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She looked away from me and sighed. Then, because she hated confrontation, she pulled a small gift box from her pocket and placed it on my bed before climbing out of the window to leave.
“Wait,” I said. “Don’t go. Please.” I waited until she swung her legs back over the frame. “I don’t really want you to leave. I’m just pissed off and hurt right now.”
“Oh...” She took a seat at my desk. “What happened?”
“My parents spent my scholarship money.”
“What?” She gasped. “All of it?”
“All of it.” I sat on my bed. “They took it to the casino because they were convinced they could flip it and give the original amount back to me. On the bright side, they made five hundred dollars off of fifteen grand that didn’t belong to them, so maybe they’re getting better at gambling after all.”
She gave me a look of sympathy.
“Anyway, even if I were to leave, I wouldn’t have any extra money for books, food, or anything. I was planning to buy a new computer, too, so there’s no way I’ll be able to compete with people with the piece of shit I have now.” I’d considered telling the school what happened, but I doubted they would believe me or give me a new check unless I was willing to press charges against my parents.
I was still trying to process how they were able to live with themselves after breaking the news to me last week. How the hell they could go about their lives as if they hadn’t just obliterated mine.
“Did they at least tell you that they were sorry?” Hayley asked.
“Saying sorry doesn’t fix things, Hales,” I said. “But no. They didn’t say that at all. They said that now I’ll have plenty of time to get more scholarships and that the university was dumb for giving a kid a check like that anyway.”
“Well, I’m sorry.” She sat next to me. “I was looking forward to seeing someone else get out of this hell-hole of a town.”
“You’re not secretly happy that I’m stuck here for another two years now?”
“No.” She rolled her eyes. “Maybe if you were Old Corey, I would be, but New Corey is a bit of an asshole.”
“New Corey?”
“Yeah, the one who snaps on me a lot more, makes me sleep with the paper-thin blankets while he gets the warm and fluffy ones, and promises hot chocolate like old times but never delivers. Oh, and the one who made me wait outside for a whole hour while he talked to some girl on the phone. That Corey. i.e., you.”
I tried to hold back, but I couldn’t help but laugh. It was honestly the first time I’d laughed all week.
“Stay right here.” I stood up and left the room, heading straight for the kitchen. I made her a tall cup of hot chocolate, complete with all the extra caramel and chocolate flakes she liked on top of the whipped cream, and slowly carried it back to my room.
“Here’s some hot chocolate for you, Hales.” I handed her the cup. “And I apologize about the blankets thing. We’ll take turns sharing the bigger blankets. Deal?”
“Deal.”
“Can you also promise that you won’t make me wait outside anymore, just because you’re talking to girls on the phone?” she asked. “I can put on your headphones and listen to music until you’re finished. I promise I won’t interrupt or make fun of you when you try to make your voice sound deeper.”
“Yeah.” I smiled. “I can promise you that. Can you promise me something?”
“Of course. What is it?”
“Can we keep this thing between us?” I said. “I mean, can you not tell Jonathan that I won’t be going to Notre Dame? I don’t want him to know.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want him to think that everything for people like us is ultimately hopeless,” I said. “I want him to keep thinking he can do anything, and to keep those promises he made to you.”
“Okay, promise.” She extended her pinky to me, and I twisted mine over it. Then she handed me the blue gift box she’d brought over. “It was supposed to be your going-away present, but I think you should open it anyway.”
I pulled the ribbon off the box and took off the top. Inside, was a short letter and something that was wrapped in newspaper.
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DEAR COREY,
