So he couldn't go to a community college, but I could?

He had dreams, and I didn't?

I was so angry I almost laughed.

“You seem awfully confident. Sure Graystone's going to accept you?”

Darrell let out a smug little chuckle.

“I scored second in the entire city on the SATs. If they don't take me, who would they take?”

I said nothing.

I had no intention of telling him I'd also applied to Graystone.

Just like he never told me he'd changed my college applications to a community college.

“Anyway, gotta go. Dorothy Butler made a rule that our phone calls can't last more than a minute, or she throws a fit.”

“Oh, hey, come downstairs. I'll buy you an ice cream cone as an apology.”

“Two bucks. Pretty generous, right?”

The corner of my mouth twitched.

“A two-dollar ice cream cone. I'm not worthy.”

“I'll pass. Wouldn't want your girlfriend getting jealous.”

“Oh?”

Darrell drew the word out, long and suggestive.

“Not coming? Sounds like a guilty conscience to me.”

“Scared you'll feel awkward around Dorothy? Or does it actually bother you?”

“You'd better come. Otherwise Dorothy's definitely going to think there's something going on between us.”

My expression went flat.

“Think whatever you want. It's got nothing to do with me.”

I was about to hang up when Darrell clicked his tongue.

“Dorothy and I are right downstairs from your place. We're buddies, aren't we? Then come down.”

“Or we can come up to you.”

I was silent for two seconds, then went downstairs.

Darrell had his arm around a girl in a cosplay outfit, the two of them standing next to the ice cream shop, sharing sips from the same cup of lemonade.

When he spotted me, he grinned and waved.

“Mildred! Over here!”

I walked over, and Darrell immediately launched into introductions for Dorothy.

“Babe, this is the buddy I told you about. Mildred.”

“She gave up the Ivy League for us and switched her applications to a community college.”

“Having a bro like Mildred in my life? I'm a lucky guy.”

Dorothy looked me up and down, head to toe.

Long hair past my shoulders, a black-and-white matching set with a short skirt, black leather flats, white scrunched socks.

Her face soured instantly, and she shot a glare at Darrell.

“She's dressed like that, and you call her your buddy?”

“Darrell, there's really nothing going on? Are you lying to me?”

Darrell grabbed her hand, scrambling to explain.

“Babe, I swear, she's just a bro to me. She's the one who likes me. What am I supposed to do about that?”

“Stop.”

I rolled my eyes and cut them off, loud enough for both of them to hear.

“I didn't come down here for your two-dollar ice cream cone. I came to set the record straight. I am not Darrell's buddy. At most, we sat next to each other in class.”

“He changed my college applications behind my back. I never gave up anything for your relationship. Are we clear?”

They both stared at me without a word.

I shrugged.

“I've said what I came to say. I'm leaving.”

The second I turned around, Darrell grabbed my arm and yanked me toward the wall.

His elbow slammed into my shoulder, driving me back against the bricks. Pain shot down my arm, sharp and numbing.

His face was ugly. He kept his voice low.

“You really had to blow my cover in front of Dorothy? Had to embarrass me like that?”

I rubbed my arm and stared back at him, cold.

“You had the nerve to do it but not the guts to own it?”

He blinked, then let out a sigh.

“Forget it. Can't reason with someone who's never been in a relationship.”

Then he looked me over with open disdain.

“You dolled yourself up all cute and innocent on purpose, didn't you? Trying to get under Dorothy's skin?”

I took a deep breath.

“Are you insane? This is how I always dress.”

“Usually is usually. Today is today!”

Darrell raked his fingers through his hair, agitated.

“Would it kill you to dress a little more like a tomboy? Stay in your lane as a buddy? You're putting me in an impossible position here, you know that?”

I honestly had no idea what to say to someone this shameless, someone who insisted on calling a girl his "bro."

So I just watched him with a flat expression, letting him put on his little show.

Which, of course, he took the wrong way.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, his tone heavy with fake sincerity.

“Bro, I'm gonna be straight with you. I really don't see you that way.”

“Even if you stripped naked and stood right in front of me, all I'd do is pick up your clothes for you.”

“So just stop wasting your time, okay?”

My fists clenched.

I held it in, kept holding it in, but I was a hair away from slapping him across the face.

Dorothy suddenly came over and looped her arm through mine, all sugary smiles.

“Hey Mildred, come on, don't be mad. This is all my fault.”

“Let's go, I'll treat you to some ice cream. Order whatever you want, my treat.”

Before I could even process what was happening, she'd dragged me to the front of the ice cream shop.

A guy in skin-tight skinny jeans with bleached blond hair stood there, one hand raking through his hair, sizing me up with a lazy smirk.

“So you're Mildred? You don't look like a tomboy to me.”

I turned to look at Darrell.

He was beaming.

“This is the boyfriend Dorothy found for you. Pretty good, right? You're welcome.”

I looked at the bleach-blond guy again.

My head was buzzing.

Darrell was still running his mouth across from me.

“You didn't date anyone all through high school. Your buddy here gets it. You just never met the right guy.”

“He's Dorothy's cousin, goes to vocational school. Looks, style, personality, the whole package.”

He let out a smug little laugh.

“Sure, he's not quite on my level, but he's more than good enough for you. So quit pining after me, yeah?”

“So? You like what you see?”

I was so furious I laughed.

“No, I do NOT like what I see!”

“And let me make this crystal clear! If I ever had feelings for you, Darrell Dickerson, may I go blind on the spot!”

Darrell froze.

Dorothy immediately panicked.

“No! You're not allowed to like my Darrell!”

The bleach-blond guy sucked his teeth, pinching his chin thoughtfully.

“Doesn't make sense. Never met a high school girl who didn't fall for me.”

Then something occurred to him, and he stared at Darrell in shock.

“Wait. She doesn't like guys?”

Darrell went rigid, immediately pulled Dorothy into his arms, and glared at me like I was a threat.

“Don't you touch Dorothy!”

I stood there, thunderstruck.

So in Darrell Dickerson's mind, I wasn't just after him, I was after his girlfriend too?

I was some kind of freak.

A deviant.

“The three of you don't share a single functioning brain cell between you!”

I couldn't be bothered with these people anymore and turned to leave.

I barely made it two steps before the bleach-blond guy caught up, shoved a two-dollar ice cream cone into my hand, and flashed a crooked grin.

“Impressed by my big spender move yet?”

“Your opinion doesn't matter. I've got my eye on you, so that makes you my girl.”

“Stick with me and you'll have all the ice cream you can eat. Forever.”

I was completely dumbfounded.

“Get out of my way!”

Dorothy looked genuinely baffled.

“Mildred, my cousin's basically a celebrity at his school. You're being way too picky.”

Darrell shook his head with open contempt.

“Buddy, the man drops two bucks on an ice cream cone without blinking. If I were you, I'd have jumped him already.”

I took a deep breath.

Then I shoved the ice cream cone straight into Darrell's face and ground it in.

“You're clearly delirious from the heat. Cool off!”

Dorothy stared at the cream smeared all over Darrell's face, flailing uselessly.

“Darrell, oh my God, what do we do, what do we do……”

The bleach-blond guy let out a pained sigh.

“If you weren't gonna eat it, you could've given it to me. What a waste!”

I rolled my eyes and put distance between us.

“Darrell, lose my number. We don't run in the same circles, and there's no point pretending we do.”

Darrell licked the cream from the corner of his mouth, his voice going cold.

“I'm a top student in Graystone University's Nuclear Physics program! The only one accepted from the entire state!”

“Mildred, you're going to community college. What gives you the right to look down on me?”

I let out a dry laugh.

Turned and walked away.

“Take one more step and we're done! Brotherhood over, for good!”

I broke into a run.

Behind me, Darrell screamed like his lungs were tearing apart.

“Fine! Mildred, you're dead to me! You're not my buddy anymore!”

I stopped.

Turned around, sprinted back, and kicked him right behind the knee.

His leg buckled. He dropped to his knees.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

I smiled.

“That's for the elbow earlier.”

“Call me bro one more time and I'll beat you down every single time I see you.”

Darrell's face went pale with rage, but he didn't move.

Taekwondo black belt. He knew he couldn't take me.

I strolled away under the furious glares of all three of them, not looking back once.

When I got home, I blocked Darrell on every platform.

A delusional classmate with zero sense of boundaries. Best if I never saw him again for the rest of my life.

I was about to put my phone down when the class group chat exploded.

Darrell had posted a photo of himself and Dorothy, cheeks pressed together, hands forming a heart.

“My girlfriend.”

Everyone sent their congratulations while taking shots at me on the side.

“Mildred's gotta be heartbroken now, right? Zero chance left.”

“Three whole years and Mildred still couldn't lock Darrell down. That's just sad.”

I sent back a nose-pinching emoji.

Darrell immediately fired off a voice message, dripping with smugness.

“Mildred changed her college applications from the Ivy League to community college just so Dorothy and I could be together. Thanks, Mildred! Real one!”

The whole class piled on.

“Mildred's insane! What a sacrifice!”

“A genius on the test, an idiot in love!”

“Ouch. That hurts just reading it.”

Darrell tagged me.

“About today, I wasn't thinking straight. I'll try to keep Dorothy out of your sight from now on so it's easier on you.”

“Don't be mad. Bros don't hold grudges overnight, right? Don't act like some little girl.”

Everyone chimed in.

“Yeah, Mildred, be the bigger person.”

“Come on, man. Don't be so petty.”

Darrell added one more message.

“I get to tease my buddy. The rest of you don't, got it?”

I gripped my phone. My hands were shaking.

Darrell always did this.

Used the word "buddy" to get the whole class to bully me, then turned around and played protector.

I typed fast.

“The school I applied to isn't a community college. It's no less prestigious than the Ivy League. Stop making things up.”

Darrell instantly dropped a screenshot of my college applications.

“Mildred, let's not lie, okay?”

I zoomed in on the image.

First choice: South Coast Vocational Technical College.

The screenshot was from ten days ago.

For ten straight days he'd been texting me, and never once mentioned changing my applications.

A chill crawled down my spine.

If I hadn't double-checked my applications today, I really would have ended up at a community college.

I put my phone down.

Didn't look at the messages calling me out, saying I'd been caught in a lie.

There was only one thing left to do now: wait for my Graystone University acceptance letter.

Two weeks later, there was a class dinner.

Everyone was buzzing about their acceptance letters.

“I got into NYU!”

“Fordham for me.”

“Wow, I'm so jealous. I only got into SDSU.”

Someone turned to Darrell.

“Darrell, you get yours yet?”

Darrell was mid-selfie with Dorothy. He shrugged, unbothered.

“Nah. Graystone's screening process is strict, takes longer. But based on previous years, should be any day now.”

Everyone fell over themselves with compliments.