“I’ve got an application to finish.”
“Michigan?”
He shakes his head, his eyes on the rain. “No, Art Institute. Michigan was due a while ago.”
There’s a catch in his voice, but I let it pass. I twirl my umbrella, listening to the steady patter of rain and the rush of cars on the wet roads.
Leo glances over at me. “Do you think Teddy’ll even go now?”
“To college? Of course,” I say, but he looks skeptical. “He was always planning to go at some point; it was just a matter of when.”
“No,” Leo says, “it was a matter of money.”
“Which isn’t an issue anymore.”
“Right, because he’s a millionaire.”
“So? It’s not like he’s gonna spend his days swimming around in a pool of cash. He wants to be a coach—acollegecoach—and you need to go to school for that. I already printed a bunch of applications for him, and he promised to look. A lot of them have rolling admissions, so there’s still time. He’ll go. I know he will.”
“If you say so,” Leo says, though he doesn’t seem convinced. “And what about you? Have you figured out what you’re gonna do if—”
“I don’t get into Stanford?” I say, attempting a smile. “Not really.”
“But what happens if—”
“I don’t know,” I tell him. “I just have to get in.”
I applied for early decision back in the fall, but my application was deferred. Which was better than being rejected. But it was still a huge disappointment. I’ve since applied to a bunch of other schools too—eight in all—because Aunt Sofia wants to make sure I cover my bases. But there’s no backup plan for me. Not really. Ever since I was little, Stanford has been the goal.
I remember the night my mom found out she got into a program there for nonprofit leaders. My dad and I made her a cake to celebrate; he even let me help draw a shaky approximation of the Stanford seal across the top, and she laughed when she cut into it and saw that it was red velvet in honor of the university’s colors.
“School pride?” she asked, and my dad had leaned across the table to kiss her.
“All sorts of pride,” he said, his eyes shining.
But in the end she never made it. A few months later she found out she was sick, and my life started to unravel one thread at a time.
Now I have a chance to do what she never could. To follow in her footsteps. To go back to the West Coast. To find my way home again.
“I have to get in,” I repeat, more quietly this time.
Leo nods. “You will. I just wish it wasn’t so far away.”
“It’s notthatfar. Besides, you could be in Michigan.”
“Which is also really far away.”
“Hardly,” I say, and he groans.
“When your boyfriend’s there, it feels like a million miles.”
“Well, the good news,” I tell him, “is that you get to see him in less than a week.”
Leo smiles at this. “I still can’t believe my parents are letting me—”
“Spend your whole spring break alone with your college boyfriend?” I ask with a grin. “I can. They love Max. And they trust you. Plus, you’ll be on your own soon anyway. You might even be in Michigan.”
His expression dims, just slightly. “Maybe.”
