0.3 family drama & dinners
"SHE SAID IF I INSIST on defying her with these impulsive decisions that will wreck my future, she wants no part of it." Simone told the group as her eyes bounced between Nathaniel and Keisha before landing on Devyn—who was sitting on top of her desk, with her feet in the chair.
To say that she was surprised to be included in this was an understatement. She had just met Simone, and the tennis player was already comfortable with tell her about her family drama. After a day of knowing her nevertheless.
Not knowing what to say, and wanting to refrain from saying anything that could come off as her being insensitive to Simone's situation, Devyn just avoided commenting all together as both Nate and Keisha tried their best to comfort her.
"I'm sorry, choosing an HBCU qualifies as wrecking your life?" Keisha questioned as she pulled Simone's attention towards her.
"To my mother, anything outside of an Ivy League or Stanford is wrecking your life." The tennis player answered, letting her friends know how her mother was.
Nodding her head, understanding what her newly acquainted friend was saying, Devyn could only send Simone a small, sad smile. The teenager understood how upsetting it was for someone you love to not support your decision. She was in a similar situation, but instead of her mother, it was her now ex-boyfriend.
According to him, Devyn was ruining her life. She was putting their relationship—their future at risk all because she wanted to attend an HBCU and not USC like they had both planned. So, instead of supporting her decision, and trying to find a way to make a long-distance relationship work, he simply ended things between them before he left for his summer workouts.
Five years down the drain.
"Well, then why not take it all away? Why continue to pay your tuition?" Keisha asked, trying to figure out why Simone's mother had paid for her tuition, but not her rooming.
"Because apparently, my dad put his foot down on that one." Simone told them.
"Well, at least he stood up for something."
"I'm sorry that this is happening to you, Simone." Devyn told the other college athlete. With Simone simply shaking her head, and sending her friend a small smile, she uttered that it was okay. "It's not though. A parent is supposed to support you, not cut you off because you didn't want attend an Ivy League school."
Devyn's parents always—always supported her in whatever decision she had made. When she told her parents about her switching her college choice from USC to Bringston at the very last second, they were surprised at first, but they were fully behind her decision. Even though they knew that her want—her need to find out more about her birth parents were the sole reason for her wanting to attending Bringston, they still supported her. Regardless.
With the sound of someone knocking on the door, pulling everyone's attention towards it, Devyn eyes went towards Nate as she stood up to open the door. Seeing that it was Dr. Amara Patterson at the door—Simone's aunt, the teenager could only watch as the older lady entered the dorm room.
As she pull the straps of her purse down to her forearm, Amara approached her niece with a sympathetic look. "Your dad called." With her dropping her purse on the twin size bed, Simone was immediately engulf in a hug by her aunt.
"Estranged or not, me and my sister are gonna have some words about her definition of tough love."
With Devyn's attention being pulled from what was happening by her phone chiming, the teenager pulled the cellular device from her pocket, and checked her lock screen to see that her parents had texted in their group chat. Smiling softly as her mother told her that she loved her, and that she needed a picture of her finished dorm room, Devyn hearted her mother's message as her father told her that they were planning on calling her soon.
