“I was just up doing some assignments,” I said, quickly coming up with the excuse. “I’m sorry. What is it, Mom?”
“Sara, I got the money back!”
I blinked a couple times, then frowned, wondering if I was still sleeping.
“What did you say, Mom? You got the money back? Really?”
I heard movement behind me. I glanced over, to see Noah looking at me as he slowly sat up in the bed. His expression was astonished, probably as much as mine was.
“Yes! I just got a call from the bank this morning, all the money is back. Greg hasn’t said anything to me, can you ask Noah if he’s talked to him?”
“Sure, Mom,” I said distractedly. “I’ll ask. And, I’m happy for you.”
She sighed. “I’m just glad to have it back. Your father left it to me after all, and he worked hard to obtain it. Anyway, you can go back to sleep, honey, you still sound a little tired. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Later,” I murmured, then cut the call.
“Dad returned the money?” Noah asked as soon as he saw I was off the phone. “He really returned all of it?”
I nodded. “According to Mom, yes. I’ll ask for more details some other time. Have you heard from your dad?”
“No, I haven’t,” he said quickly. “He took so long, I really didn’t think he was going to…”
As he spoke, he got off the bed with the sheets wrapped around his waist and picked up his jeans. I realized I was naked, but after a second, disregarded it. I walked over to the bed and sat down and tugged on the edge of the sheet to cover myself a little, but it wasn’t anything Noah hadn’t seen before. I still had fresh marks from last night to prove it.
Noah checked his phone and was still for a long minute.
“Noah?” I called tentatively. “What is it?”
He glanced over at me, then came back to the bed. His expression was strange as he handed the phone to me. I met his gaze as I took it.
“I got a text message from Dad,” he said quietly.
I looked down and read the message.
“Don’t worry about paying for college anymore. It’s paid for the whole year.”
“Wait, really?” I said, turning to him.
He shrugged. “I’d have to go to the office and clarify it, but he wouldn’t send the message if it was a lie, right?”
I checked the timing of the text. It came late last night while we were both busy, so we didn’t hear it. That meant he must have cleared it yesterday, right? I did sigh in relief, though, because we were nearing the semester’s tests, and he couldn’t take them without his tuition paid. This came at just the right moment without me having to figure out a way to either get Noah to take my money or get it done without him knowing. Neither would have been easy.
“But,” I frowned. “If he returned Mom’s funds and still paid your tuition, where did the extra money come from? Mom told me it was all back.”
He was surprised again, having only realized the fact when I said it.
“I have no idea,” he admitted. “I’m not sure he’d tell me if I asked.”
“This means you can quit your part-time job, right?”
He frowned. “Uh, not exactly. Even if my tuition is paid, there are other expenses, like living expenses, that I still need money for. I don’t know if he paid for me to stay in the dorms, either, for this and next semester…”
Not long after, we got ready and headed out. It was a weekday, so we had classes, just later in the morning than usual or I would have tried holding back last night.
“Guess what?” I heard Tracey say a while later.
I looked up at Tracey. She, me and Hayley were outside after class, studying, when she broke into my thoughts.
“What?” I asked, a trace of a smile on my lips.
She and Hayley both grinned.
“Sext Me is back online!”
They broke out into giggles, and I joined them. Tracey and Hayley were now my closest friends. When they heard about the Sexy Me line and the rumors Alicia and Caroline helped to spread about Noah and me, they were supportive. In the end, I explained to them most of it, if not the whole story.
Of course, I knew the line wasn’t actually back online. I was just playing a harmless prank on Noah. Although, in a way, this was also to help both of us.
Ever since Alicia and Caroline started spreading those rumors, I couldn’t go anywhere without people looking at me, whispering. If the same thing happened to Noah, he didn’t seem to care much. I, on the other hand, could not stand it, even knowing the rumor would die down on its own if I let it.