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“How can you be sure? They might have just lined someone else up.”
“It’s you, believe me.” His words almost calmed me. Almost.
“But what about Professor Murphy?”
Tanner pushed out his lips, clearly a little annoyed. “Honestly? He was back teaching after two days. I know that because he was hot on my heels over a paper I’d forgotten to submit because I was too busy thinking about how I could help you.”
“So they found nothing?”
“Were you expecting they would?” He raised a curious and somewhat amused brow.
“No, but I figured if Connor’s word could get me suspended so easily, then who knew what else he was capable of.”
“Even I don’t think they could have gotten away with hearsay on such a huge allegation. I did hear that Professor Murphy's so angry about it, he's threatening to sue the college for reputational damage.”
My phone started ringing, and my mom clutched her chest. “Is that them?” When I nodded, she sighed in relief.
“I’m just going to take this.” I raised the phone, and shuffled to my bedroom, wanting to speak to the Dean in private just in case it was bad news.
As I slowly walked down the stairs in disbelief, I was met with my mom, dad and Tanner, all eagerly waiting for me to say something.
“Everything okay?” Tanner broached the subject, sounding uneasy.
“Everything’s perfect,” I choked back, trying to hold back my emotions. It was over. “They told me they found no evidence of a relationship.”
"Obviously," my mom said.
“And that Connor is the one they have decided to discipline over his cheating, since there was no other evidence compelling enough to suggest that there’s been cheating with any other student.”
Tanner couldn’t hold back. He charged me and swung me into a hug. “I knew it, Teach.”
“But what about this whole suspension mess?” My mom asked, butting in. Still hugging Tanner, I glanced over at her, genuinely smiling for the first time in a long time.
“It’s being deleted from my record, and they are compensating us for the room and board that we paid for the time of absence.”
“That’s the least they could do,” my mom said as Tanner dropped me to the floor. “What about your reputation? What about the class time missed? What about the fact that they believed a knucklehead on the hockey team over one of their best performing students? Was there even an apology?”
“Yeah, they apologized.” I left out that it felt half-hearted as best. “But honestly, apologies don’t change anything, and I don’t care about what other people think about me. The only ones that matter, unbeknownst to me fought to get back.” My mind flits to Thea, Hazel, Alexand even… Ralph. People I never expected to come to me in my time of need. “They’re the people I should focus on. No one else.”
“Does that mean you’re coming back?” I turned my attention to Tanner, and then to my mom, unsure of what to say.
“If you’re about to say no because you want to be here with me, then I’m here to tell you, I don’t want you here.” My mom was blunt at the best of times, but her quick response to my unease kind of hurt.
“But-”
“There are no buts, Aster. You can’t use me as an excuse anymore. I’m fine and getting better every day. I have your father to take care of me. You have a whole life to live, and only a few more months of your sophomore year of college. I don’t want you wasting them here because I’ll still be right here waiting for you when you get back.”
My stomach flipped because I immediately expected the worst, but when I saw my mom’s smile, I knew that if I truly wanted to make her happy; I needed to do what was right for my future.
“I completely understand if you don’t want to come back, but I’d miss you if you weren’t there.” Tanner said with his arm still around me.
Why did that comment make my heart leap out of its chest just a little?
My stomach did another flip this time, but it was because I felt a light-heartedness I’d never felt before. Was it because things were finally going my way? My mom was getting better, Rachel and Connor were out of my life, and Professor Murphy was back in place. Nothing else needed to be fixed. I could move on with my life.
I looked at Tanner, who had a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Why should I let two jealous people like Rachel and Connor push me out of my own college? I'd worked hard to get the grades - harder than either of them had ever worked - and I deserved to stay in the school that I chose, and to graduate with the prestige that I worked hard to get.
“Okay.” It was a short, simple statement because I wasn’t one to sit around thinking about things when I knew what I wanted, and that was to finish my degree and spend as much time with Tanner as I could.
