His Jealousy Sent Me Straight To The Ivy League Chapter 03
The next morning, the doorbell rang.
I went to answer it in my pajamas.
Conrad stood on the porch, holding a paper bag of bagels.
“Morning. Got you a sesame.”
Before I could respond, he stepped past me and walked inside, moving through my house as if he owned the place.
He set the bag on the dining table, pulled out a chair, and casually picked up the iPad I’d left there.
Everything looked exactly the way it always had.
I stood by the door, staring at his back.
“Conrad.”
“Yeah?”
“What time did you go to sleep last night?”
He didn’t even turn around.
“A little after eleven, I think. Right after I submitted everything. You?”
“About the same.”
He turned and smiled at me.
“You applied to Emory, right? I looked it up. With your scores, it should be solid. No need to stress.”
I said nothing.
He dropped his gaze and swiped at the iPad a couple of times.
“Oh, right. Talia’s application had a bit of a problem.”
My heart sank.
“She only applied to one southern school. Didn’t even list any safeties. Her mom doesn’t really get how this all works, and Talia’s just careless. I’m worried she’ll end up with nowhere to go.”
When he said *nowhere to go*, his tone was as casual as if he were talking about the weather.
I asked, “What does that have to do with me?”
Conrad looked up, his expression tinged with a mild, practiced helplessness.
“I didn’t say it had anything to do with you. I’m just telling you. You know her family doesn’t have much money. If she really has to take a gap year, her parents might not be able to afford that.”
He said it so calmly, as if it were all perfectly reasonable.
I thought of what he had written on the anonymous page the night before.
He had changed my applications so I could spend a year at community college with Talia.
In his mind, it wasn’t a big deal.
“Inez, why aren’t you eating?”
“Not hungry.”
“I’ll heat it up for you, then. It’s better warm.”
He got up and headed for the kitchen.
As he passed me, he casually lifted a hand and patted my head.
“Don’t be like this. Applications are over. You should relax.”
The instant his hand touched my hair, my whole body went rigid.
Not because my heart fluttered.
But because I knew exactly what that hand had done the night before—logged into my account and deleted every school I had ever wanted.
And now it was resting on my head as if nothing had happened.
The toaster oven dinged.
Conrad leaned against the kitchen doorway, scrolling on his phone, then suddenly looked up.
“Oh, right. Today’s the last day for your Confessions page, isn’t it?”
My heart jumped.
“Yeah.”
“Can I see the backend? I’m kind of curious. Three years of that—bet it’s full of gossip.”
He smiled, as if it were an afterthought.
But I saw his thumb pause on the screen.
“No,” I said. “The whole point is anonymity. Even I don’t go through the records.”
“Fair.” Conrad looked away. “You’ve always been a stickler for the rules.”
He set the warm bagel in front of me and even laid out my utensils.
“Eat. I’m meeting Talia at school in a bit to pick up our yearbooks. Want to come?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
He grabbed his phone and keys and headed for the door.
At the threshold, he turned back to look at me.
“Inez, did you not sleep well last night? Your dark circles are pretty bad.”
“Stayed up too late watching a show.”
“Then get some sleep today.”
After the door clicked shut, the house fell silent.
I sat alone at the dining table, staring at the sesame bagel.
He remembered that sesame was my favorite.
But he didn’t remember that the schools I wanted most were all in the South.
Or maybe he did remember. He just didn’t think it mattered.
I picked up my phone and opened the Common App again.
Only one sentence remained on the page.
*This year’s college application cycle has now ended.*