Page 69 of The Other Half

I watch as she disappears into the crowd, and then I turn around to find my own family. I spot Liam first and he runs towards me with his arms stretched wide. I wrap him in a bear hug and the rest of my family follows.

“We are so proud,” my mom says, her voice cracking slightly as she wipes a tear from the corner of her eye.

I shrug. “It’s not a big deal,” I lie, not wanting to let on just how happy I am. “I didn’t apply for it.”

“I did,” my dad says, resting his hand on my shoulder.

My brow furrows. “What?”

“I entered your name for the scholarship. We all know you’re too smart not to go to college, Oliver. Your mother and I knew that all along.” He explains, a glint of guilt and regret in his eyes. “We knew we couldn’t afford to put you through college so we discouraged you from going. It was wrong, I know that now. This disease has taught me that there’s a lot more to life than wasting away in a factory for forty years.” He takes a deep, unsteady breath. He runs out of breath a lot faster now, even when he’s not exerting any energy, and he uses a cane to get around because his body has become so weak.

I nod. “Thank you, Dad.” I’m lost for words beyond that, I can’t explain just how thankful I am.

My eyes scan the crowd and I see Oakley and her parents embracing each other. Dan’s eyes meet mine but I don’t pull my gaze away immediately like I know he expects me to, what good would that do now? I’m going to have to face him in a few hours anyway, and he might as well get used to me.

He nods his head in recognition with a subdued look on his face, and quickly turns his attention back to his daughter. That was weird.

Chapter 53

Oakley

When I return to my house, I walk inside to see the foyer is filled with gold and black balloons. There’s graduation cap-shaped confetti all over the marble floor, and a stack of boxes and bags sitting to the right of the stairs. Mom comes up behind me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

“We’re so proud of you,” she says, placing a light kiss on the top of my head. My dad stands on the opposite side of me.

He nods once with a tight lipped smile. “We are. You’re going to do great next year.”

I swallow down the lump of guilt in my throat. I know deep down that he’s making an effort, which is more than I ever expected. He’s cut back a lot on his drinking, in fact he’s not even holding a glass right now, despite the fact that it’s well after 5:00 pm. But I can’t let that fool me into believing he’s an entirely different person than he was a few months ago.

“I didn’t know Oliver was such an overachiever,” he says, avoiding eye contact by staring at my pile of gifts.

I blink a few times, surprised that he’s acknowledging something positive about him. He’s never even called him by his first name before now. “He is. He’s always been a really good student.”

“His parents must be very proud.” I can’t read if his tone is sincere or not. He walks out of the room towards the kitchen, leaving my mom and I alone.

Someone knocks on our door three times, my mom spins around to open it, plastering a wide smile on her face that wasn’t there a second ago. “Come in!”

Blaire and a few other girls from History club walk through the doorway, all dressed in colorful pastel dresses. I give all of them a hug and tell them to make themselves at home. I’m relieved that Amber’s car isn’t here yet, I told them to hold off for a little bit longer so that other people can show up first and Oliver can hopefully blend in with the crowd.

A few more partygoers walk in, and I lead everyone into the kitchen where my parents have essentially set up an open bar. Oliver’s right, I probably will be the most popular kid at school after this, too bad it won’t matter since I won’t see most of these people again after tonight. I’m not upset about that, though. As good as my experience at school turned out to be this year, I’m excited to move on to the next adventure.

About thirty minutes later my phone buzzes in my dress pocket.

Oliver: Here

My heart rate speeds up and butterflies take off in my stomach. I swallow down my anxiety and walk through the crowd of people that keeps multiplying towards the front door. I run to my driveway and Oliver lifts me up and spins me around again, the same way he did at graduation.

“You look beautiful,” he says as he sweeps his gaze over my body.

I roll my eyes. “I look exactly the same as I did two hours ago, silly.”

“Yep.” He smirks.

“Okay, lovebirds, enough of that. It’s time to get drunk.” Amber grabs one of my hands and leads me away from Oliver.

My parents are distracted, talking to some of the neighbors that they invited over. Amber offers to make everyone a drink, but Oliver and I both decline.

My mom finds Amber, Oliver, Rodney and I all sitting in the living room. “I was hoping you’d be here, Amber,” Mom says as she leans in to give Amber a hug.

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