Page 48 of Hers to Kiss
Bertie looked at him for a long time without saying anything. He cocked a brow at her. His sister had been acting strange lately. More flighty than usual; forgetting things on occasion. She seemed all over the place and nowhere at all—simultaneously. He meant to ask her about it, but he’d been too busy with camp, running away from their dad, his app for Warp Entertainment…
“I want to talk to you about expectations.”
Expectations?
Pete leaned back in the reclining chair and folded his arms. By her hardened expression, he clearly wasn’t meeting some.
“Look…” Bertie sighed. Her eyes held contrition. “I know you have your heart set on making…apps, or whatever. I don’t want you to stop.”
“Good.” Because he wasn’t.
“I just want you to think…think about college.”
Pete closed his eyes. “Not you too.”
“No, not me too. This is my own opinion.”
His eyes snapped open. “You sure it’s not someone else’s we know? Someone who might’ve told you to persuade me to go to school?”
Bertie cocked her head to one side, her expression annoyed. “You know I wouldn’t do that.”
“I don’t know, Roberta. What Ido knowis what I’m hearing from you. I thought it was us against them. Wasn’t it? Now you’ve switched sides.”
“There arenosides! This is about what’s best for your future. A degree would really put you ahead of the competition when you’re ready to go into the workforce, to have a career. Don’t you want that advantage?”
“My advantage”—Pete pointed to his head—“is right here. I know what I’m doing, probably better than a lot of people. I can produce with very little overhead, and my designs are unique. That’ll be worth more than a degree.”
“No one’s telling you to stop doing all of that. Haven’t you thought about doing both?”
He hadn’t. Not if he were honest. He saw Cornell as his father’s choice, and no part of it was appealing. He purposefully screwed up portions of his application, until his father had snuck into his room, stole them, and confronted him about his sloppy work ethic. It had angered Pete because he was the opposite of sloppy. His bed was always made, he hated dust on anything, and he regularly cleaned his archived folders on all his devices.
He was the most organized person in their home.
“But what I’ve got coming up—”
“Whatever it is, Peter…whatever company it’s with, tell them about Cornell. They might even pay for it, if they have an educational reimbursement program. It would be a win-win.”
Bertie made a lot of sense. It was both a blessing and a curse that she was as smart as him. “Then what’s your excuse?”
The pointed question made Bertie’s head snap back.
“Yeah, you,” Pete pressed. “You want me to go to school, but you dropped out. Can’t tell me it was because of grades, because you never got lower than a B on any paper, test, or quiz. You opted to work a couple of part-time jobs. For what? Dad’s not too happy about that. Is that your idea of a career?”
Bertie laughed derisively. “If you’ve noticed, Dad doesn’t seem to care what I do. You’re his pride and joy.”
Pete was stunned into silence. He was their father’s pride and joy? Since when? All Pete ever got from their father was how much of an idiot the man thought he was. Pete couldn’t do anything right or fast enough. He certainly couldn’t think with the decision about Cornell being so completely obvious.
And was Bertie jealous? Of him? He had always believed she was the confident, self-assured one.
“That’s not true, Bertie.”
“Why do you think he’s pushing so hard on Cornell?”
“I know why. He’s living vicariously through me.”
“Pride takes many forms.”
“And I don’t want any of it.” Pete stood and stretched. He wanted his bed and more than five hours of sleep tonight. He’d walk into the bunk and shut down all conversation.
