AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Carson, on the other hand, basked in the praise. “Well, thanks, but it’s really our pleasure.” He reached out and pulled me to his side, giving me a little shake like we were best buds. “Mia and I felt it was our duty to help our beloved town and its people in need, especially before we go off to school. It’s the least we can do.”
I jabbed him in the ribs when Winny glanced toward the sound of the door chimes.
“Oomph.” Carson winced before Winny turned back to us, and his plastic smile returned.
“Oh, where are you two going off to?” Whinny’s eyes brightened.
“Duke,” Carson answered before I could get a word in.
I glared up at him, ignoring the way his goofy grin made my insides clench with. . .rage, I decided. It had to be.
“Both of you going to Duke? That’s amazing. Congratulations.”
“Yup. This time next year, we’ll both be Blue Devils.”
“Fitting for you,” I mumbled under my breath, and Carson’s smile broadened, his arm tightening around me.
“I’m sure your parents are proud.”
At the mention of my parents, my heart skipped.
“We’ll be sad to see you go, but I know you’ll be back to visit,” Winny continued.
“Absolutely,” Carson said, then accepted the pledge Winny handed him.
Turning us around, he headed for the door. Once we got outside, a burst of cool air hit my face, and I seized the opportunity to wrench free from his arm. “Why? Why did you do that?” I spluttered.
“Do what?” he asked, his expression innocent.
“You told her I was going to Duke.”
“Aren’t you?”
I brought my hands to my temples and gently massaged away my blooming headache and groaned. “Yeah, sure. If I get in. I haven’t received any early acceptance letters yet, let alone the one to Duke. Weren’t you listening to me the other day?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, of course, I was. But you’ll get in.”
“You don’t know that,” I snapped. I stared him, jaw clenched, mouth set in a tight line. How was he always so casual about everything? Does nothing faze him? What must it be like to live in a world devoid of problems?
“It’s not a big—”
“Yes, it is Carson. It is a big deal. A huge deal, actually. And if you knew even the slightest thing about me, you’d know that without me needing to tell you, but you don’t. So just butt out.”
“Mia. . .” He reached for my arm, but I sidestepped him, heading for my car.
“You know how Sweet Water is, and now everyone will know. Winny will tell Lucas because she’s happy for us, who will mention it to Charlotte, who will tell Maddie, who will tell every-freaking-one and then if I don’t get in, I have to be the one to look like a fool and correct everybody. Me!” I stabbed myself in the chest. I could feel myself unraveling but was helpless to stop it. “While you’re off in Durham chasing college girls, I’ll be the loser who didn’t get in.”
Where did that come from?
Carson stared at me, his brow furrowed, concern in his eyes, and I wasn’t sure what was worse, me feeling sorry for myself or him feeling sorry for me.
“Heck, my parents will even break out of their dysfunctional little bubble to catch wind of this piece of stellar news, and they’ll be so excited,” I continued, because why stop now? “This is news I’ve been dying to share with them. But I’ll have to inform them that I don’t know whether I got in or not yet and that it was just a rumor. Then I’ll deal with the fallout. I’m sure it will turn into some massive fight between the two of them. My mother will blame my father for me not getting an acceptance letter yet, and he’ll blame her for something else equally lame and out of her control. Then I’ll just be some loser girl with no future, who tried to strangle a boy in gym class, and couldn’t get a date to the dance, unless, of course, it was her best friend.”
I gasped, taking a breath for the first time since I opened my mouth, and though everything I said was true, I realized it was probably a little overboard. My chest heaved with my emotions as I tried to reign them in, but they swirled slowly inside my chest, heavy like an anchor, threatening to drown me. I probably looked crazy. And though I knew I shouldn’t care—because this was Carson we were talking about—for some reason I couldn’t pinpoint, I did care what he thought about me. A notion that made me even angrier.
“That was a lot to address all at once,” Carson said, wide-eyed.
“Tell me about it,” I rasped. Then I laughed, because, really, it was ironic. I poured out all my feelings to my nemesis.
