Moonstruck ⟡ HS

26!

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link: spoti.fi/3JpHXPn
TO LOVE SOMEBODY | JANIS JOPLIN
CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD  |  KYLIE MINOGUE
UNCHAINED MELODY | THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS
LIKE A PRAYER | MADONNA

    "And what about you, Miss.Josephine?"

Suddenly, all eyes were on her in a room full of her academic peers. The discussion at hand had her zoned out, thinking about something else that didn't pertain to the question that was asked of her. She felt like floundering, confused in her own thoughts while trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't raise any follow up questions, frankly because she didn't have an answer to the first one.

    "I-I haven't decided where I want to go to college." Is all she can say, rubbing her hands together in her lap while avoiding the curious gazes of her peers, but she meets the stare of her teacher, who asked her the question in the first place. "Or if I want to go at all."

    "Well . . . I suppose that is an option." The uncertainty in her teacher's voice didn't help the dark butterflies swarming her stomach or the doubtful thoughts running through her mind. She shrugged and fell back into her seat, wishing she could disappear into the plastic behind her and not have to be perceived by her classmates—who were all without a doubt on the fast track to college. "I suggest to all my students to at least try college before making a definite decision like that, Miss.Josephine."

    "Thanks, Mrs.Johnson, I'll take that into consideration." She forces out, hoping her teacher would move on to the next student so she could mope in peace.

Her graduation was only a number of months away—three to be exact—and she still had little to not idea of what she wanted to do after she was done with high school. College was an option, but she wasn't incredibly smart and she didn't want to leave her family, or more importantly, leave Harry. The mere idea of not having Harry across the street frightened her, she has become so used to it, she couldn't fathom not being able to skip across the street and barge right into his house. She didn't want to imagine a reality like that, not if she could help it.

    "I applied to a bunch of schools and got accepted, but Clemson is obviously my first choice. My parents met there and had me a year after they graduated, so I want to follow suit and meet my husband there as well." One of her classmates boasted to their teacher and she secretly envied the certainty of that future. To have everything figured out like that—education, family and all—she could only wish of something like that.

She was pretty certain about Harry, but that was it.

Once the bell rang for class change, she quickly gathered her books to her chest and met up with Alice in the hallway, who was in the classroom across from her own. She tried to listen to Alice as she complained about her calculus test grade, but she couldn't help but imagine what would happen to her and Harry if she made the choice to go to college somewhere. Would he come with her? Would he stay in Chagrin Falls? Would he support her? She didn't have a single answer to any of these questions and a part of her didn't want to ask.

    ". . . and then she said—Jo, are you listening?"

    "Yeah, yeah, I'm listening to ya. What did she say?" She didn't even know who Alice was talking about, but she tried to go along with it anyways. Alice is her best friend, so she knew that not a single word of what she said was listened to.

    "What are you thinking about?"

    "Nothing important—"

    "C'mon, Jo. Tell me." Alice smiles, "You can tell me anything."

    "I just . . . I don't have any plans after high school." She confesses with a sense of shame washing over her, "Everyone else has a plan and I don't. I don't have a single clue of what I want to do with my life after high school."