Page 92 of Darlin'

"The hell you are!" she cries. "You said you needed the summer, Savannah. The summer. Staying in California? Hah! You sure got yourself a strange sense of humor there, my dear. Your home is here, Savannah.Here. Not in some shitty town in the middle of nowhere!"

"I—"

"And what about school, huh? You're just going to drop out?! I can't believe I'm hearing this right now."

"I'm not going to drop out," I state, inwardly grunting. "I called the Office of the Registrar today and asked if I could finish up my degree virtually. It took a bit of word-twisting, but they've agreed to let me study remotely, okay? So don't worry, I'll finish my stupid degree."

"Is this about a boy?" she asks in a harsh tone. "Did you meet someone there, honey? Some surfer boy who swooned you with his silver tongue? Is that it? Are you throwing your whole future away for a boy?"

I stiffen at her accusation. "What future, momma? What future? What is it that I'd be coming back to, huh? Cocktail parties at the DAR? Socials to find me a suitable husband?"

"James Lockwood was asking about you this week," momma says, ignoring my questions. "He's recently acquired his daddy's company. He says that he's ready to settle down with a nice girl. A girl like you."

"Maybe I ain't a nice girl anymore, momma," I grunt. "Maybe I'm a bad girl. A super bad girl. Maybe I eat processed sugar and drink beer now!"

"Take it back!" she snarls. "You take that back!"

"No!" I exclaim, frustration rising. "This ismylife, momma.Mine. You don't get to decide how I live it, okay?" I take a big breath, calming myself down. I don't want to cut her out of my life. She's my momma. I only have one. "Listen, I don't want to fight with you, okay? I know you and daddy love me, I know you think you know what's best for me, but you need to trust me, momma. You need to let me make my own mistakes andmy own path in life. And it's not like I'm going to be alone here either, okay? I've got Beau and Marlow and?—"

"Who's Marlow?"

"She's uh—" I close my eyes, cringing. "She's Beau's fiancée."

"Fi...fiancée?" Momma's voice wavers. "Beau...he's...he's engaged?"

"Yes, momma," I say as my phone chimes with a text message that states my online schedule has been emailed to me. "I gotta go now, momma, okay? Maybe we can talk again in a couple of days?"

"Engaged," she mumbles to herself. "My baby's engaged." I hear her swallow. "Uh—okay. We'll talk again later then. Engaged..." She hangs up.

I hope Beau won't kill me when he finds out I spilled the beans about his upcoming nuptials to momma. I'm sure he'd understand the situation though. I'm counting on it.

Shaking off the phone call, I pull up my mail app and press refresh, waiting for the email from the Registrar to pop up. When the page loads, I skim the spam mail, freezing on a reply from a sent email, the subject line reading:Attached.

My stomach drops out of my ass, my fingers trembling as I open the email. What the hell is this?

Miss Kingsley,

Intel was sound. We'll be in touch.

Regards,

M. Ramos

Intel? What intel?! I didn't send him anything! I scroll down to the original email sent from me. From me?! I didn't send any emails. But I did. Apparently, I did. It's right here. An email dated only a few days ago.

Hello Miguel,

Please find attached the list I found. Hope this helps.

Best,

Savannah

I shake my head, not believing my eyes. What is this?! What is happening right now?!

Without thinking, I leap off my bed, shove my feet into the closest pair of shoes I can find, and run out the door. And I keep running. Running toward the truth. I run and I run and I run.

I didn't send this! I didn't do it! What is going on right now?

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