"Why do you care if I'm mad or not?" It was the only thing I cared about knowing at this point.
"You're smart King. You figure it out."
Ace Carter was bad news and so were his friends. Luckily, I stayed away from him, his friends and all their dram...
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"So I got an email today," Ace told me, gaining my attention.
I looked up from my government homework and bit the eraser end of my pencil in concentration. "Yeah? What about?"
"Some college," he answered nonchalantly.
I perked up. "That's awesome, Ace! What did it say?"
"Just that I should check out the programs they have on their website. It's not like they sent it directly to me, they probably sent it to a bunch of kids," he started to make it sound less than what it probably was.
I set my pencil down and leaned closer to Ace, taking his hands in mine, lacing our fingers together. "I think you should check it out. Where is it?"
"Here in California; Sacramento to be exact," he murmured.
I tilted my head to the side. "Why aren't you more excited?"
"Because I promised I would go to Boston with you when you got into Emerson." His face showed signs of guilt and it made me feel queasy.
I shook my head. "Don't ever put my future above yours. Don't do that to yourself and don't do it to me. I don't want you to resent me one day because I was the reason you didn't go to college."
"I could go to college in Boston; a community college," he attempted to make me feel better.
"It's not the same if you don't want that," I reminded him. "Please look into it Ace. This could be really good for you."
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When the time came for me to send in my college applications, Ace was still barely considering applying to Sacramento State. He was next to me when I hit send on my Emerson application and he gave me a long and lingering kiss after.
He had told me he was proud of me.
I never realized how badly and how often I needed to hear those words from somebody until Ace said them to me. Every time I got a good grade on a test, every time I sent in another college app, and even when I woke up on time in the morning. And I did it back. Because I was proud of Ace. I was proud when he did anything.
