, but I wasn’t aloseranymore. My recent change in status was mostly due to Jere, who had turned the hierarchy upside down. First in fifth grade, then middle school, and in high school where bullying had been rampant until he showed up. With someone who was built like a bulldozer, few had the balls to challenge him or mess with anyone under his protection.
The football team had been trying to recruit him for years, but he’d shown little interest in sports. Beyond that, Jere was the cool kid everyone wanted to hang out with and as his best friend, that attention extended to me. Mostly, I was the kid that helped the popular crowd with their homework.
“Will do,” I murmured and tried to pay attention as she exalted why she was the best candidate for prom queen. “Are you coming to my party after school?”
“Ivy Day party? Sure. Will you be there, Jere?” she asked hopefully, stars shining in her eyes.
All the girls had a thing for Jere and few were lucky enough to receive his attention. He never dated, preferring to go out with friends, but everyone was in love with him. I was in love with him, but I’d never tell him.
He frowned. “Where else would I be?”
Wasn't that the truth? He was more than my best friend. He was a brother, and all the words I couldn’t think of to describe how close we were. We spent every minute of our lives together. Heck, he’d practically moved in with me because his father was a drunk. He had a drawer in my dresser and a regular place at the dinner table.
When Linda was gone, Jere play-punched my arm, making the spot tingle. “You’ve been nervous all morning.”
“Of course, I’m nervous.” I blew out a big breath, my hands itching, and I considered seeking out the closest computer and checking my university admissions updates just to get it over with. But Mom had set up a little party tonight for me and I didn’t want to ruin it. She was a great mom, the best any kid could ask for.
Jere wrapped his arm around me and bumped his head against mine. “Why? You’re the smartest kid in this school, Danny. Probably the smartest in the whole country. All the fancy colleges you applied to are going to fall over themselves to accept you.”
I chuckled at his optimism. I’d been accepted into a majority of my safe schools, but I had ambitions. My dream university was MIT and my fantasies of becoming an engineer depended on it. For the last few weeks leading up to Ivy Day, all I could think about was going to Cambridge. I’d lost countless hours planning out my days of studying and learning about the most amazing things, in my head and hanging out with other smarty-pants kids. Maybe I’d finally get to kiss a boy the way I thought about when I masturbated. There was a sadness that accompanied my dreams, however. Jere wouldn’t be joining me. We wouldn’t be sharing a dorm together and I wouldn’t have fun tutoring him. We were going to miss out on a lot of each other’s firsts like getting drunk and reaching fourth base.
“There are a lot of smart people in this country, Jere. And the Ivies have a very low acceptance rate. The odds are not in my favor.”
“The odds need some sense punched into them. You should have let me be in that video you made for your admissions application. I could have told them how smart you are and how you got me to pass algebra,” he said.
I couldn’t help the smile that pulled at my cheeks as I imagined him saying something silly and boasting about my prowess in the Mathletics championships. But him believing in me meant so much. When he said things like that, it made my heart swell and excitement kick inside me.
Come five o’clock, my mother had started dinner, while Linda, Jere, and Martin gathered around me at the computer. Martin himself had learned he’d been accepted to UPenn earlier in the day, so excitement was thick in the air. I’d invited my father, but it was no surprise he hadn’t shown up. I hadn’t seen him in over a year and even then, I’d hardly recognized him as my father anymore. He was just someone I’d used to know.
“My heart is pounding,” I said as I navigated over to my portal.
“No matter what, I’m proud of you, baby,” Mom said and kissed the top of my head. “Always remember that.”
“Yeah. And if they don’t accept you, they're idiots and I don’t want you going to a school run by idiots,” Jere said, folding his massive arms over his chest.
Lind started recording with her phone. My hands shook as I opened the status update for Harvard. I’d been waitlisted, which was actually an accomplishment in itself.
UC was next and no surprise, I’d been deferred.
Stanford, which had a great Biomedical engineering program, was next and when I saw the confetti, I jumped out of my chair. Jere caught me as I hopped into his arms and spun me around. Being accepted to a good school went a long way to soothe my nerves.
Brown and Yale were waitlisted. I’d saved MIT for last.
“This is the one I put most of my effort into,” I said in a rush of breath. My pulse was thrumming through me, making little splotches of color float in front of my eyes. “Even if I don’t get in, I’m going to Stanford. That’s an accomplishment, right?”
Jere stood behind me and squeezed my shoulders. My friends and family supporting me helped me get through this. I wanted to cry ugly years, I wanted to sing and dance. This was the most terrifying and exciting moment of my life, and I was glad to be able to share it with them. I navigated to the MIT portal and hovered the mouse over the “check status” icon. Time slowed down and every heartbeat was an eternity. And when the confetti jumped across my screen, I was sure I wasn’t seeing right.
Screams exploded and I was showered with hugs and kisses as I stared at the screen in shock, slack jawed.
“I told you. I told you!” Mom shouted.
