This Multiple Choice Question Only Had Me As The Answer Chapter 05

This Multiple Choice Question Only Had Me As The Answer Chapter 05

Jordan had sent nearly a hundred texts. 

I scrolled back up. 

The first few were still casual: 

[Where’d you go? Why’s your phone off?] 

[Didn’t we say we’d do dinner today? Don’t be like 

this.] 

[Text me back.] 

Then the tone changed. 

[I came to your house. No one’s home. Where the 

hell are you?] 

[Is your phone broken or something? Why’s it off?] 

[I called your dad. He’s not answering either. 

What’s going on?] 

Further down, his words were falling apart. 

[You applied to Liberty Military Academy? Are you 

insane? We said Ivy Coast. Together.] 

[Why didn’t you talk to me about this? Why do you 

get to decide on your own?] 

[Please call me back. Please.] 

The last one was sent twenty minutes ago. Three 

words. 

[Please don’t go.] 

I stared at it for a long time. 

Not because I was touched. Because it was 

ridiculous. 

Every time you asked me to wait, I waited. 

Now that I’m done waiting, you’re panicking. 

I typed a reply: [I’ve arrived safely at Liberty Military Academy. Jordan, we’re on different paths. I wish you well.] 

Send. 

Block. 

Delete. 

My phone stayed silent. 

I walked out of the terminal dragging my suitcase. The August heat of Fairmont hit me like a wall. 

No one was waiting for me at the arrivals gate. 

But this time, I didn’t care. 

On the other side of the country, Jordan was grabbing coffee with Yvonne at a café. 

When my message came through, he shot to his 

feet and knocked over his coffee. 

It spilled all over Yvonne’s dress. 

She shrieked and asked him to help clean it up. 

He didn’t even look at her. 

He ran out of the café, grabbed a taxi, and went straight to my house. 

My mom opened the door. 

“Mrs. Spencer, Chloe applied to Liberty Military Academy? When did she change her application? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” 

My mom looked at him, her expression complicated. “I don’t know what happened. 

between you two. But she thought about this 

carefully. I trust her decision.” 

“Jordan, you’ve known each other since you were 

little. I hope you’ll both be okay.” 

Then she handed him the cardboard carton. “Chloe asked me to give this to you.” 

Jordan finally remembered what I’d said on the phone the day before. Tomorrow will be too late. 

I wasn’t throwing a fit. I was saying goodbye. 

He was walking back to his car, holding the box, when Yvonne caught up to him. 

“Jordan, don’t be sad. Liberty Military Academy is a good school too. We can visit her in Fairmont-” 

“Shut up.” 

Jordan pulled his arm away from her. 

For the first time, there was something cold in the 

way he looked at Yvonne. 

When he got home, he opened the box. 

Inside was the old tin box. 

The photos. The little keepsakes. The notebook 

that said [Ivy Coast. Wait for me.] 

Jordan sat on the floor, his back against the bed, 

and cried over that notebook all night. 

I heard about all of this later. 

And when I did, I just said, “Oh.” 

Because that night, I was running three miles on the obstacle course at basic training. 

The Fairmont wind filled my lungs, hot and sharp. 

I ran fast. 

Like I was leaving the last eighteen years behind.