“Hey, what’s this?” I question, leaning in closer to see if it is what I hope it is. I get down on my hand and knees and try to slide my fingers behind it to pull it out, but there’s absolutely no hope.
Tully hovers over me, moving left and right trying to see around me to get a look at the paper. “Is it the letter?”
“I don’t know,” I grumble with a pained groan as my fingers start to ache. “I can’t…quite…get it.”
“Here, let me try,” she says, barging me out of the way. “You have fat butterfingers.”
“Excuse you,” I say, getting to my feet. “My fingers are beautiful.”
Tully ignores me as she dives for the paper and I send a silent prayer, hoping that this is what we’ve been looking for. “Can you pull the desk out?”
My mouth drops open as I look at the desk. She’s got to be kidding, right? This desk has got to be one hundred years old. It’s solid wood and I’m sure probably weighs a little more than Rivers’ fucked up car out front.
I step up to the desk and grab hold of the side, laughing to myself as I imagine just how badly this could go. I give it a pull and the desk moves about a centimeter while my arms want nothing more than to fall off. Where’s Noah when you need him?
Tully slams her head right up against the wall, peering through the gap at the paper. “IT’S AN ENVELOPE,” she squeals.
Her excitement is enough to give my aching arms a new lease on life and I give the heavy desk another hard yank. It hardly moves again but it’s enough for Tully to squeeze her hand between the wall and the desk and pry the envelope out.
The second it’s free from its hiding spot, we both stare down at it. I suck in a breath, taking in the envelope. “That’s the BHU logo.”
“And it’s a big one. They don’t send rejection letters in big envelopes.”
“That’s exactly what I said.”
Unlike me who was so nervous, I was going to be sick, Tully can’t possibly wait. She tears into the envelope like there’s no tomorrow and I fear for the safety of papers within. As she pulls the papers out and looks down at them, her wild, erratic movements become absolutely still and she concentrates with everything she’s got.
I peer over her shoulder and read the information at the top, though have to stifle a laugh at the date telling us that she’s had this letter hidden behind her desk for well over a month now. My eyes drop to the first few lines and start scanning over them. I get as far as the third word before Tully’s throwing her hands up and screaming out. “I GOT IN!”
I scream right along with her as she disregards the acceptance letter and grabs hold of me jumping up and down until we’re both on her bed, excitedly losing our minds while trying to avoid hitting our heads on the ceiling fan. “I have to call Spence and let him know.”
“Spencer is the first call you want to make?” I tease, realizing that she’s been talking more and more about him lately.
“Knock it off,” she laughs. “It’s not like that. We’re just friends.”
“What happened?” a little voice beams from Tully’s bedroom door, cutting off my taunting.
“Tully got into BHU just like me,” I squeal, making Aria laugh right along with us. It takes her all of three seconds to climb up on the bed and start jumping with us, but the fun and games promptly die as the bed caves under our weight. A loud, sickening crack is heard before the bed drops to the floor with a heavy crash.
I grab hold of Ari as Tully grabs hold of me, the three of us falling off the edge and crashing down onto the floor with a bang. My ass gets the brunt of it as Ari falls right down on top of me while I’m pretty sure Tully landed on her hip.
“Shit,” I groan, pushing Ari off me so I can attempt to get up.
“What the hell is happening in here?” Violet shrieks from the doorway before taking in the broken bed and gaping at us like we’re idiots. Though…she could be onto something.
“I got in,” Tully murmurs, suddenly not caring as much as she rubs her hips and ends up on all fours in her attempt to get back to her feet.
“I figured from all that squealing that’s what was going on,” Violet smirks, walking around to help her daughter up. “I know it’s exciting and all but did you really need to send your bed to the grave?”
“It was an accident,” she says. “If I knew the bed was going to break, I would have gone and jumped on Noah’s.”