He shakes his head. “That’s not thepoint.”
“Of course it’s not. The point is you think I’m not good enough for this life. You never felt that way aboutTyler.”
Dad holds up a hand, gaze narrowing. “This isn’t about Tyler. But it willbe—”
“You tell yourself you want to protect me,” I continue, raising my voice, “because when you were eighteen, you signed a deal with Wicked. You went on tour. You hadme.”
I’m losing ground in the battle with my emotions, and they’re threatening to spillover.
“Just because you fucked up your life at eighteen doesn’t mean I will.” Tears burn down my face as I spin, grabbing my book bag and lunging for the doors. I pull up for a moment at the figure I see just outside them, looking between us withshock.
Rae.
I stalk past her, making my way through the halls. I skip the elevator to take the stairs two at a time. On my floor, I pass Elle’s open door, where she’s grabbing her books forclass.
“Aren’t you going to Entertainment Management?” sheasks.
“No.” I unlock my door and shove myselfinside.
Footsteps sound behind me, but I don’t look up. I grab the photo of me and my dad off my dresser and chuck it under mybed.
I drop onto my bed and press the heels of my hands to myeyes.
“Whoa. What happened?” Elle’s voice isconcerned.
I blink to see her and Rae hovering in the doorway. “Don’t worry about it. You guys haveclass.”
They exchange a look. “Fuck it. It was a boring topic lecture anyway,” Raesays.
A grateful breath trembles out of my lips as she takes a seat in her chair, Elle dropping onto mybed.
So, I tell them both everything, starting with my dad and how I auditioned and that I kept who I was asecret.
When I finish, Elle doesn’t look pissed, she looks perplexed. “So, why’d you hideit?”
Rae answers for me. “Because in high school, people knew who she was, and they either hated her or wanted something fromher.”
“And you thought that’d follow you here,” Elleinterprets.
Inod.
“There’s a problem with your logic,” she replies. “High school’s full ofassholes.”
My lips twitch despite my heavyheart.
Rae asks, “Why was he so sure he should’ve known you werehere?”
“I don’t know. He’s never so much as mentioned Vanier in a conversation.” But Rae’s comment has me remembering something my dadsaid.
“This isn’t about Tyler. But it willbe.”
He sounded angry, and not only withme.
But when Tyler left a year and a half ago, Dad didn’t give any indication they were still in touch. And this fall, Tyler would have toldme.
Right?
“So, are we still going to Leo’s tonight?” Elleprompts.