Sweetheart

59

- Three months later -

Lizzie
March 2021

Spring arrived with blooming flowers in some areas and lingering snow in others.

It's still too cold to leave the house without a jacket, but hats and gloves are definitely not a must anymore, which is great. Especially now that Aaron can't drive me to school anymore.

He officially and permanently moved in with his parents about three weeks ago. They live on the other side of the city, and although he offers to pick me up every morning, I refuse to make him drive an additional half an hour just to get my ass to school.

So, instead, I've started to drive with Nate. It started one morning when my alarm didn't go off and I was going to be late. He offered and I had to swallow my pride. I can't say I'm happy about this arrangement, but it's only for another three months.

That's my deadline. That's when I have to go back to L.A. I can't bring myself to accept that, so instead, I stay in denial and pretend that my experience here is neverending. I can't think about the fact that I'm going to have to leave my friends behind.

Speaking of friends, they're all sitting in front of me, talking about what they plan on doing next year. College, no college, strip clubs... That's mostly Logan's plan.

"You're a shit dancer, they'd be stupid to hire you," Aaron tells him. "Gotta have a plan B, man. You've got zero chances of becoming a stripper."

Logan makes an offended face. "I'm an amazing dancer. You've only ever seen me drunk dancing. Ask Archie how great of a stripper I'd make." The poor guy blushes, embarrassed.

I laugh at the two of them. They're complete opposites — Logan, the most extroverted person you'll ever meet, and Archie, a guy so introverted he might as well be a turtle. And yet, their relationship has been going wonderfully.

"What about you, D?" I ask her. "Any plans?"

She shrugs. "I applied to UBC a while ago," she admits.

We all lean in. "And?"

"I got in."

"What?" "That's amazing!" "Oh, my God!" we exclaim, giving her friendly shoves and pats that make her laugh.

"Thank you, thank you. I'm really happy, too," she tells us. "You guys didn't apply anywhere yet?"

This time Archie replies, "I actually got into Toronto University for the Theatre course."

We compliment him as well, and I can't refrain from smiling at Logan's proud eyes. "I'm basically dating Leonardo Di Caprio."

"Really? You couldn't name one ginger actor?" Archie asks, arching a brow.

Logan hesitates. "Sadie Sink?"

"Nevermind," Archie waves him off. "What about you, Liz? You applied anywhere?"

Ouch. "Uh, yeah."

"And?" they insist.

"Yeah, I got into a few colleges, but nothing interesting," I answer.

"Like where?" Logan asks.

"NYU, MIT, Brown..."

They raise their brows. "What? And you got into all of them?"

"Yes."

"Jesus Christ, Einstein. Congratulations!" They congratulate me, and I offer them a kind smile. "You don't look too happy, though."