I Stressed for Months to Be With Them, They Were Never Planning to Be With Me novel · Chapter 1 of 16
Chapter 1: Chicken Parmesan
At dinner, Hallie learns her boyfriend and best friend are leaving for Westmere, then finds proof they planned it all in December, with her drawings.
I ordered the chicken parmesan, and my boyfriend slammed his menu down so hard the candle jumped.
"That's Kayleigh's favorite," Connor said. "I'm sick of even looking at it."
The waitress froze with her pen over her pad.
We were in the corner booth at Rosetti's, the one we'd sat in since we were nine.
I had picked it because we were celebrating.
My Bellgrave acceptance letter was folded in my cardigan pocket.
I'd been carrying it around for three days.
"Okay," I said. "I'll get the ravioli."
"Get whatever you want." He shoved his water glass away. "I don't care."
The waitress left fast.
I reached across the table for his hand.
He pulled it back.
"Connor, what happened?"
"Kayleigh happened."
He said her name.
Kayleigh Danvers lived next door to him. She'd lived next door to him her whole life.
The three of us had done everything together since the third grade.
Science fairs. Summer jobs. Every birthday at this booth.
"She's going to Westmere," he said. "In Massachusetts. She told my mom before she told me."
I blinked at him.
"Westmere? But we're all going to Bellgrave. That was the whole plan."
"Yeah," he said. "It was."
The bell over the door rang.
Kayleigh walked in with her ponytail swinging and her car keys in her hand.
She saw us and stopped.
Connor was out of the booth before I could say anything.
He grabbed her arm right there by the hostess stand.
"Didn't we agree?" His voice carried over the whole room. "College together. Grad school together. Our own company. Didn't we agree?"
An old couple at the next table turned around.
Kayleigh's eyes filled up.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you."
"You don't get to just leave."
"Connor, please."
He let go of her arm and pushed his hair back with both hands.
"Fine," he said. "If you're determined to go, fine. I'll go with you. I'll enroll at Westmere too."
I stood there halfway out of the booth.
I felt like somebody had pulled a chair out from under me.
We had promised.
All three of us, on this exact bench, with our pinkies hooked together.
Bellgrave, twenty minutes from home. Then grad school. Then the company.
Connor and Kayleigh were the smart ones. Everybody knew it.
I was the one who drew things.
So I had studied.
I'd pulled my GPA from a 2.9 to a 3.8. I'd taken the SAT three times.
I'd cried over calculus at my kitchen table at two in the morning more nights than I could count.
All so I could keep a promise to these two people.
Connor finally noticed I hadn't moved.
He let out a long sigh.
"Hallie, why don't you just come with us?"
"To Westmere?"
Kayleigh laughed a little through her tears.
"Hal, you'd never get into Westmere."
"There's a two-year college near campus," Connor said. "You could go there."
He shrugged.
"For someone like you, any diploma should be good enough."
The old couple at the next table stopped pretending not to listen.
I looked at the two of them.
My boyfriend, with his hand on my best friend's shoulder.
My best friend, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.
The whole thing was so stupid that I started to laugh.
I couldn't stop.
"What's funny?" Connor said.
"No," I said.
"No what?"
"No, I'm not going to a two-year college in Massachusetts so I can watch you two go to class."
I took the acceptance letter out of my pocket and set it on the table.
"I got into Bellgrave. I'm going to Bellgrave."
Then I picked up my bag and walked out.
Nobody followed me.
I drove home with the radio off.
My mom was asleep in front of the TV with her nursing scrubs still on.
I went up to my room and opened my laptop.
For two years the three of us had shared one folder.
It was called Tripoint. It was our company.
Our idea was Shelfswap, an app for broke students to trade textbooks.
Connor wrote the code. Kayleigh wrote the business plan.
I drew everything else.
Every screen. The logo. The little owl mascot named Dewey who carried the books.
I'd drawn Dewey maybe four hundred times.
I opened the folder to look at him, because I didn't know what else to do.
There was a new file at the top.
"Westmere Founders Fellowship. Submitted."
The date on it was December 2nd.
Four months ago.
I opened it.
Page one had a photo of Connor and Kayleigh standing back to back, arms crossed, grinning.
"Founders: Connor Merrick and Kayleigh Danvers."
Page two was my owl.
Page three was every screen I had ever drawn.
At the bottom, in small gray letters, it said, "Design: K. Danvers."
Behind it in the folder was one more file.
A scanned letter on thick cream paper.
"Dear Connor, congratulations. You have been admitted to Westmere University through Early Decision."
It was dated December 14th.
Connor had known for four months.
That scene at Rosetti's, the shouting, the grabbing, the "I'll go with you."
He'd already been going.
They had never been planning to go anywhere with me.
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