“Of all people in the world, Ley, you will be okay,” I say. “More than okay. You can scramble shit up and still figure out how to rule the world. You’re no unfertilized egg, and you’re sure as hell not an omelet.” I force a chuckle. “That sounded awkward as fuck.”

“Maybe eggs benedict with fresh lobster,” she says with a wink. “We speak the same language, remember?”

I want to laugh, but I also want answers. “Why’d you do it all, Ley? Why’d you go after my dream when I know for a fact that it was never yours? Why did you talk about me behind my back, shit on my viral shorts, and make me feel like I was nothing? I told you at the beginning of senior year that I needed that scholarship to come here. You knew because I called you crying the night my dad told me he couldn’t help pay for college, and you came over and stayed with me all night. I didn’t even tell Rae because she’s not an artist and her family has money, but you, you knew what animation meant to me. What CIA and this program meant to me. I was the one who even told you CIA existed, remember? That night, when you were comforting me, it was you who did the research for me into CIA’s animation scholarship and told me about it. Said it was my way in. Then you went behind my back and applied for it when your parents had money saved for you?”

Her eyes are wet. “I wanted what you had, Chase.” She raises both of her hands level with her chin. “We started off together, and all of a sudden, you got the recognition and … and I wanted that praise. Is that so bad?” She doesn’t give me time to respond, which is probably a good thing because I could go off. “Then my father got on my case and was like, ‘How can you make a career out of sculpting? You should do what Chase did. At least that’s a direct career path,’ and I don’t know. I wanted to prove to the world that I could do it, and do it better, without the theatrics.”

“What does that mean?”

I know what it means. Out of everything, that’s what hurt the most: that she thought I was putting on a show when all I was doing was trying to live authentically and find my way through my art as a nonbinary person. But hearing her question suddenly makes something click for me.