I Stressed for Months to Be With Them, They Were Never Planning to Be With Me novel · Chapter 16 of 16
Chapter 16: A Table for Us
Kelsey screamed so loud the microphone squealed.
Brody picked her up and spun her around.
Malik didn't pick me up.
He just put both hands on my face and kissed me, right there on the stage, in front of six hundred people and a livestream.
The whole room cheered.
When he let go, I was laughing and crying at the same time.
Somebody handed me a giant cardboard check.
I didn't know how to hold it.
Malik held the other end.
In the photos, we both look like idiots.
It's my favorite picture in the world.
Afterward, the lobby was chaos.
Investors handing out cards. Reporters. A girl from Westmere who asked me to sign her notebook.
Dr. Farragut hugged me so hard my ribs creaked.
"You didn't take your name off," she said into my hair.
"No."
"Good."
My phone had forty-one missed calls.
Twelve were from my mom, who'd watched the whole thing on the livestream from the nurses' station.
Her last text said, "EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR IS CRYING. I TOLD THEM YOU'RE MINE."
One call was from a number in Linden Falls I'd know anywhere.
Diane Merrick.
I almost didn't answer.
Then I did.
"Hallie." Her voice was tight. "Connor just called me. Westmere's opened a disciplinary hearing on him. And the Danvers girl. Her fellowship's been revoked. Her parents are driving out tonight."
"Okay."
"You have to tell them Connor helped you. You have to make a statement. He's a good boy. He made one mistake."
"He made a lot of mistakes, Mrs. Merrick."
"After everything this family did for you."
I let the silence sit.
"He told the truth today," I said. "I'll say that, because it's true. That's all I'll say."
"Hallie, you ungrateful..."
I hung up.
I found Connor in the hallway behind the auditorium.
He was sitting on the floor against the wall with his elbows on his knees.
He didn't get up.
"Congrats," he said.
"Thank you. For today."
"It was the least I could do. Literally the least." He laughed, and it wasn't really a laugh. "They're probably going to take my scholarship."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I earned it."
He looked up at me.
"Hal. I know what you said on the quad. But now that it's all out, now that there's nothing left to hide, could we start over? Just us? Like we always planned?"
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–8 of I Stressed for Months to Be With Them, They Were Never Planning to Be With Me are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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