Page 23 of You Had Me at Hello World
“Sounds like Harvard for me, then.” He grins. “So we can stay together.”
They’re adorable and it’s almost nauseating.
“There goes our daughter’s chance of getting in.” Mr. Chadha says it in a light tone, but I don’t think he’s one hundred percent joking.
“Are you kidding? Aisha is way smarter than me. I’m scared of her!”
Mr. Chadha doesn’t respond to that, just turns to me. “And what about you?”
Damn, I wasn’t expecting to get interrogated too. “I haven’t… I haven’t thought about it.”
“We can help you brainstorm,” Mrs. Chadha says. “I volunteer as a college coach. I got Aisha’s older brother into Princeton.”
Aisha groans. “Ammi, Char doesn’t want—”
“What did you get on the SAT? That’ll give you an idea on what caliber of universities you should target.”
“Uh, I haven’t taken the SAT yet.” Chinook Shore only administers it once a year, in October. If you want to take it some other time, you better haul ass to the next county. And that’s, like, way too much effort.
Mr. Chadha gasps as if I just fessed up to murdering puppies.
“You can sit for the SAT this summer,” Mrs. Chadha says. “It’s too late to register for the June exam, but there’s one in August. Plenty of places in Boston you can take it.”
I do this half laugh, half shrug, noncommittal thing. I’m kind of scared she’s going to actually have an aneurysm if I say anything else.
“Ammi,” Aisha repeats in this annoyed way. She gives me a sheepish look.
Khoi excuses himself to drop his backpack off in his room—he mentions his aunt and uncle are coming by later with the rest of his things. I duck outside to use the restroom.
When I come back, I’m about to push the door open when Mrs. Chadha’s voice makes me halt.
“Ladli, we like Khoi, but he shouldn’t apply to Harvard on your account. It’s a big decision.”
Aisha now. “Maybe he just wants to go to Harvard anyway. I’ve heard it’s a decent school.”
“No need for sarcasm, young lady.”
“Sorry,” Aisha says, not sounding sorry at all.
Mr. Chadha: “He’s a lovely boy, but you can’t get too serious. You know you can’t marry him.”
Aisha’s voice is full of derision. “Yeah, yeah, because he’s not brown.”
“Don’t act that way,” Ms. Chadha says in a tone that tells me Aisha’s spot-on.
“I’m not going to marry Khoi. We’re seventeen. It’s not going to get serious. ’Kay? So you don’t have to worry.”
Oof. Does Khoi realize he’s just another extracurricular to Aisha? Should I warn him? Nope, not my place to get involved. I hardly know either of them. I’ve already heard too much. I sort of wish I could unhear it.
I nudge the door open.
As soon as she sees me, Aisha’s expression shifts from annoyance to relief.
“Char!” She grins. “Let’s go down for dinner?”
Chapter Eleven
The dining hall is nothing like my high school cafeteria. For one thing, the food is actually edible. There’s a make-your-own poke bowl station and a salad bar bursting with fresh vegetables grown on a campus farm. But it’s the gelato machine that truly steals my heart: it has flavors like lavender honey and dark chocolate sea salt and white chocolate matcha swirl.
