Page 103 of The Towering Sky
“We’re both adults, actually,” Atlas interrupted. Didn’t their parents remember that they had both voted in the election?
“What’s wrong with you?” Pierson cut in. “Why would you do this to us? Our only daughter and our only son? You’re disgusting.”
We aren’t doing ittoyou, Avery wanted to cry out, trying not to wince at his stinging words. This wasn’t about her parents at all. If anything, it existed in spite of them.
“We love each other,” Atlas said softly. “I know it seems unlikely, and maybe even selfish, but it’s happened. It’s real.”
Then, to Avery’s surprise, he sank down onto one knee before their dad. He looked curiously as if he were about to propose. It took a moment for Avery to realize what he was doing.
He was begging their dad for help.
“Please,” Atlas implored him. “I know this is upsetting, because it caught you off guard, but it isn’t disgusting at all. It’s true love, which makes it the most rare and beautiful thing in the world. Avery and I can survive this—ourfamilycan survive this, I swear it—but only as long as you support us.”
Avery was stunned at his boldness. Was he really asking their parents for theirblessing?
“This is New York,” Atlas went on, undaunted. “You just need to give people enough time to get over it, which we all know they’ll do, sooner than you think. We can figure it out. I’ll move out of the apartment; I’ll change my name; I’ll do anything you ask.Please,” he said again, his breath ragged. “You’rePierson Fuller. You know how easy it is to sway public opinion! New York will follow your lead in this, the way they do in everything!If you reject us, then the world will too. But if you stand by us, and publicly accept us, I know the world will come around.”
Avery was stunned. She had never even considered the possibility that they might stay in New York and actually be together. But as Atlas spoke, she realized the truth of his words, and a sharp hope began to snag in her chest. It just might work.
This was New York, where the pockmarked surface of society was riddled with scandals. Everyone had secrets, everyone had done something shocking. Was it really all that bad, for two unrelated young people to fall in love?
“What are you saying, Atlas? You want me to condone this—this”—her father spluttered—“this abomination?”
Atlas flinched. “I’m saying that if you can overcome your initial reaction, and think about our happiness—”
Pierson reached down to brutally haul his son to his feet. “Your happinessiswhat I’m thinking about! I love you too much to let you make this kind of mistake. Your mother is right; you clearly have no idea what you’re saying.”
Elizabeth was crying in earnest now, her frame racked with great ugly hiccups. No, Avery realized, she wasretching. Her mother was so repulsed by the thought of Avery and Atlas together that she literally wanted to vomit.
“This conversation is over,” her father shouted. “You both need to leave.”
When neither of them moved, he slammed his fist on the table. “Getout! Both of you! Can’t you see how upset you’ve made your mother?”
Avery exchanged a glance with Atlas, but he was shaking his head, as if to saynot now. She knew better than to say anything. They just turned and walked in opposite directions, toward their separate bedrooms.
Only when she was safely ensconced in her room did Averypull the article back up. It was still as ugly and hurtful as before. And beneath the lurid text, and the photo, there was now a stream of comments.
In the ten minutes that entire ugly scene had taken, the article had been shared and reposted thousands of times. Avery wasn’t all that surprised. She was the freaking princess of New York, wasn’t she?
She knew she shouldn’t look, but the words were practically leaping off the page, hurling themselves at her consciousness—
Don’t be fooled by her perfect exterior—that slut is DISGUSTING!
I always knew the thousandth floor was one giant orgy!
Ugh! I have a stepbrother. Excuse me while I go vomit.
I sat next to her once on a train, and she never even looked my way. What a royal bitch.
And on and on and on. Avery felt a knot of despair gather in her stomach. She had never imagined that so many people in the world—people she had never even met—could hate her so viciously.
She curled up in a tiny ball, squeezing her eyes shut to black out the world, wishing herself into oblivion.
RYLIN
RYLIN’S SNEAKERS POUNDEDa vicious rhythm on the pavement of the outdoor track.
She usually loved running out here on the deck, past the basketball courts and swimming pools and jungle gyms. But today it felt painfully monotonous, or maybe just painful. No matter how far she ran, the horizon never seemed to change, as if any illusion of progress was just that: an illusion.
