I ignored him. “Did you get expelled?”
Tag bit his lip, then shook his head.
“Thank god,” I said, releasing all the bottled-up air in my lungs. “My mom swore—”
“I got all but expelled, though,” Tag murmured.
My stomach dropped. “What does that mean?”
He raked a hand through his hair. “I didn’t get a strike, but in exchange, they took away everything else.”
“Me too.” I nodded. “Prom, senior dinner, salutatorian—”
“What?” Tag’s hand tightened on my hip. I hadn’t realized it had been resting there. “They stripped you of salutatorian?”
“Yes,” I said, quickly adding, “But it’s fine, because Alex is next in line and will knock it out of the park.”
Tag was silent.
“Will I be seeing you in detention tomorrow night?” I asked.
“No,” Tag said, then coughed. “No, seeing as I’ll be under house arrest.”
My heart rate heightened.
House arrest.
House arrest?!
“I am allowed to attend classes,” he continued in a monotonevoice, “and eat lunch in the dining hall, but after the bell, I only get an hour to swim before I must report back to my dorm, sign in with Mr. Rudnick, and then spend the rest of the night in my room. Dinner will be delivered.” He paused. “Josh negotiated swim practice. Dean DeLuca wasn’t going to let me.”
“Dean DeLuca’s a dick,” I muttered, even though we both knew it wasn’t true. He really was just doing his job.
Tag laughed a little. “Obviously we can forget about prom and senior dinner, but I’m also not allowed to walk in graduation…”
I gaped, my mouth hanging open like the day’s favorite meme.
“…which of course means my parents are now coming to graduation.”
“Wait, they originally weren’t going to come?” I asked, incredulous.
“No, they had a huge business trip to Hong Kong scheduled,” Tag answered. “My sister and her husband were always coming, but you know my parents.” He shrugged. “They don’t care until suddenly they do.”
My eyes welled up. “I strongly dislike your parents.”
One corner of Tag’s mouth twitched in a smile. “They were useless on the Zoom call,” he said. “All my mom could focus on was my hypoglycemic fuckup and whether or not I was okay, and my dad took that as the perfect time to ask why he hasn’t received any bills from my therapist recently.”
“You have a therapist?”
“I do.” He shrugged. “I mean, did—or still do. We haven’thad a session in a while…” He trailed off. “Anyway, your mom scared the shit out of everybody. It was like she waswaitingto pounce. I expected to be kicked out, and so did Mr. Rudnick and my advisor. They didn’t even try to help. But once Josh got my parents to shut up, Leda took over. She not so subtly suggested that Headmaster Bickford strike the strike and let me pay penance instead.”
My heart stopped. Freakinghouse arresthad been my mom’s idea? What the hell?
“She saved my ass,” Tag said with a relieved sigh. “I’m still getting my diploma, and UVA won’t hear a word. I owe everything to her.”
We stood there in silence for a few moments.
“I know it’s our fault,” I eventually said, “but I hate this.”
