I take a step in that direction, only to see that he’s being intercepted by Damien.Ī little knot of fear forms in my stomach. I glance around, searching for a familiar face, and am rewarded when I actually see one. I don’t mind, except that I don’t really know anybody. He brushes a kiss over my lips and I am left alone. Are you okay on your own for a few minutes?” We do the mingling party thing for a while, but then he pauses. He says nothing, but he does take my hand and squeeze it. It’s not much, but right then it’s everything.ĭamien is smiling when I return. “Excuse me,” I say, then slip away from him to one of the girls in the Vegas outfits and change my twenty dollars. I feel tears prick my eyes, and I lean over to kiss his cheek. He thought his dream of college was over after the accident that left him paralyzed. Most come from families like Debbie’s, but we have a few who are bound by their own circumstances. “We identify kids with an aptitude for science who, for whatever reason, aren’t able to access the opportunities.

Now Debbie’s a freshman at UCLA majoring in chemistry.” “She grew up in a shithole of a town in Nevada with a mom who used the child-support check to buy meth. She’s one of our most successful foundation recipients,” he says. “I think she has a bit of a crush on you.”

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