Not everything in this world has to be about money, Heather had said.
Heather: my staunchest defender, ever since the day she’d stood up for me to Courtney. But Heather was also the girl who got a BMW just for being born—not for getting high grades, or winning any award, or doing anything remotely special. Heather didn’t need to worry about practical majors. She got everything she wanted, got to fit in effortlessly with the Chi Os and the Phi Delts, all the rich kids who mattered.
Meanwhile, I had to hide where I came from, my family’s lack of money, my father’s…situation. I had to dig myself into a debt-ridden grave just to have one inch of what Heather had, or Courtney, or so many other kids on campus.
Especially Mint. Like Heather, my boyfriend got everything he wanted at the drop of a hat. As much as I loved him, our lives were as different as night and day.
I finally reached the top of Blackwell Tower and burst into the hidden storage room, a secret space known only to upperclassmen. I didn’t bother stifling my sobs.
“Jess? What are you doing here?”
Shit. I whirled, frantically wiping my eyes. Save for the stacks of old furniture and cardboard boxes, the room had looked empty through my tears. But there he was, leaning against the wall in the corner, one hand in his pocket.
“Coop.” I tried to make my voice light. “Figures. Why do you always seem to find me at my lowest?”
“Actually,” Coop said, “you’re the one who finds me.”
“Sorry. I’ll go. I thought I’d be alone.”
He dropped something on the floor and ground it out with his foot. He walked closer, both hands in his pockets, eyeing me cautiously. His hair was so mussed he looked a touch feral.
“Should I get Mint? I think he’s with his parents at a steak house, but I can find him.”
I tried to smile. “No. But thanks.” Mint was the last person in the world I could tell about my debt. And the thought of his parents catching wind made me sick to my stomach.
“Okay. I cede the room, then.” Coop tucked his hair behind his ears and walked to the door.
“Wait.”
He stopped. I swallowed, looking out the large windows at Duquette’s campus, in the process of being swallowed by dusk. “Will you stay, actually?”
Coop turned, and we locked eyes. I tried to read his face, but he kept it carefully blank.
“Sure,” he said finally. He made his way back, standing awkwardly beside me. “Are you going to make me guess why you’re crying?”
I dropped to the floor, drawing my knees to my chin. “It’s nothing.”
“Liar.” He sat, too, keeping a careful distance between us. But it didn’t matter; I could still feel him, a humming energy across the empty space.
I clutched my bill tighter on instinct, and the movement caught his eye. Before I could stop him, he lunged and snatched it.
“Coop—no!”
He unfolded the paper from the envelope and scanned it. My heart plummeted. This was it. The moment my veneer was shattered, when my ugly truth came out. First, Coop, then surely everyone would know.
He whistled, eyeing me. “Damn, Jess. That’s a lot of money. You better pay it fast.”
I stared at him, wide-eyed.
He frowned. The magic-hour sunlight played over his face, dappling it with shadows from the trees. “What, you’re embarrassed?”
I couldn’t move.
“Jess, my dad split when I was five. I was raised by a single mom who worked two jobs my whole life, three for a couple of years. If you think I’m a stranger to the red envelope, you’re wrong.”
I released a breath. “Really?”
He laughed. “Are you kidding? None of the rest of those spoiled assholes would understand, but I do.” He shot me a coy look. “Apologies for slandering your boyfriend. I know how much you adore the golden boy. King of the frat and beloved of professors and all that.”
“You sound jealous.”
“I am. But not of those things.”
I pressed my legs together against the sudden charge in the air.
His eyes dropped to my knees. “So, you’re going to pay it off, right?”
“I can’t.” Saying the words out loud made the tears well again. I dragged my hand over my eyes before he could see. “Neither can my parents. They’d kill me if they knew I opened this credit card. I did it secretly, so I could have the same things as everyone else.” I didn’t know why I was confessing so much, but here it was, out in the open.