A Call from the Future Begged Me Not to Apply to Harvard Chapter 02

A Call from the Future Begged Me Not to Apply to Harvard Chapter 02

I held up my phone.

“Not alone. You and Sam.”

“Your travel app is linked to my number, so I get the booking confirmations. Remember?”

Mark frowned. “Emily, are you spying on me?”

Sam quickly cut in. “Emily, don’t be mad at Mark.”

“I wanted to take a trip. I didn’t want to interrupt your work, so I asked him to come with me.”

“Are you upset? We could wait and take the trip later, all three of us.”

I stared at them and spoke slowly, one word at a time.

“Sure. We’ll go together when my research is done.”

Sam’s smile froze on her face.

A moment later, her eyes reddened.

“I already booked the hotel, and the reservation is nonrefundable…”

Mark grabbed a napkin and dabbed at her eyes.

Sam tilted her face toward the napkin as if the gesture were second nature.

Mark seemed oblivious to how intimate it looked and scowled at me instead.

“Seriously, Emily? You won’t go, so nobody gets to go?”

“I’ll go with Sam this time. Once your project is finished, the three of us can take another trip.”

I tapped the booking confirmation on my screen.

“Your flight leaves tomorrow morning.”

“If I hadn’t caught this, when were you going to tell me?”

“Or were you ever going to tell me at all?”

Sam’s carefully rehearsed wounded expression froze, and Mark stopped with the napkin still suspended in midair.

I looked from one to the other.

“Did you ask me here because you wanted to see me, or because you wanted something from me?”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I grabbed my bag and walked out.

I wasn’t about to let them get what they wanted.

—

The second I got home, Mark called.

“What the hell was that about, Emily? What’s wrong with you? Sam’s been crying for an hour.”

“You don’t get it?”

Mark’s voice turned sharp.

“You’re jealous of Sam? I agreed to keep her company so you could focus on your damn research!”

“I gave up my time for you, and this is what I get? You accuse me of sneaking around behind your back?”

“And what about your research files? I’ve asked you over and over to let me back them up, but you keep refusing. Are you treating me like a thief?”

I hung up.

I opened my laptop and returned to the application portal.

The University of Michigan.

This time, I didn’t hesitate.

Sam’s social media lit up with vacation photos.

There were shots of the scenery, the food, and Sam posing with Mark like they were a couple.

A comment popped up: [Hot couple!]

Sam replied with a blushing emoji.

Mark texted me every single day.

[Don’t let jealousy derail your research. Sam and I only went without you so you could focus on what mattered.]

My research. That’s all he cared about.

I opened my files and made a few deliberate additions.

A few months later, an admissions packet from the University of Michigan arrived.

I’d barely opened the envelope when Mark and Sam showed up at my door.

“You haven’t answered our messages for days. What, were you trying to make us feel guilty?”

“Is your project done yet?”

I held up the letter.

“Yes. It’s done.”

“I saw how much fun you two were having. I figured you wouldn’t miss me.”

Mark’s entire expression relaxed when he heard the project was finished.

“I heard Harvard is already accepting submissions for its first-year research showcase. Send me the files, and I’ll submit them for you.”

I waved the letter in front of him.

“Why would I submit anything to Harvard?”

Mark grabbed the letter out of my hand.

“The University of Michigan? You chose UMich?”

Sam’s expression changed.

“Emily, we said we’d go to Harvard together…”

I took the letter back. “I suddenly decided I didn’t want to go with either of you.”

Mark grabbed my wrist.

“Take a gap year. Reapply. Whatever it takes. You need to go to Harvard.”

He caught himself and softened his voice.

“I’m looking out for you. Your research would only reach its full potential at Harvard.”

I’d already done my digging. Mark’s uncle, Professor Warren Sherman, taught at Harvard.

The only reason Mark wanted me there was so his uncle could manipulate the process and replace my name with Sam’s on the project.

“Mark, I have the right to choose my own school.”

Sam tugged his sleeve.

“Forget it, Mark. If Emily’s happy…”

“It’s just such a waste of her work. If only she could bring it to Harvard.”

She put deliberate emphasis on the word *bring*.

Mark got the hint. They left.

At eleven that night, my security alert blared again.

Now that they knew I wasn’t going to Harvard, they were even more desperate to steal my research.

More than a hundred attempts. Every one blocked.

Mark messaged me on WhatsApp.

[I can’t find my watch. Is it at your place? I’ll come by tomorrow to look for it.]

Remote hacking had failed, so he wanted to get inside my apartment and take the files himself.

I typed back: [Sure.]

If he was going to use such a pathetic excuse, the least I could do was invite him in.

The next morning, Mark showed up at my door with dark circles under his eyes.

“Look around all you want. I’m going to grab breakfast.”

Mark’s eyes lit up when I said I was leaving.

“Take your time. Don’t rush on my account.”

I went to the cafe downstairs and took my time over breakfast.

Better to hand him what he wanted than force him into something reckless I couldn’t anticipate.