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"Yeah?" You sau. "Get out how?"
"I'm gonna go to college in Boston. Get as far away from this socialist shithole of a state as I can without leaving the shores of the USA."
"As if Massachusetts is any better?"
"Ehh... marginally."
"And where do you want to go to school?"
"MIT. Where else?"
"You. In MIT."
"Uh huh."
"With your grades?" You laugh in her face. "Better write the next great American novel for your admissions essay, because you won't get in otherwise."
"I've got a plan," she says vaguely. "For the admissions essay, anyway. Should do."
Of course, you know what this is really about. She isn't the only one of Dad's children with these aspirations. Amber is following your sister to the college of her choice. And in truth, you have no doubt that Amber, suitably determined, can worm her way through the admissions process at a school even as selective as MIT. Which means that, come this time two years from now, you'll be the sole daughter left behind in California. With no hope of following them after you graduate. You have neither Ophie's smarts nor Amber's resourcefulness to get you in.
"What am I supposed to do?" You demand. "How am I supposed to get into MIT?"
Amber shrugs.
"Seriously. I can't get into a school like that."
"You'll have an extra year to figure it out. And if you can't hack MIT, I hear Wellesley is nice too." She looks you over from head to toe. "And... I'm sure Boston also has some good community colleges."
You stare down at the couch cushion between your legs. "You were just saying how you wanted us to stick together. When we were in bed. But you want to leave."
Amber doesn't say anything for a long while. You feel her eyes on you, though. At last she softly says, "does this mean you want out, too?" You don't respond, so she puts her arm around your shoulder. "Wherever you want to go, I'll get you there. Promise promise."
