Page 214 of The Charlie Method

“Really? That’s awesome. Where?”

“Sydney.”

My jaw drops, and then, before I can stop it, I burst out laughing.

He stares at me in confusion. “What’s so funny?”

“I got an acceptance letter from the grad school in Sydney.”

“Seriously?”

“Dead serious.” I pull the envelopes from my bag, flipping through them until I find the one. I wave it in the air. “University of Sydney.”

He grins, that sexy rogue grin that makes my stomach flip. “That’s fate, right? It’s gotta be.”

I shake my head, still laughing. “I don’t believe in fate.”

“Well, I do. Look, I’ve been thinking about it since I got the offer. And now hearing you got accepted too? It just makes sense.” He searches my gaze. “Would you come with me? To Australia?”

My heart skips a beat. “What about Will?”

Beckett doesn’t hesitate. “I’ll ask him too. I want both of you with me. This thing we have, whatever it is…it’s something real. I don’t want to leave it behind.”

I’m stunned, my mind racing as I try to process what he’s saying. Move to Australia? With Beckett and possibly Will? Part of me can’t believe he’s even asking, but the other part—the part that’s always dreamed of adventure, of freedom—feels a rush of excitement.

“You’re serious,” I say, more to myself than to him.

“Dead serious,” he mimics, stepping closer. “You don’t have to decide right now. But I do want you to think about it. Picture what it would be like. You, me, Larsen. Together in Syd-naye.”

I grin at the way he exaggerates his accent. Then I bite my lip, torn between the practical side of me and the part that wants to say yes right this second.

“Okay. I’ll think about it.”

Even as the words leave my mouth, I already know how tempted I am. How incredible it would be to not say goodbye to Beckett.

Yet at the same time, I can’t factor Beckett or Will into this. First, I need to determine what this decision would mean forme. For my family. For everything I’ve worked toward.

Leaving the States would be a huge deal. My parents expect me to stay close. Maybe not in the same town but at least in the same country. They’ve supported me through all this, through college, through the mess of finding my biological brother, and now I’m about to tell them I might be moving halfway around the world? And not only that but that I’ll be giving up an elite program in the States for the University of Sydney? It’s a downgrade in schools, or at least my parents will view it that way.

“I’ll need to talk to my family about it.” Nerves tickle my stomach. “They have no idea I even applied overseas.” Another thought occurs to me. “What if I go to Sydney, and it’s not what I thought it would be? What if I hate it?”

Beckett chuckles at my panicky expression. “Then you can leave. Fun fact, sugar puff—there’s no law stating that once you step foot on Australian soil, you’re forbidden from leaving the continent.” He shrugs. “I’m not asking for forever, Charlie. Just think about it, though.”

I nod slowly. “Okay.”

As I leave the town house a couple hours later, my mind is still a mess of thoughts and emotions. Moving to Australia sounds…crazy. But it also sounds amazing. And I can’t stop thinking about how perfect it might be. I don’t want to be at MIT or Cornell. From the moment I started applying to grad schools, I was drawn to the new, exciting, unfamiliar places. Sydney. Oxford. Copenhagen. Unfortunately, I didn’t get into the latter program—it was too damn competitive—or the Melbourne one, but I was accepted into the rest.

Oxford sounds pretty incredible too.

It rains all the time in England…

How often does it rain in Sydney? I should look that up.

At home, I go right back to obsessing over my options, spreading the envelopes across my comforter. On the left side of the bed is thenopile. It features every New England school. Sorry, Ivies, but it’s been swell. Four years was enough.

On the right side, I have Sydney and Oxford.

On my desk sit the two rejections.

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