Chapter 2

Coach Daniels called me into her office.

Door closed. She sat. I stood.

"Chloe says you encouraged her to go."

"No. She decided to leave on her own."

"She says you gave her condoms. To take with her."

I nodded.

Coach Daniels' mouth opened and closed. She took a while to find words.

This was probably above her pay grade.

"She's also saying it was deliberate. That you let her go on purpose so she'd miss Regionals."

"Coach. She's 18. She wanted to go see her boyfriend in the middle of the night. It wasn't my job to tie her to the bed."

She was quiet for a long time.

She opened her desk drawer and touched a pack of gum, then seemed to remember I was still there and pushed the drawer shut.

"You know her mother called the school board."

"About what?"

"Said the dorm should have stricter sign-out rules. Said you didn't stop her."

"Chloe has her own key card. She can come and go whenever she wants. That's not on me."

She went quiet again.

"Okay. You can go. The school will handle it."

Chloe was waiting at the end of the hallway when I came out.

She'd changed into clean clothes. The scratches on her face were covered in ointment, pink and white in patches.

I walked past her. She grabbed my backpack strap.

"Ellie. Did you do it on purpose."

I stopped and looked at her. I'd been looking at this face for three years.

Locker neighbors freshman year. Roommates for two years after that.

I used to spot her on her tumbling passes. I used to stay after practice and run her routine with her until she got it.

Last time I did everything for her.

She paid me back with three days in the dark.

"What do you think, Chloe?"

She stared at me. Her lips were shaking.

"You look different."

"I'm not different. I just don't want to look after you anymore."

I pulled my strap out of her hand and walked away.

The weeks waiting for the rest of the recruiting calls were quiet.

During the day I helped my mom sort inventory at the warehouse. At night I sat at the kitchen table and went through college brochures.

Last time I played it safe and stayed in-state.

This time I wanted out.

The official Yale offer came through on a Thursday evening in July.

Full athletic scholarship. Cheer recruit. Pre-med track if I wanted it.

My mom came home from her shift and saw the screen and sat down on the kitchen floor and cried.

She kept saying, "Your dad has to hear this, he has to hear this."

She called him right there.

The construction site was loud. My dad's voice came through the phone at full volume. "What does it say? Read it again."

"Full ride, Dad. Yale."

A few seconds of quiet on his end.

Then he said something I hadn't heard in eighteen years. "That's my girl."

My eyes stung. I looked down at my bowl.

At ten o'clock that same night, Chloe's mom called.