Their Fall, My Rise

t wast

roving ground. Every equation solved, every lap r

' d taken over my usual quiet corner in the library, no

, he deliberately stuck his foo

at me, his arm draped possessively around Tiff

d, a high, unp

he drugged water, the failed fitness test.

said, my voice even. "I' m watch

t used to me standing up to

em have their public displays. My

owledge. He thought knowing the old SAT questio

led it. Delivering packages, chauffeuring people in that rented

ndbag one week, concert tickets the next. She'

" she' d announce to

lder, rough-looking guys from Northwood, the town over with a bad reputation. They

en we were kids, now looked perpetually worried. But Mark, armed with

rew. The gifts had t

"If you really loved me, Mark, you' d get me that neck

bravado faltering. "Ba

eyes were red-rimmed. She fumbled with her purse, dropping a fe

lot of pressure, dear," sh

g from her. Just like

this