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“So,” my mom says She sounds remarkably cal started, actually, her dark hair pulled neatly off her face “Do you want to talk about it now, or do you want to talk about it later?”

“Later,” I mumble into the pillows

To my surprise, she nods

“Okay,” my dad says “We love you”

That’s when I start to cry

Both of them are across the roo to walk

“Sweetheart,” my dad says, while my mom sits down beside me on the mattress, “what the hell happened?”

I take a deep breath, the whole sad story spilling out of me all at once: the email from Brown and the call with Kalina, the visit with Gram, what I did to Bex’s car

“Everything you guys did The SAT tutors Those stupid piano lessons Everything Gram wanted for me I blew it all,” I tell them

My ”

“Really?” I ask tearfully “Honestly, na I haven’t totally ruined in the last couple of months Brown My friendship with Chloe Gray And it’s all ry and embarrassed “All of this is my fault”

“What?” My mom shakes her head, baffled “No, sweetheart That’s not true How could any of this possibly be your fault?”

“Because I had a crush on hi “I did! And I did hang around all the ti idea, and—”

“Hold on a second,” my mom says, wide-eyed “No way That’s not how this works, okay? That’s not how any of this works”

She shakes her head one et crushes on their teachers? Do you knoup?”