My eyes whip up from Ari’s hair and I accidentally yank a little too hard on it. “Owww,” she cries out, drawing out the sound while grabbing the chunk of hair from between my fingers and desperately prying it out.
“What did you say?” I ask, ignoring the whiney child sitting at my feet while gaping at dad who scratches is head in confusion.
“Maybe they sent it to the wrong place,” he murmurs, flipping over the envelope to take in both sides. He must have been looking at the back as a second later, his head whips up. “Why on earth is something from Broken Hill University addressed to you?” he questions. “Did you apply here?”
Wait. Did I not tell him about this? “Um…yeah,” I tell him. “Sort of.”
“Oh, Henley,” he says, letting out a sigh. “I wish you’d talked to me about this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so proud of you for wanting this for yourself, but Broken Hill University? Do you have any idea what the tuition for this place would be? Shit. I can’t even think about that. Did you apply for community college here in Haven Falls? You know they have a pretty good science program.”
“I know,” I tell him as I fly up off the couch and snatch the big envelope out of his fingers, “and yeah, I did…as my back up.”
“Back up?” he shrieks as I drop back down on the couch, the nerves beginning to take over. “Look, Honey, you’ve been working your ass off lately, improving your grades and you’ve done an incredible job, but BHU isn’t exactly…affordable.”
“Dad…”
“Just…let me get this out, Honey.”
“But…wait.”
“I have no doubt that the second you open that letter there’s going to be a massive ‘Congratulations’ written at the top, but I don’t want you getting your hopes up. We simply can’t afford a prestigious school like that. I know you have big dreams and I swear to you, I will work my ass off to pay for community college, but BHU? I just…it’s not in the cards.”
Devastation pours out of him in waves as his gaze drops to the envelope between clenched fingers. My heart breaks for him. He’s always done everything in his power to give me the world and it kills him knowing that this is simply out of our reach. “I’m so sorry, Squish. I wish you’d said something about this earlier.”
I let out a sigh. “Thanks, dad, but if you’d just let me talk for two seconds, I would have been able to tell you that I applied for a full scholarship.”
His eyes flick back up to meet mine. “What?” he gasps. “A scholarship?”
“Yeah,” I chuckle. “Mr. Carver suggested it a while ago. I guess it slipped my mind to talk to you about it. I’ve had so much going on.”
“Are you kidding me?” he questions, snatching the envelope right back and scrambling to open it. “Then what the hell are you waiting for?”
“Hey, give it back,” I demand, prying it from his fingers, terrified that we’re going to rip it in half in our excitement. I mean, a rejection letter probably wouldn’t come in a big envelope, right? “In all the movies the kid is the one who’s supposed to open it and it’s supposed to be some big defining moment with slow suspenseful music.”
“I raised you for eighteen years,” he defends. “Shouldn’t I get something for all my hard work?”
“Screw that,” I laugh as he finally releases the envelope. “You get the knowledge of knowing that I’ll have my own kids one day who are going to give me hell.”
“Yeah,” he chuckles. “I can’t wait to see you suffer through all the bullshit you did to me, but at least another ten years would be good. I’m not ready to be a ‘Grandpoppy’ just yet.”
“Whatever,” I say, rolling my eyes as I turn the envelope over. “You’ll make a great ‘Grandpoppy.’”
“Damn straight, I will. Now hurry up and open that thing. I want to see if my daughter is going to be the next star of Haven Falls.”
“Dramatic much?” Fidgeting with the fold of the envelope, I slip my finger under it with incredible anxiety pulsing through me. I slam the envelope back into dad’s hands. “I can’t do it. You do it.”
“No way,” he says, thrusting it straight back at me. “This is all on you, remember? You want your movie moment.” Dad looks down at Aria. “Drum roll please, Squirt.”
Aria instantly starts drumming her hands on her lap, starting slowly and laughing like a hyena, though probably having absolutely no understanding of what has us so excited, nervous, and anxious all at the same time.
“Fine.”
I take a deep breath and slide my finger under the flap, tearing the paper as I go. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for, the moment that will tell me if all the hard work I’ve been doing has paid off.