"Hello?"
"RAYLEN BE-" I hear my mothers voice yell through the phone.
I know where this conversation is heading so I cut her off. "Mom, just listen to me please".
She doesn't answer but I still hear muffled sounds in the background, signaling she's still there.
"Mom. You knew how much I wanted to go to NYU and now I can! I have another opportunity for a scholarship. The only reason why I accepted the scholarship to the other college is because I knew that at the time you didn't have money for my college. But now I have another opportunity to get into the school of my dreams!"
I wait for her reply, but she says nothing. After a few minutes I hear her soft voice fill my ears.
"Raylen, you know I want you to be happy. If this makes you happy, then go for it. But hell, you should've let me know first!" She laughs.
The tension is no longer there and I'm relieved my mom is so understanding.
I smile and grip onto the phone as if it were my mothers hand. "I know, I know I'm sorry about that".
"It's alright sweetie. I believe in you". When she says this, it makes my stomach flutter. My mother having confidence in me means so much.
"Thank you. This opportunity will work out, I know it".
We say our goodbyes and I suddenly feel homesick. My mother has always been so strong for me and cared for me, so for her to have faith in me means the world. Even when my father died she was supportive and always provided with what I needed.
My father died when I was 13 years old. He had stage 3 cancer in his knee, and then he lit up like a Christmas tree and the cancer spread to his bones, and all over his body. He decided to stop chemo 4 months after he found out the cancer spread. He decided to "let his body heal itself". I remember my mother arguing with him night after night about how it wasn't fair that he did this to us, and to continue chemo. She wanted to hold onto him as long as possible. Then, a few months after he stopped chemo, he died. I came home from school to see my mom weeping on the floor, knelt down by his bed. She was screaming, looking up at the ceiling and she kept repeating "Why?". I tried to hug her but she didn't hug back, she just shook in my arms.
My mother and my father had a love that can only be dreamt. She remained strong and she cared for me as if he was still there.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
In order for me to get into this college I need to make a list of things that only one would do if they were on drugs.
I sit at my desk with a notepad and think about all the possible things I can do.
3 hours later, I've got only four things written down:
LIST:
1. SKYDIVE
2. BREAK SOMEONES HEART
3. TAKE ONE DRUG OF MY CHOICE
4. SKINNY DIP
I needed more inspiration. So I call my good friend Chloe and I don't explain what I need, I just tell her its an emergency.
She only lives a block away so she shows up at my door in 3 minutes. I open the door to see her blond hair in a messy bun and she's in workout clothes, meaning she ran here.
When she realizes that there is no emergency she's pissed.
"Ray what the hell", her blue eyes stare into mine.
I laugh it off and explain the situation to her and she looks surprised.
"So you're coming up with a list now? What do you have down?", she asks. I show her the list and she scoffs. "This is all you have?".
I nod my head and she takes a pen and starts to write down things for me to do, but she covers it with her hand so that I can't see.
"Chloe, what are you writing?" I ask.
She keeps her eyes down on the list and says,"I'm not showing you until I'm done so that you don't argue against any of the ones I listed, because they're going to be crazy."
I roll my eyes and wait for her to finish.
I've only known Chloe for a few months now and we've become great friends. We met when I first moved to the city. I went to a café near my studio building and she worked there I was looking up a-
I'm interrupted from my thoughts when Chloe shouts "Done!".
I smile and she hands out the list to me. I take it from her hand slowly and read the list out loud:
1.FALL IN LOVE
2.BREAK HIS HEART
3.SKINNY DIP (IN PUBLIC)
4.SCREW A DILF
5.THROW THE BIGGEST PARTY IMAGINABLE
6.KISS A GIRL
7.SWIM WITH SHARKS
8.MEET SOMEONE FAMOUS
9.BREAK THE LAW
10.CRASH A WEDDING
I put down the list and stare at her.
"No way. Noo way am I doing this", I shake my head.
Chloe sighs heavily and rolls her eyes. "Raylen, come on. The whole purpose of this experiment is for you to come out of your comfort zone and try new things."
I contemplate this for a second and she's right. But the falling in love and breaking his heart part is not okay.
"Fine, but I'm not falling in love and breaking the persons heart."
She thinks for a second and says, "Okay then replace breaking his heart with losing your virginty".
I glare at her and she smirks. She knows that I'm still a virgin, and I was waiting until the right time to lose it. "Chloe seriously?".
"Yes! If you fall in love with the right guy then it'll be the right time to lose your virginity".
The thought scared me. I've had several opportunities to lose it, but I've always backed out because I'm scared. But she was right, as hard as that is for me to admit.
"Alright." I finally agree.
"Yes!" She exclaims and I laugh. Her imagination is very questionable.
Chloe is definetly the girl you would call the "life of the party". She breaks every rule imaginable and doesn't get caught. So for her, this list is a piece of cake. For me, this is extremely difficult.
"So let me tell you the latest details of my life" she says. "Remember that guy I introduced to you last week? Zack? Well he came over yesterday and things got crazy", she laughs.
"Chloe I'd really not like to know about your sex life".
She laughs, " Okay okay, anyways.. I'm hungry let's go grab something to eat".
