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GENEVIEVE
Amile away from campus, Mr. Donovan pulls into the emergency lane.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Get in the backseat.”
“Why?”
“So the security guard won’t see that I’m bringing you back after hours and tell Mr. Peterson.”
“You’re really not going to tell on me?” I say. “Why?”
“The same reason why you didn’t call anyone else to come get you at two o’clock in the morning.”
I smile and unbuckle my seatbelt.
“Cover yourself with the blanket on the floor,” he says. “I’ll let you know when we’re past the gate.”
The car coasts forward, and I hear the security guard scan his badge. We wind down the familiar curves until he parks near my dorm room window.
“I have another question for you.” He opens the back door. “Why can’t you ask your college friends to meet you someplace in town on the weekend?”
“Because they wouldn’t be my ‘friends’ anymore once they found out how old I really am.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“Then why did you stop talking to me?”
Silence.
“That’s what I thought.” I step out of the car, snapping back into ‘on campus’ mode. “Thank you for the ride, Mr. Donovan. Whenever you decide to use this against me and speak to Mr. Peterson, tell him I was on Boston U’s campus and not just at another bar.”
“I already told you that he doesn’t need to know about this,” he says. “But I will tell him if you do this again.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Good.” He steps back. “You can go inside now.”
There’s no point in pretending like I’m going in through the front door, so I walk to the side and pick up the small ladder I keep tucked under the bushes.
Setting it under my window, I can’t tell if the look on Mr. Donovan’s face is amusement or horror.
Maybe it’s both.
I unbutton his blazer, but he places his hands on the sleeves.
“Keep it until the next mentor session,” he says.
He watches me until I’m safe inside, and to my surprise, he saves me from an early-morning alarm by returning the ladder behind the bushes for me.
After shutting the pane, I flop onto my bed and cover my face with his jacket.
I inhale his scent again and again until I fall asleep.
I’m never giving this back.
7
