Page 165 of Wicked Promises

I squint at him. “Clearly not, since you just filled it. It was our plan that we’d both be going to college in the city. Well—that wasyourplan. I’m just going to be a fast-food worker, or a receptionist at the company you own, or?—”

“Easy,” he murmurs. “You don’t think you got in?”

“Literallyeveryonehas heard about their schools except for me.”

He removes something from his pocket.

An envelope.

I take it, unfolding it slowly.

“This is my mail.” I look up at him. “You know it’s illegal to open someone else’s mail, right?”

He laughs. “Call Masters on me, then.”

I roll my eyes. “And give him an excuse to throw you back in jail? I’ll pass.”

I return my attention to the envelope. My hands are shaking, but I pull open the paper and read it slowly.

I got in—but not to New York University.

My dream school.

The one I most certainly did not tell Caleb about.

“I… How?”

“‘Dear Ms. Wolfe,’” Caleb recites, his eyes burning into mine. “‘Congratulations! We’re pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Crown Point University.’”

I cover my mouth. Crown Point was a pipe dream.

“I’m going to college,” I repeat. “Where are you going?”

Caleb snickers. “Same place, baby. You can’t get rid of me that easy.”

That’s why he rented out the apartment building in Brooklyn. Because we’re not going to New York… we’re going to Crown Point.

“She’s going to college!” my dad hollers, emerging from the dining room.

He’s wearing a blue-and-white CPU t-shirt. Lenora, Robert, and Iris are close behind him, and they, too, are wearing the school’s colors. Riley and Hanna appear with a hand-painted sign that says,Congrats on being accepted to CPU!

“Don’t make me cry.” I blink rapidly at the ceiling. My eyes burn. “Thank you all for the surprise, but I can’t…”

“They gave you a full ride,” Caleb says in my ear.

My mouth drops open. “What?”

He just shrugs, grinning.

I squint at him. He wouldn’t have paid for it upfront, right? He’s notthatcrazy…

He is.

I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”

“One more thing,” he says.

I cough. “You’re kidding. This is just prom… What on earth are you doing?”