His Jealousy Sent Me Straight to the Ivy League novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Dawn on the Porch

Tate was on my porch at dawn on Friday.

I saw him from the kitchen window, sitting on the top step in the lacrosse jacket with his hands hanging between his knees.

He had no coffee this time.

I stood at the sink for a long minute, holding a mug of my own.

Then I put my shoes on and opened the door.

He stood up so fast he nearly fell off the step.

"I'm not here to argue," he said. "I'm not here to ask for anything."

"What are you here for?"

"To say it to your face. Without a microphone."

I sat down on the far end of the porch swing.

He stayed on his feet, because there was nowhere else for him to stand.

"I'm sorry," Tate said. "I should have said it on New Year's Eve. I should have said it at eleven fifty-five, and I had it typed, and I didn't send it."

"You had it typed?" I said. "And you didn't send it?"

"My thumb was on it."

"That's worse, Tate."

"I know," he said, and rubbed his face with both hands.

"My dad took my phone last night," he said. "And my car keys. He sat me down at the kitchen table until two in the morning and gave me a statement to sign."

"What did it say?"

"That a girl at school manipulated me. That I was a kid with a crush who didn't understand what he was typing." He laughed, short and awful. "He wanted me to name Hallie and keep my own name small. He said it was a legal strategy."

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