Page 79 of What I Like About You

I’ve never been so disconnected from Amy, Elle, and Samira. Now that I spend most of my weekends with Le Crew, it feels like I’m always catching up on their conversations. Elle’s novel is on submission, Samira’s submitting her art portfolio for a competitive summer program, and Amy is drowning in midterms. I know this. I do stillreadthe messages when I can.

It just feels impossible to respond after five or seven or twelve subject changes.

Not to mention I don’t even know how to talk to them right now. They’re Nash’s friends too. What if I slip up and say something about Nash? I want to tell them so badly, but they’ll freak out. Ollie is on my case enough. Besides, they don’t know who I am either.

My friendship with Nash isn’t the only one at stake. Pretty much all of them are.

I need to find a better balance between Halle’s life and Kels’s.

It’s the Sunday after an uneventful Thanksgiving and I’m spending my morning working on my personal statement. The cursor blinks in an empty word document and I stare at the screen, totally stuck. How can passion be infused onto the page? This essay has to compensate for my below-average SAT score—but it can’t be a gushing blog post. This needs to be professional, but still show who I am.

All in six hundred fifty words or less.

I twirl Grams’s necklace between my fingers, unsure how to essay.

I text Nash.

question.

12:00 PM

Nash Kim

Oh! Hey. What’s up?

12:01 PM

I almost drop my phone when his answer comes through as Nash Kim.Crap. I can’t talk to Nash about my college essay! Obviously, it’s about One True Pastry. This is supposed to be a Kels-Nash conversation. I contemplate what to do, staring at the screen for so long the brightness fades.

Actually.

Maybe Nashcanstill help me.

What was your college essay about?

12:02 PM

It was about Nick. I wrote about why I started REX and the elusiveness of memory.

12:03 PM

Wow. That sounds really smart.

And kind of sad.

12:04 PM

I hope so. Isn’t that a college admissions reader’s dream?

12:05 PM

Valid.

12:06 PM

That’s helpful. Thank you!!

12:06 PM

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