Chapter 11
Tanner’s words hit me like a physical blow, stealing the breath from my lungs
Applying to MIT together–that promise we’d made on our very first day of middle riool
Just two days ago, both our families had sat around the dining table, deliberating for hours before samady stimating yurity force akum
And now he’d changed his. Without a word to me,
From inside the private dining room, his friends pressed with curious laughter.
“How do you even know Drielle will check your application portal again?”
“What if she doesn’t notice…”
Tanner snorted like he’d heard the world’s biggest joke:
“Notice? That’s all she does. You don’t know her like I do.”
“She probably checks that thing eight hundred times a day, paranoid about messing up some detail and ending up in a different
His tone carried that familiar note of exasperation.
“You wouldn’t understand. Try having a shadow following you around since birth–someone you can never shake off
Laughter rippled through the room.
Jake persisted, still skeptical: “Even if she finds out, you’re that confident Drielle will just switch her application to match yours?
Tanner glanced up from his phone game, his laugh sharp and dismissive,
“Dude, please.”
“Drielle hasn’t been apart from me for longer than a week since we were born. Who else would the go to college wri
Connor couldn’t resist chiming in: “Tanner, man, this is kind of a dick move, though.”
“Couldn’t you just tell her you changed your mind?”
Tanner’s fingers paused on his screen, irritation flickering across his face:
“Honestly forgot. It’s such a hassle–I didn’t want to deal with explaining everything.”
“If she knew I switched to Georgia Tech for Harper, she’d throw a complete fit.”
“Besides, it’s not like I changed on a whim. Harper said she’s nervous about going to Atlanta alone, and she’d feel better with a famitar face around.”
His friends exchanged knowing looks, their voices taking on that conspiratorial tone: “Makes sense. Harper’s gorgeous, and with her family statum… hard not to want to look out for her.”
Ryan added with a smirk: “Not like your little puppy dog Drielle–always looking half dead, nose buried in textbooks. Honestly no comparison to the campus queen.”
Marcus laughed: “Damn, giving up aerospace engineering for a girl? That’s our Tanner, always the gentleman
The laughter and gaming sounds continued to drift through the door.
But I stood frozen in the hallway, my world crumbling to ice around me.
My nails bit crescents into my palms.
Every fiber of me wanted to burst through that door, grab Tanner by the shoulders, and demand answers.
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I stood there in that suffocating silence for what felt like hours.
in the end, I couldn’t find the courage.
I simply turned and wallked away, my steps echoing hollow against the restaurant floor.
