Chapter 11 Tanner's words hit me like a physical blow , stealing the breath from my lungs Applying to MIT together - that promise we'd made on our very first day of middle riool Just two days ago , both our families had sat around the dining table , deliberating for hours before samady stimating yurity force akum And now he'd changed his . Without a word to me , From inside the private dining room , his friends pressed with curious laughter . " How do you even know Drielle will check your application portal again ? " " What if she doesn't notice … " Tanner snorted like he'd heard the world's biggest joke : " Notice ? That's all she does . You don't know her like I do . " " She probably checks that thing eight hundred times a day , paranoid about messing up some detail and ending up in a different His tone carried that familiar note of exasperation . " You wouldn't understand . Try having a shadow following you around since birth - someone you can never shake off Laughter rippled through the room . Jake persisted , still skeptical : " Even if she finds out , you're that confident Drielle will just switch her application to match yours ? Tanner glanced up from his phone game , his laugh sharp and dismissive , " Dude , please . " " Drielle hasn't been apart from me for longer than a week since we were born . Who else would the go to college wri Connor couldn't resist chiming in : " Tanner , man , this is kind of a dick move , though . " " Couldn't you just tell her you changed your mind ? " Tanner's fingers paused on his screen , irritation flickering across his face : " Honestly forgot . It's such a hassle - I didn't want to deal with explaining everything . " " If she knew I switched to Georgia Tech for Harper , she'd throw a complete fit . " " Besides , it's not like I changed on a whim . Harper said she's nervous about going to Atlanta alone , and she'd feel better with a famitar face around . " His friends exchanged knowing looks , their voices taking on that conspiratorial tone : " Makes sense . Harper's gorgeous , and with her family statum … hard not to want to look out for her . " Ryan added with a smirk : " Not like your little puppy dog Drielle - always looking half dead , nose buried in textbooks . Honestly no comparison to the campus queen . " Marcus laughed : " Damn , giving up aerospace engineering for a girl ? That's our Tanner , always the gentleman The laughter and gaming sounds continued to drift through the door . But I stood frozen in the hallway , my world crumbling to ice around me . My nails bit crescents into my palms . Every fiber of me wanted to burst through that door , grab Tanner by the shoulders , and demand answers . 974 Clagrer 11 But my low Salt anchored in conce $ condary mee I stood there in that suffocating silence for what felt like hours . in the end , I couldn't find the courage . I simply turned and wallked away , my steps echoing hollow against the restaurant floor .