Growing Up

Acceptance

I don't know what to do. All I know is I have to tell Shawn, if I don't do it soon, it'll be too late. The boys will be back soon, so I need to think real quick about how I'm gonna tell Shawn, and maybe Cory. Topanga has just disappeared, so it's just gonna make it 10x harder, but she also has to tell Cory she's been short listed for Berkley and Harvard. I wish we could do it together but in the end it's going to hurt someone.

The door swings open and laughter is coming from the boys downstairs, clearly they had a good day today. I grab my 3 letters, placing my NYU one at the bottom to show them last. I run down stairs to the dining table and take a seat. I wait for the boys to come through loungeroom door, so I can tell them the news. I lay the letters out in front of me as the boys come through the door.

"Hey babe, you missed out on a great day today," Shawn says coming up to me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, "what are these?"

"You both might want to take a seat for this," I tell the boys.

They both sit next to me eyeing off the letters I have laid out.

"Stanford, Berkley, NYU, I don't get it, where did these letters come from?" Cory asks.

"Topanga and I didn't just apply at Pennbrook, we thought maybe we'd look at other schools as well."

"Without telling us?"

"We didn't think we'd get in."

"What do the letters say?" Shawn buts in, nervous yet angry.

"I'll let you two ready them," I say before getting up and walking outside.

I watch as the boys open each letter, happy, shocked, let down, all these mixed emotions covering there faces. I sit on the couch and wait for the boys to come outside and talk to me about it.

The door flies open and Shawn stands in the doorway, "you got into NYU?"

I nod, unsure of what's going to happen next. He walk over and takes a seat next to me, throwing and arm around my shoulders and pulling me in close.

"I am so proud of you," he tells me, "and whatever you choose, and wherever you go, we'll make it work."

"Yeah and it's only an hour and a half away from here, we can visit each other on weekends, on holidays."

"Yeah, it's your decision, and if you want I can come with you, we can move to New York together, I'll find a different school and apply later in the year, or I could get a job..."

"Shawn, I don't want you to change your life for me. This is a big decision, I don't know if I even want to got to NYU, yes it has amazing facilities, a great literature program, I want to be a writer. I have notebooks filled with stories I've written, all which I have never shared with the world. I can't let you move all the way to New York for me."

"What if I do it for me? All I know is I want to be with you, even if we live on Mars, you're the one I want to be with. I gave you that promise ring and I meant forever, in sickness and in health, wherever you want to be, I want to be there with you."

"Lets not rush into this straight away shall we, I still have to make a decision, I've also been short listed for Berkley and Stanford, Stanford is my dream school, that's even further away."

"Hey, wherever you go, I wanna be."

"What did Cory say?"

"He said he needs to go talk to Topanga about this."

"She's been short listed for Berkley and Harvard."

"Harvard, really?"

"Yeah."

"Look y/n, I'm so proud of you, no matter what, always remember that."

Shawn grabs a hold of me tight and we sit together outside in the nice breeze. Feeny doing his normal thing gardening outside, he's super please and I'm not sure why. I'm assuming he's proud that I got into NYU too, he was out here the entire time Shawn and I talked.

I think really hard, but in my heart I already knew the answer to which school I want to go to. I'm not ready to tell Shawn yet, I don't want him to rush into changing his life for me, I want him to think about this too.

---

Shawn's Pov

I'm not sure what to do. I hold on to her because I'm never going to be ready to let her go. I already know that she's pick NYU, she only applied at Pennbrook as a fall back. I didn't even get accepted into Pennbrook, I've just been short listed. As much as I said it, I'm not ready to completely change my life, I'm not ready to move away from this place I call my home, but I want to be with her, no matter where on earth she is.

She lays her head in my lap and stares up into the sky. I look down at her, admiring the girl I love so dearly. I wish I could give her the world but I can't, maybe her going to NYU will be a good thing. I'll get a job, we'll live in an apartment together, she goes to school, writes all these books, sends them to publishers, gets heaps of money, become a rich and famous author, she might even write about our story one day.

Are we ready for this?