A Fight to Remember

Quitting

A/N Hello all! Thanks for reading! It is so great to get emails letting me know that you care where this story is going. Plot is a little slow right now but will pick up soon. It's just important to establish these characters as we travel through.

Enjoy!

***4 Years Ago*** (Ellis is 19)

Feburary 26 2034

Ellis

I've always lived with people who knew exactly what they wanted. Ambitious, Driven. They wanted to succeed, and they did. But what if I just want to be happy? My dad always told me to do what I love...

The sound of raindrops spattering on my window greeted me in the morning as I stumbled out of bed to the bathroom. It was seven am. I heard my mom up and about, getting ready for work. I didn't want to get her attention, but I really had to pee. Just as I got up from the toilet- my mom barged in.

"Mom!" I gasped, quickly pulling up my pj bottoms. I forgot to lock the door.

"What's this?" She asked, shoving a piece of paper in my face.

"Um..." Crap. She knew. How does she know this stuff?

"You lost your scholarship?"

"Well... um," I finished washing my hands and walked past her into the living room.

"Ellis, you're smart and capable, how can you manage to get less than a 2.0?"

I cleared my throat. "I kinda decided tonotshowupforclass?" I breathed out as I tried to get as far away from her as I could.

"What?"

"I don't want to go to college anymore mom... I dropped out."

The words seemed to hit her like a bomb. She looked at the letter, looked at me again. I bit my lip. Shoulda just held my pee. She was still in shock, so I kept rambling, "I'm not like Bailey okay? I'm not ambitious... and I'm not going to spend hours studying and reading like Zola. I just- I just don't care about that stuff like they do."

Mom seemed to be listening, but I couldn't tell what she was going to do. She was very unpredictable lately I noticed. "So what are you going to do? What's your plan?"

I actually hadn't thought that far ahead, I just sorta went with things you know? "Um, well..."

But I don't know what that is...

"You're giving up on college, your future, your career..." We were in the kitchen now, and mom was pouring coffee in her travel mug.

I could feel the rage build up inside me. Why? Why do we have to argue about this? Why couldn't she just let me be and figure my life out myself? "I don't want it. I don't want to be put in a box, mom."

"You can't just quit, Ellis. Grey's don't quit."

"I'm a Shepherd." I could feel the lava rising, she wanted to press buttons? I could press buttons too. "And you did quit, mom. You quit on dad!"

Her expression was suddenly pained. Oops, I pushed that a little far. But...

"No. I didn't quit. I could never- I had to move on, for you and Bailey and Zola-"

"Oh you're such a martyr, 'Big Sacrifice'" I raised my fingers in air quotes. "You gave up on him to help us? But then you dive into work and you ignore me because I'm not interested in surgery or medicine."

Mom sighed and put her face in her hands-clearly this was not the way she imagined this conversation to go, "Ellis..." She breathed.

But I couldn't stop myself.