"Uncle Tyler." My head was pounding. "Last year, I passed Yanda's graduate written exam. My interview scores were stellar. I was practically guaranteed a spot."
"But I didn't get in. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because my father personally went to the admissions office to block me. He thought if I got into Yanda, people would say I used his connections."
I let the words hang there.
"Charlotte was hand-picked as his graduate student. Don't you find that funny?"
Dead silence.
After a long moment, Tyler spoke again, his voice subdued. "Try to understand him. He's a renowned professor. If his sponsored student failed to get into his own university, he'd lose face."
The anger flared white-hot in my chest.
"Am I not enough to give him face?" I demanded. "I've been first in my class since childhood. I've won so many awards my hands are tired of holding them. Why must I be sacrificed for his reputation? Why is it that to avoid suspicion, I can't go to the school I love?"
"Why should we wrong our own flesh and blood for an outsider?"