For Sure & Certain Read Online Free PDF Page B

know.”
    “You didn’t even come to prom.” Tabby’s voice was weak, and Marigold didn’t have the nerve to meet her eyes.
    “It’s not my thing.”
    “So you’ve said, but what’s so strange is that it always was. Prom would have been the most ‘Goldie’ thing ever.”
    Tabby’s knees touched Marigold’s, but more space hovered between them than had ever before. It would be so easy to go back to where things had been. A few simple moves on Marigold’s part: send in the paperwork to Jamestown, ask where her old crew was hanging out tonight, beg her mother to buy a last minute ticket to Peru, who would acquiesce because this was exactly what her mother wanted her to be. Her and Tabby could meet cute European boys on the mountain trails and spend the summer reveling in their privilege before heading off to an Ivy League.
    Marigold didn’t do any of these things because that would be the old Marigold. The Marigold who was satisfied with non-stop action, but after she quit making the videos, she realized they never made her feel alive, not really. They were a way to be seen, but she wanted to be known.
    She took Tabby’s hands and looked in her eyes, wanting to remember the girl she might have become.
    “I made you a scarf.”
    “It’s like eighty degrees at the top of Machu Picchu.”
    “I know, I thought you could wear it when you move to Boston this fall.” 
    “I’ll see you before the fall, weirdo.”
    “Okay,” Marigold said, but she didn’t believe the word even as she said it. She knew this was good-bye.
    Abel
                 
                   The first morning of classes Abel made his way across campus towards the dean’s office. They had a meeting, and because of that he woke early, much earlier than Lacey, and had eaten warm oatmeal at a table alone in the dining hall.
    He was used to rising early, growing up on a farm will ingrain that in a guy, and clearly his summer classmates had less restrictive upbringings. Though it had been stiff competition to get in the program, no one took it as seriously as he did. That was obvious when so many students in the cohort messed around on their phones during orientation.
    For him, this was everything, his only real shot at doing something besides managing his parents’ farm. Everyone else seemed to have grown up with an advantage he couldn’t really understand. They didn’t realize the power of an education, how it wasn’t readily available to him, and how this wasn’t something to take for granted.
    As he walked to the office, he wasn’t nervous or jittery, that was never Abel’s style. It was excitement that pulsed through him. Finally, he was here, earning the first college credit of his life … credit a year ago he would never even have dared to imagine.
    “Welcome, Abel.” Dean Larsen led him into his large office. Larsen was his father’s age, thin face and long limbs, wearing a suit that appeared a size or two larger than necessary. As if he feared his arms and legs would continue to grow even though he was in his fifties.
    “Thank you for having me here as a student.” Abel shook Dean Larsen’s outstretched hand before taking a seat in a leatherback chair. “I realize this is all really out of the ordinary.”
    “It is, it is quite unusual,” Larsen said rubbing his hands together, as if massaging in lotion that wasn’t there. He rested his elbows on the large wooden desk and looked Abel straight on. “Unusual, but exciting. Thrilling, even. It is the intention of this institution to raise learners, to mold minds, to shape the future.” He paused, giving Abel a serious nod. “You’ll do well here if your test scores have anything to say about it.”
    “I hope to, sir.” Abel smiled as Dean Larsen went over most of what had been covered during orientation the day before. He would be taking four courses this summer with twenty other students who were all admitted into the Business Intensive. Regular