Page 59 of The Surprise
“I’ve been around a lot of pigs. He definitely smells too good for that,” Beth says.
Izzy laughs.
And I realize that my plan is working. When I take Beth home, I focus on keeping things light. “Alright.” I put the car in park. “Thanks for helping Izzy. I’m surprised to hear she’s joining the paper.” It’s a little hard not to cringe, since I’m quite sure I’ll be writing her stupid assignment to pay for this.
Still. Worth it.
“She’s already pretty good at framing photos. She has a natural talent for it.”
“Which you can identify because you’re awesome?” I ask.
She rolls her eyes. “My mom’s a photographer, you know. I just got dragged to alotof courses.”
“You don’t like it?”
“Oh, no, I do. In fact, if I thought I might get in, UCLA would be my top college pick. Their photography program is epic. But when I mentioned it to Dad, he about died laughing. ‘Pay two hundred grand so you can learn to take photos? Any idiot can do that.’”
“He’s wrong,” I say. “If that’s what you want to do, you should apply. I bet you can get in.”
Beth shakes her head. “Their admittance rate is like one in ten students. My grades are not the best, and my SAT is. . .not horrible.”
I laugh. “I can relate to all of that, but as your dad so elegantly pointed out, there are other photography paths you can take. You don’t need a top SAT to be a top photographer.”
She smiles. “Thanks, Ethan.”
“It’s the truth.”
“I mean for the ride, but yeah, also for reminding me of the truth.” She’s smiling when she waves bye.
I don’t linger, because that’s too boyfriend-esque. I can’t quite help turning back for one last glance, and luckily, she’s already walking toward her front door.
When I get home, Izzy practically corners me, ducking into the bathroom right before I drop my pants to pee. “Whoa, geez. You almost got an eyeful.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Izzy shakes her head.
“I’m sorry. Where would you rather I pee, if not in the toilet, behind a closed bathroom door?”
She laughs. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But listen, I doubt anyone else will barge in here.” She drops to a whisper. “How’d it go?”
I can’t help beaming. “So well. I think it worked, honestly. When is your article due?”
“I already wrote it,” she says. “It was pretty fun.”
“Wait, are you actually interested in the paper?”
She shrugs. “I mean, I wasn’t, but it’s pretty cool. There’s only four people, and they do a paper once a month and then they put together the yearbook. I think it’ll be fun. They were so excited to have me join.”
“See? It’s already working out for everyone. Now, if we can just get lucky and have no one else bid on the dumb ranch, then this might all work out.”
“Will you really stay here with Jeff and Kevin?” Izzy sighs. “Because I’ll really miss you.”
“It’s not like we can’t talk.” I point at the phone. “But, can I please pee?”
She laughs again, but when she opens the door to duck out, Mom’s standing in the doorway.
And it looks like she heard us.
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