Chapter 17: Writing It Down

Micah's POV

Cora told me about the offer on the observatory steps, out loud, in the flat voice she used when she was holding something heavy.

A full ride, her mother's bills, and one phone call that would make my inquiry go away.

All of it was for one signed paragraph.

"I said no," she said. "I'm only telling you because you have the right to know what it was worth."

I looked at the stone between my boots.

For two years I had let Brady hold one sentence over me.

Now his father was holding the same sentence over her.

"He doesn't need me to be afraid of him," I said. "He only needs you to be afraid for me."

"Micah."

"I'm not asking you for anything."

"You're thinking of something."

"I'm always thinking of something."

She waited, and I didn't tell her.

That was the first lie I told her out loud.

At nine the next morning I sat on a bench outside the dean's office with my notebook closed on my knee.

I had not written anything down.

I had said the whole thing to the bathroom mirror twice, and it had gotten shorter each time.

The dean opened her door herself.

She was the woman from the hearing, with her glasses pushed up in her hair, and she looked at me for a long moment.

"Mr. Ketterman. Your funding review is on my list. Sit down."

I sat.

"I'm not here about the review," I said.

"No?"

"I'm here to make it simpler for you."

She waited.

My mouth was dry, and I thought of my mother, who had never once asked me to be braver than I was.

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