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.

“Darrell's got the best college out of anyone in our class!”

“Don't forget us little people when you make it big!”

Darrell shot a smug look toward my corner.

“Hey, Mildred, what about you?”

I set my phone down.

“Mine's arriving today.”

The courier had just called to say my acceptance letter was on its way and I'd need to sign for it in person.

Darrell snorted, then broke into a laugh he couldn't stop.

Someone in the crowd piped up.

“Don't community college letters come like two weeks later than the real ones?”

The whole class erupted.

People slapping the table, doubled over, tears in their eyes.

I leaned back in my chair and watched them in silence.

Darrell glanced at me and shot to his feet.

“Hey, knock it off! You're making Mildred mad!”

“I'm telling all of you right now, nobody gets to look down on Mildred for going to community college. She's my buddy!”

Everyone bit back their grins and played along.

“Fine, fine, we'll give Darrell some respect.”

“But seriously, Darrell, Mildred gave up the Ivy League for you. Aren't you gonna show some appreciation?”

Darrell rubbed his brow with an exaggerated look of guilt.

He waited until Dorothy left for the restroom, then raised his glass toward me.

“Bro, real talk while Dorothy's not here. I do feel a little bad about what happened.”

“Tell you what. Give me a few years. If things don't work out between me and Dorothy, I'll come find you. Fair enough?”

The room nearly blew its roof off with catcalls.

I let out a cold laugh.

“I wish you two a lifetime of happiness. Truly. Permanently.”

Darrell clicked his tongue.

“Sure you do. You'll still end up waiting around for me like a good girl.”

“But hey, make sure you transfer from that community college to a four-year, then do grad school. Otherwise the gap between our degrees is too big. My parents would never approve.”

I fired back immediately.

“You haven't even gotten into a university yet. What gives you the right to look down on me?”

But my words drowned in the noise.

“Darrell's catching feelings!”

“Darrell's so considerate!”

I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up to leave.

Darrell frowned and shook his head.

“Come on, bro. You're mad again?”

“Fine, I'll let you borrow my acceptance letter for a photo. You can post it and show off. That good enough?”

The words barely left his mouth before the door swung open.

A courier stood in the doorway holding a document envelope. Behind him trailed several people carrying cameras and microphones.

The courier peered inside.

“Graystone University acceptance letter. Which one of you is the recipient?”