They Thought I Failed—Until I Turned Down Harvard novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Wrong Sister

The parking lot behind the Black Duck Grill smelled like fryer oil and wet pavement.

Camille shut the glass door behind her and stood under the one working light, with her arms wrapped around her ribs.

The curls had come loose.

She was breathing fast through her nose.

"What did you do?" she said.

"I told the truth."

"You stood up in a restaurant and told them you got into Harvard. In front of Holden's parents. In front of everyone."

"I didn't say it to anyone but my family. They were the ones who asked."

"They didn't ask. They were going to have a nice dinner."

Her voice shook, and it was not an act.

I had known her for six years, and I had never heard her voice without the act in it.

"They'll choose you now," she said.

"What?"

"Your mom. Your dad. You walked in with a folder and they looked at you like you were a, a, a prize they lost in the mail." She laughed, high and ugly. "Six years. I did everything. I made my bed. I did the dishes before anyone asked. I got the grades. I smiled at that church until my face hurt."

"Camille."

"And you waltz in with a letter, and your mom says 'I'll sell the car.' She's never offered to sell a lamp for me."

I stared at her.

Under the light she looked younger than eighteen, and thinner, and I felt something I had not planned for.

It was not pity, exactly.

It was closer to recognition.

"They never picked me," I said. "That's the point. They picked whoever they were scared to lose."

She went still.

"You're the one they think they have to be good to," I said. "You didn't need my essay. You needed one person to tell you you were allowed to be a normal kid with a normal essay. And you took mine."

"Don't you dare psychoanalyze me."

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