All Chapters of The Heiress Is Done Asking: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Mason was standing right beside Audrey when my name disappeared from my state science fair submission.She’d used his tablet to get into my shared folder, replaced the presentation I’d spent nine months preparing with joke slides, and changed both my sampling dates and the list of authors. Where my name should’ve been, it now said Audrey Blake.An email from my faculty adviser appeared in the corner of the screen. Why had I submitted something completely different from the version that had passed the preliminary review?“You gave her access to my files?” I turned the tablet toward Mason.He’d just come from lacrosse practice, his hair still damp. At the look on my face, he swallowed the mint he’d been sucking on. “I told her she could change the cover slide. She had a crappy day and thought it’d make you laugh.” He reached for the tablet. “There’s an older version, right? Just restore it.”I kept hold of it. “She changed my raw data. The judges are going to think I made it up.”Audrey

The next morning, a new video appeared in our class group chat. Audrey was wearing Mason’s navy team hoodie, sitting in a gaming chair in her basement. He had his back to the camera, curled up in a beanbag beside her.The caption read: [Just like when we were little. He loses, then refuses to go home.]I’d sewn the cuff of that hoodie last month. He’d caught my hand before I could trim the thread and told me to leave it a little long. He wanted proof I’d fixed it.I set my phone on the bathroom counter and rinsed the toothpaste out of my mouth. Only when I looked up again did I realize how tightly I’d been holding my breath. There was breakfast waiting downstairs, but I didn’t wait around for Mason to come home.Before school, I stopped at the shipping store to send ahead a few reference books that would make my suitcase too heavy. Then I went to my adviser’s office with the records I’d put together the night before.He didn’t ask whether I’d had a fight with my boyfriend. He asked whe

Wendy drove me to the airport the next afternoon. She hugged me, tucked a bag of pretzels into my backpack, and complained that airlines never gave you enough to eat. I promised to text when I landed, then wheeled my suitcase into the departures hall.I hadn’t expected to run into Tyler. He was looking down at his phone, but the moment he recognized me, he hurried over. “Knew you’d come. Mason should be out in ten minutes. He just texted.”“I have a flight.” I pulled my suitcase in front of me.He glanced at it without seeming to understand. “You’re taking him somewhere? He’s going to lose his mind.”“It’s just me.” But he was already calling Mason. A luggage cart came toward us, and I moved into the check-in line as Tyler announced into his phone, “Hurry up. Nora’s here.”I heard movement on the other end, then Mason’s voice. “Seriously? Don’t let her leave.”Tyler covered the microphone and grinned at me, asking whether he should hang on to my stuff. I shook my head, pointed to the l

The next day, my phone rang just after the research program’s orientation. Wendy’s name appeared on the screen. I stepped outside to answer and heard Mason instead.Behind me, someone from my new group called to ask whether I wanted to go to the library that afternoon. I nodded, pointed to the phone, and held up a hand to ask them to wait.Back at our table, the reference materials had already been divided up. My name was on a sticky note attached to one of the books. When we’d introduced our research that morning, nobody had interrupted me. Nobody had treated my report as an extension of whichever boy I happened to be dating. I’d been about to ask another girl how she handled outliers in her data.“Don’t hang up.” Mason’s voice was rough. “I just need a minute. Are you really all settled in?”I stopped beneath a tree. “You can text me if you need something. Don’t borrow other people’s phones.”“You muted me.”“I needed to sleep.”A door opened at his end. I heard Wendy asking if he wa

The school’s written findings arrived in my inbox the following week. My research submission had been changed without my permission. My adviser sent that confirmation directly to the state science fair organizers, along with the preliminary version and my sampling records. The altered submission was withdrawn, and I was reinstated for the final round of judging.Audrey’s complaint was dismissed. The disciplinary finding for her involvement in changing my files would remain on her school record. She’d graduated, but that didn’t mean the school could no longer hold her responsible for what she’d done as a student.Mason’s part hadn’t been edited out, either. The record included the access he’d given her and his involvement in turning our breakup into a joke for everyone else. The school withdrew the senior committee’s recommendation that he receive a service award. He had to explain what had happened to the students involved and verify every fundraising announcement posted with his autho