The Twin They Saved, The Twin They Destroyed Chapter 08

The Twin They Saved, The Twin They Destroyed Chapter 08

“Avery! Listen to me-I know I was wrong. Please, don’t walk away.” She grabbed my sleeve.

I pried her fingers off. “Mom, when you set my alarm clock back, did you think of me?”

Cole rushed forward and threw his arms around me. “Avery! I screwed up, okay? I was a biased idiot who let Blake play me for eight years. Don’t go. I’ll buy you a house-wherever you want. Any school, I’ll cover it-”

“Enough.” I shoved his arms away. “All those years you said if I bombed my tests, you’d take care of me. But you took my allowance and spent it all making Blake happy. I had to work just to afford test prep. You’d take care of me? When have you ever taken care of me?”

Cole’s mouth moved, but no words came out.

Tate pushed through, holding a small box. He opened it-inside was the Harvard pin I’d given to Blake. “Avery, take this back. You used to say we’d go to Harvard together. If you keep this, we still

can.”

I stared at that pin and laughed. “Tate. The second you gave it to Blake, Harvard stopped being an

option for us.”

Tate lowered his head, his fingers curling around the box.

I pulled my gaze away and walked toward the three admissions officers.

I stopped in front of them. “Thank you for the generous offers from Harvard and Yale. And for coming all this way.”

I let a small smile show. “But I choose Stanford. Not because the school is better.” I glanced back at the three of them. “Because I want to be far away from them.”

The Harvard and Yale officers sighed but didn’t argue. The Stanford officer smiled and pulled out an enrollment form. “Ms. Lawson, if you sign now, we can process your early admission. You could

leave tomorrow.”

I took the pen. “Okay.”

Behind me, Mom screamed, “Avery, you’re just going to throw your mother away?!”

My pen paused for a second. “Mom. You’re asking that way too late.”

I signed the form and slid it back across the table. The Stanford officer glanced at it, then up at me.

“You’re all set. You can leave tomorrow.”

“Good.”