AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A what now?”
She glanced up. “It’s a grant for out of state students, it means my tuition will be a lot lower than the out of state rates, and there’s a second scholarship offer for Exceptional Futures.”
“Well, well, my sexy little brainiac,” I murmured as I set the Fordham letter down and tugged her up and into my arms. She hugged me fiercely, and I squeezed her. “Look at you and your badass self with those two acceptances.”
Scholarship already in the bag. More offers. The injunction giving her temporary emancipation, and now two yes letters. Her laughter came off giddy as I picked her up.
“This calls for a celebration.”
She groaned. “We don’t know if the guys got theirs—oh my god, Jake, what if you got yours?”
“I’ll find out later.”
From wild disbelief to giddiness to a stern glare, she poked me. “Let’s go, Mister. We need to stop at your place.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I was not going to argue. I did, however, snag my letterman’s jacket and drape it over her shoulders before we headed out. The guys were meeting us at the Spooky-Spot, the Halloween pop up shop that opened every autumn. They usually had the best costumes and the most variety.
The drive to my place took us ten minutes out of the way, but I let the guys know we’d be a few minutes late. I’d let Frankie give them the good news herself. For the first time in days, she practically vibrated in the seat next to me. It was probably the most upbeat I’d seen her in the last few days, and for that I could kiss whoever those recruiters were who got the acceptance letters fired off so quick.
“What are you doing here?” Louisa demanded when Frankie and I came in.
“I live here, brat,” I reminded her, and she flicked her fingers at me dismissively. Ugh, she’d been spending too much time with her friends. Suddenly, big brothers weren’t cool anymore. Becca and Blake had done the same things at her age.
“Couldn’t tell by me,” she retorted, then grinned at Frankie. “You live with Frankie now.”
“Louisa,” Mom’s voice cut through from the other room, and Louisa made a face as I snorted a laugh. “Watch your mouth, young lady. And don’t you have chores to do?”
With a roll of her eyes, Louisa said, “Yes, Mom. Your long-lost son is home.”
I caught her pony tail as she tried to dart around me and tugged it gently. Then I managed a few good tickles under her ribs that had her squeal-screaming, and Frankie laughed. Mom walked out from her make-shift office and bedroom. “Hi, Frankie, dear. Please ignore my hellions. Are you two hungry?”
“Starving, but we’re meeting the guys,” I told her as I let Louisa go. She streaked away but flipped me off when she was safely out of Mom’s sight, and I just grinned. At least I could still make her laugh. Blake was finally coming out of the big brothers suck phase just in time for Louisa to slide in. Fun stuff.
“Ahh,” Mom crossed over and offered Frankie a gentle hug. She gave her that Mom-inspection look, then said, “Well, I’m glad to see you. Is my boy behaving himself?”
“Absolutely not,” Frankie promised, and Mom laughed.
“Good.”
“I just came to check the mail. Frankie got some news, and she insisted we find out if I did.” I smirked again when Frankie widened her eyes at me impatiently. Oh no, she needed to strut this news, and I wasn’t going to let her bury it. Her mother sucked, mine did not.
Mine would do what real moms did when their kids got awesome news.
“Oh?” Mom took up the gauntlet like a pro and looked at Frankie. “Tell me.”
“I can’t believe you,” Frankie hissed at me, but I just gave her a smile as I went over to where the girls had sorted the mail. I actually did have a few envelopes. Four to be precise.
Fuck.
One of them was Harvard. I glanced over my shoulder. “Just tell her. You know you want to.”
“Your son is annoying,” Frankie informed my mother, and Mom chuckled.
“True story,” she said with a grin. “Now stop delaying and tell me the news. I could use some good stuff in my life right now.”
Was something wrong? I frowned but slit the envelope from Harvard open and read the contents swiftly, then tucked it deeper down and hid it. Until Frankie got hers, I would act like I hadn’t received mine. NYU was in my stack too, and theCongratulations!
Hell yes. One university locked down for two of us, now we needed to get the others in. I didn’t see one for MIT, but it was probably too early. There was no out of state waiver on my letter, but that was fine. Dad’s military benefits were going to help with my tuition. Yay.
