On Graduation Day, He Pushed Me Aside For Her Chapter 04
“You two picked up a fight again? Patrick texted me saying you blocked him.”
I fell silent for a moment, pondering the sarcastic fact that it had been a night until Patrick finally noticed he’d been blocked.
“What exactly did he tell you?”
“Nothing much really. He just reminded me to make sure you remembered your application and pick a school close to his.”
She finished the topic and couldn’t help rambling something else.
“Patrick’s a good boy. You two grew up together, and he’s always looked out for you.”
“But the truth is you are average in school work and not as pretty as Anne Hathaway, plus he’s never showing romantic to you. Otherwise, I’d love to see you two get married.”
I looked down and said nothing. Not picking up on my quiet distress, Mom went on.
“Your dad and I don’t know a thing about college applications. Why don’t you ask Patrick later to give you some advice.”
“I saw him helping his girlfriend sort out her applications the other day, and boy was he serious!” “They stayed over at his place for days, and she didn’t leave. Oh boy young people sure know what love is, right?”
There was a shock from my heart that made me dizzy. Yet mom kept rambling on.
“When I dropped some things off there, I saw his scratch paper was covered with notes.” He even told her he’d make sure she got into the best major at Harvard that deserves her score.”
Now I just felt like an heart attack.
Patrick and I shook on it to attend colleges in the same city. But it would take me forever to be good enough for even Boston University.
After SAT results came out, I begged him to help me pick suitable programs like a six-year-old. Back then he’d stared down at his phone and replied casually:
“I don’t know much about strategies. Since that your SAT score is for a state univerisity, you may just pick one not too far from my campus.” “As for majors, they made no difference for you.”
At that time, I tried to convince myself that as a top-tier scholar dead-set on Mathematics and Statistics of Harvard, he’d never need to bother stressing over application strategies.
Now there was no way I could keep fooling myself anymore.
Mom was struck by something here.
“That homeroom teacher also gave me a call. He said you may get discouraged by the colleges in Boston and told me to talk you out of it. You…”
I cut her off by saing. “I’m not going there anymore.”
I forced a weak smile at her with eye contact. “Haven’t you always wanted me to get into a prestigious college? So I targeted University of Wahington. My scores qualify me for an Ivy League university.”
I walked back to my bedroom. Once the door shut, I slid slowly down to the floor with my back pressed against the panel.
Seattle and Boston are thousands of miles away from each other. Far enough that I would never have to be left behind by Patrick anymore.
The day my letter of acceptance arrived, mom was full of happy tears.
“Ivy, you actually got accepted into UW!”
She grabbed her phone immediately, ready to share the good news with relatives, but I stopped her move in time.
“Hold off for now.” I said “Let’s wait until I start school to tell everyone.”
I barely left the house the entire summer. Mom could tell I was hurting inside but didn’t know what to do about it but required me to go outside and have a walk.
I never expected to run into Patrick Muller and Gloria at the airport. They wore similar outfits; from a distance, they looked every bit a couple.
Patrick seemed to be happy seeing me when I was there. Yet his expression turned cold again the very next instant.
“I thought you were threatening me with you temper. What are you doing here exactly?”