Chapter 3

It came through on speakerphone.

My mom thought it was the warehouse calling and picked up without checking. Chloe's mom's voice hit the kitchen like something breaking.

"Is this Karen? Your daughter cost mine her shot at Penn, do you understand that?"

My mom flinched and nearly dropped the phone.

"What? What happened?"

"The night before Regionals your daughter handed mine condoms and sent her out the door. On purpose. To get her benched. You people owe us an explanation or I'm calling the school board."

My mom hung up and looked at me.

Her face moved through surprised, confused, scared, all in a few seconds.

"Ellie. What actually happened?"

I put down my fork.

"Her boyfriend invited her out the night before Regionals. She wanted to go. I couldn't stop her."

"And the other thing?"

"She was going to spend the night out there. I didn't want her to be stupid about it."

My mom opened her mouth and closed it again and didn't say anything else.

She hadn't finished high school, but she knew where the line was.

The next morning Chloe's mom pulled up in a silver SUV.

We lived in a small house on the edge of town, one story with a front yard, the kind of fence you could see over from the sidewalk.

I was washing dishes in the kitchen when she pushed through the gate. Floral dress, blow-dried hair, white heels that caught in the gap between paving stones the second she stepped in.

She yanked her foot hard. The heel snapped off.

That doubled her anger.

"Ellie."

I looked up.

Chloe was behind her, head down.

The scratches on her face had mostly faded but there was a fresh scab at the corner of one eye.

"Get your mother out here."

My mom came out of the house wiping her hands on a dish towel.

Chloe's mom didn't wait. She got her finger in my mom's face. "Do you have any idea what your daughter did. The night before Regionals she hands my daughter condoms and sends her out the door. So she'd miss the bus."

My mom stepped back.

"Let's just calm down for a second—"

"Three years. Three years of 5 AM practices. Three years of summer camps and physical therapy bills. Penn was locked in. Locked in. And your daughter ruined it."

The neighbors across the street were already watching.

Chloe's mom turned the volume up another notch, making sure the whole block could hear.

"Karen. I'm giving you two options. One, your daughter gives up her Yale spot. Two, you pay eighty thousand dollars. Recruit consultant, retake fees, emotional damages. Pick one."

My mom went white.

Eighty thousand.

My dad worked a full year at the construction site and barely cleared that.

"Pick one."

Chloe's mom stood in the middle of the yard with her hands on her hips, her foundation cracking in the heat.

She reached over and grabbed something off the porch table.

My acceptance letter.

It had arrived two days ago. My mom had put it in a clear sleeve and set it in the center of the dining room table with a bowl of fruit next to it.

She squeezed the sleeve and the plastic made a sound.

"You don't pay, I tear this up right now."

My mom moved.

Fifteen years on a warehouse floor will do something to a woman's hands. She grabbed Chloe's mom by the wrist, knuckles white, yanked the letter out of those pink-polished nails, and held it behind her back.

"Try it."

My mom's voice was shaking but her hand wasn't.

She looked straight at the other woman. "My daughter earned this herself. Whatever happened with yours has nothing to do with us."

Chloe's mom just stood there. Two red lines pressed into her wrist. She didn't move.

I walked over and put my hand on my mom's shoulder.

"Mom. I've got it."

I turned to face Chloe's mom.

"If you want to go to the school board, go. I have three copies of everything."

I took out my phone and opened a video.

I turned the screen toward her.

Chloe's mom leaned in to look.

Chloe's face went still.