Chapter 2 - WHAT WAS IN THE BAG
I recognized the envelope before Dad turned it over.
It had arrived from Westbridge University three days earlier. I’d been waiting for it since my scholarship interview, checking the mailbox every afternoon. Mia had told me nothing came.
“Why do you have that?” I asked.
Mia reached for it. Dad moved his hand away.
“It got delivered with my stuff,” she said.
“Our mail has separate names on it,” Dad replied.
Denise stepped forward. “There’s no reason to make a scene before graduation.”
“There’s every reason,” Dad said.
He handed me the envelope. It had already been opened.
Inside was a letter offering me a full scholarship to Westbridge’s design program. Behind it was a form confirming that I intended to enroll.
The confirmation box had been marked NO.
My hands shook. “I didn’t do this.”
“I know,” Dad said.
The form was a copy. At the bottom, in handwriting made to look like mine, was a note thanking the school for its consideration and declining the offer.
Mia crossed her arms. “Maybe you changed your mind.”
“Why would I put my letter in your bag?”
She had no answer.
I called the number on the letter while Dad stood beside me. A recorded message told me the admissions office wouldn’t open until nine. It was 7:18. Graduation began at ten.
Dad took the phone gently. “We’ll call again. First, we’re getting you dressed.”
Denise let out a sharp laugh. “In what?”
For the first time, I saw anger break through Dad’s calm face.
“In whatever she chooses.”
He picked up the pieces of my dress and laid them carefully across my bed. As he did, a folded receipt slipped from the torn lining.
It wasn’t mine.
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It was from a shipping store across town, dated the previous afternoon. The description read: EXPRESS DOCUMENT DELIVERY — WESTBRIDGE UNIVERSITY.
And under the sender’s name was mine.
