“Yeah,” he says, biting his bottom lip. “Yeah, I think I am. I was kind of...the thought was lingering in my head, you know? When I started failing English, I had a moment of panic where I realized there’s no way I was going to get into college if I failed a class, especially not a school like NYU.”

“That’s why you decided to get a tutor,” I say, the pieces clicking together.

“Yeah.” Ace isn’t meeting my eyes. “But I didn’t want my dad or Xander to know. I already said I wasn’t going to college. I already said I didn’t care about school. My dad was so mad at me—he’s still mad at me, honestly. But it’s better than being invisible.”

“How could you ever be invisible?” I ask, thrown by the concept. Even before I was tutoring Ace, I knew of him. Everyone in our grade knows of him. “You’re so...bright.”

A smile touches Ace’s lips. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” My cheeks warm at the admission. “Back to what you were saying. Does your dad know you’re going to apply?”

“No. I’m not going to mention it to my dad or Xander, but I’m going to do it. This isn’t for them. It’s for me.” He glances at me and then looks away. “My family wants me to go to Yale, anyway. My grandfather went, my dad went, and now Xander’s going, too.” He shakes his head. “I’d rather go to NYU. If I can’t do that, I want to study astronomy anywhere except Yale.”

My heart feels like it’s going to burst with pride. “What changed your mind?”

“You,” Ace says simply.

I almost bite my tongue off in surprise. “Me?”

“Yes,” he says. “I thought about what you said about how hypocritical I was being, and realized you were right. I was telling you to live your life for yourself when I wasn’t living my own that way. And you were right about how that was a very privileged way to see things. We’re from two different worlds...but that doesn’t mean they can’t overlap. Even if it’s just one small, tiny inch. That’s enough for me.”

“How do you exist?” I ask, floored by the fact he’s sitting here with me and having such an open conversation. “How can you be real?”

“I ask myself that about you every day,” Ace says, reaching across the table to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. His skin is warm where it grazes mine.

A question rises to the tip of my tongue and, in the gentle glow of the candlelight, I let myself ask, “Why didn’t you show up that first day? To our tutoring session?”