Taking the piece of paper, he considered Noah's logic as he read over the schedule. Ronan had declared a major. He had classes. The boy who had hated school as passionately as he loved cars had left the Barns to go to college. Staring at his best friend in disbelief, he wasn't sure what to say. Then Gansey blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"You want to do this?" Gansey had to be certain after how much fighting and cajoling it'd taken to get Ronan to finish high school. College was different. Gansey couldn't bribe the professors here to guarantee that Ronan would graduate. He couldn't rescue Ronan if fell back into his class-disrupting habits.

Gansey wanted this to be what Ronan wished for. He missed his best friend. The house felt strange and echoe-y and alone without him, but if Ronan would be miserable, then it was selfish to have him stay. "You're doing this because this is something that you want to do, not because it's something that I hoped you'd want?"