Chapter 20: Three Letters

The first word on the Harvard page was Congratulations.

I read it three times, and each time it stayed.

Nobody in the library said anything.

The junior at the end of the table shouted, "She got in!"

A woman at the periodicals desk said, "Shh," and then, "Oh, what for?"

"Harvard!" the junior said.

The woman put her hand over her heart.

I scrolled down with a shaking finger to the part that mattered.

The financial aid letter was one page.

At my mother's income, the line for what our family would pay was a zero.

My mom came around the table and read it over my shoulder.

She read it once, and then again, with her lips moving.

Then she sat down on the library carpet, right where she stood, in her scrubs.

"Zero," she said.

"Zero."

"He swapped you into the one place that would pay for all of it."

"Tate didn't know that."

"Tate picked the schools he thought would hurt you most."

She was laughing now, and crying.

"I want to send him a thank-you card."

"Mom."

"With a gift certificate. To the community college bookstore."

I got down on the carpet and put my arms around her, and she held on hard.

Over her shoulder, Eliot had his fist against his mouth, and he was smiling into it.

Yale came at seven twenty, in an email.

Princeton came at seven forty, through its own portal.

All three said yes.

I didn't cry at the third one.

Keep reading free with an account. Start His Jealousy Sent Me Straight to the Ivy League from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.