Reborn Rupture Chapter 17
I laughed.
“Matteo, have you lost your mind? When did I ever say I liked you?”
He froze.
“From the very beginning, this has all been in your and your mother’s heads.”
I slammed the door in his face.
“Don’t ever come near me again. You make me sick.”
As the SATs approached, the drama finally died down.
Mrs. Romano quit her job to spend every day camped out in the school parking lot, monitoring Matteo’s every move.
Under her suffocating watch, Matteo grew increasingly tense.
He started dozing off in class and struggling with even the simplest practice questions.
After the second mock SAT results were posted, he had dropped out of the top fifteen.
I, on the other hand, had risen to first place.
At the final parent-teacher conference of the year, Mrs. Romano cornered my mother.
Her face was wreathed in a syrupy smile.
“Mrs. Bennett, I know I was wrong before, but the children are innocent. ”
“Look, Matteo hasn’t been doing well lately. ”
“Could Virginia maybe help him study? ”
“If they work together, maybe it’ll help him get back on track.”
My mother was instantly on guard.
“My daughter doesn’t have time to tutor anyone.”
“I know we’ve had our misunderstandings,” Mrs. Romano said quickly.
“But I understand how Virginia feels. ”
“How about this: if she helps Matteo get into the Ivy League, I won’t interfere with their relationship after that. ”
“How does that sound?”
My mother’s face flushed with anger.
“What do you take my daughter for? A free tutor? ”
“And you want her to risk her own future in the process?”
“There’s no need to be so ugly about it.”
Mrs. Romano’s face soured.