The Ecstatic Life Of Sofia

Chapter Three: The Future

Sofia went to her room and opened the packet, she spilled the contents. There were several letters and a piece of stationary. She grabbed the stationary and read it over.

Sofia,
These are the assorted letters from the colleges I sent applications to on. If any are acceptance letters you will be asked to continue the application processes unable to be done by me.

Sofia quickly showered and used the extra 30 minutes she had each morning to read the letters. She had been accepted by four schools one in Louisiana, one in Colorado, one in California, and an Ivy League. She smiled and read over the papers which included information about scholarships and financial aid packages.

Over the next month or so she recieved answers to her financial aid and began to decide which college to attend. While she was trying to decide, she began taking her final exams, they were taken about a month before school was out.

"Sofia!" A familiar voice called out.

"Santino, it's been awhile, where have you been." Sofia hadn't talked to Santino in a couple of weeks.

"I was in New York." he smiled. "I got accepted to Colombia!"

"Wow!" She smiled. "That's great!"

"Yeah." He said looking at her. "Listen, I've been accepted full ride, I mean full ride, car, apartment, meals."

"That's great." Sofia began walking with him smiling.

They stayed quiet for a few moments. "I want you to come with me." He said moving in front of her, blocking her path.

"What?"

"I still love you, and this summer I'm leaving for New York, and I want you to come with me."

"What?" She stared blank eyed. "I've told you Santino, I don't love you."

"I don't care, I know I can make you love me, with time." he said confidently.

Sofia stared deep into his eyes, then turned away. "And what about my future?" She asked looking down. "You have a life waiting for you in New York, but what do I have there? No friends, no family."

"You would have me." He said desperately. "And you could apply at a school in New York. Surely there's school that would accept you and offer the major you want to pursue."

Sofia turned to him and smiled. "Don't do this Santino. Don't do this to yourself. Go to New York and find a girl out there who loves you like you deserve to be loved. At this point, I don't know if I'll ever fall in love, much less with you."

Santino looked hurt, but smiled. "Oh Sofia, you're so amazing. Someday you're going to marry the luckiest guy in the universe, and hopefully he'll be good enough for you." Santino took her by the shoulders and kissed her half on the cheek and half on the lips. "Sorry, but I had to kiss you at least once before I go." He smiled as though nothing had happened and hurried off. "See you around!" he called back as the bell rang.

Sofia went to the cafeteria for the first time in months wanting to share her good news, but her seat was taken. So she made her way to Elliot, who was sitting alone at his table. "Can I sit by you?" She asked.

"No!" He said. "I'm just kidding."

"Oh no, I'll just go." Sofia said.

"No stay." Elliot said laughing.

"Fine." Sofia laughed and took her seat. She and Elliot made conversation for awhile, he told her his college plans excitedly. They were still talking when Matt made his way over to them. He pulled up a chair to sit between Sofia and Elliot as he often had in the past.

"Umm no!" Elliot said blocking his way.

"Move!" Matt said and tried to push Sofia and Elliot's chairs away from each other.

"Stop!" Sofia giggled and moved her chair down a little for him to sit.

Matt sat down and shot out with his usual rude attitude.

"I'm going to get food, does anyone else wanna come?" Elliot asked.

"I will." Matt said.

"Sofia?" Elliot asked.

"No thanks." She said.

"Come on, you need food and skipping meals isn't good for diets!" Matt said.

"Fine." Sofia glared standing up and following them.

"Come on!" Matt pulled her arm trying to make her run.

Sofia laughed. "I'm coming"

They returned to their seats and began to talk. As Sofia began to take a bite of a hamburger Matt reached out and shoved it against her face. Elliot laughed and Sofia looked at the sause that was on her hands and tried to smear it on Matt's cheek. Matt laughed and was on his feet telling her to stop. She put some on his cheek and Elliot laughed.

"Shut up!" Sofia and Matt said simultaneously. Matt reached for a thing of peaches while Sofia wiped her face and sat down. Just as the principal came up Matt poured the peaches over Elliot's head.

"Excuse me, how old are we?" The principal asked in his office. Sofia had come along to listen because, well because, she knew she had thrown food too.

"We're really sorry." Matt said.

"You three are about to graduate in less than a month and you're throwing food!"

"We're sorry, it's just finals have been getting to us, taking two hour long tests and getting ready for entrance exams for college, it's all really stressful and we went overboard having fun." Sofia said.

"Look, I know the end of senior year is stressful, but it doesn't mean you can or should act like first graders!" The principal glared.

"We know and it won't happen again." Sofia said humbly.

"It better not! Now leave my office!" The principal said angrily.

In the hallway, a little away from the office they began to laugh.

"I almost couldn't hold in anymore." Elliot laughed.

"Is that why you didn't say anything to help our case?" Sofia giggled.

Elliot nodded.

"This isn't funny we're about to graduate!" Matt mimicked the principal, causing them all to start laughing again.

They arrived to their fourth hour class, Pre Calculus just as the bell rang, only to find that the class had a meeting with a professor from a certain college in the auditorium.

"Uh oh." Sofia said.

The whole way to the auditorium Matt and Elliot complained and blamed each other for the fact they were going to be late.

Sofia, Matt, and Elliot slipped inside the auditorium where the professor was already talking about what college was like.

"You three" He yelled glaring at them as they attempted to slip into their seats. "Out! You can't be late to a college class!"