“Yeah.”
He had nodded and gone to turn away.
“My mother was like that girl last night. That’s how you two met,” I’d said.
He’d gone still for a heartbeat or two before meeting my eyes. I had known the answer before he had said it. “Yes.”
My nose had scrunched. “Gross.”
At first, he’d looked caught off guard. Then he had smiled.
“It’s not funny,” I’d said to him.
“That’s not why I’m smiling,” he’d said. “You act mature a lot of the time. It’s nice to see you react like a kid for once.”
I ran my hands down the nonexistent wrinkles of my uniform before leaving the bathroom. I grabbed my new textbook and bag and headed out.
Bram was sitting in the living room, surprisingly not dressed for work. He stood as I entered. “You got everything?”
I nodded.
“If you need me, call me. I’ll be close by,” he said. He went to put his hand on top of my perfectly styled, half-up-half-down, flat-ironed hair, but I shied away.
“My hair,” I grumbled, and hugged him instead.
His chest bounced as he silently chuckled and hugged me back. “Have a good day at school.”
I’m going to try,I thought to myself.
When I pulled into Kendry’s parking lot, Roe was waiting for me by his bike. I parked next to him. After I climbed out and locked up my car, he gave me a small smile. I could tell he felt unsure. So I walked over to him and laced my fingers with his.
People stared and whispered as we walked in. Even Alicia and Evie gawked as we went by. I was used to others staring. I was a Kendry, after all. It was another reason I had to be perfect so there wouldn’t be anything bad to gossip about. Today, though, there would be, and the day had just begun.
There weren’t any incidents as Roe walked me to my locker or to my first class. I did my best to focus on each class and the first half of the day went by pretty quickly. I met Roe in his secret spot behind the football field bleachers. As soon as I got there, he pulled out two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and for the first time in years, I ate lunch at school.
“I really like this,” I said before taking another bite.
He smiled at me and used his thumb to wipe the corner of my mouth. “I used strawberry jam because I know how much you love strawberries.”
I smiled before taking another bite. “I overheard something interesting today.”
“Oh yeah?”
I nodded. “I heard that MIT sent out acceptances a little over two weeks ago. A few days prior to the club’s barbecue.” I leaned against the chain-link fence as I stared at him for his reaction.
He went still, but then slowly brought his sandwich up to take a bite.
“You got in, didn’t you?”
His lack of response was answer enough.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Stanford will send out acceptances next week. I wanted to see what they said first before I made a decision or told anyone anything.”
“Why wait on Stanford to tell us?” I asked.
He finished off his sandwich and as he chewed, I saw his wheels turning. “You already know the answer to that.”
