ANIMA

18. Revive

Tomas

Getting back into my everyday rhythm is easier than I thought it would be. I go back to attending every class and actually paying attention. The only new thing is I spent lunch and some dinners with my new group of friends.

Of course there are still people that make snide comments behind my back and to my face and my anxiety about being expelled hasn’t disappeared. But I have grudgingly accepted that those are things I have no control over so I will just have to ignore the hate and accept whatever the school decides.

More than a week has gone by but I have still heard nothing from the headmistress, I guess they are still investigating.

I have been avoiding Trent. I don’t go as much out of my way as I did with Mason, Kenzie and Aiden but I make sure to limit our interactions. I stick to ‘hellos’ and in class questions, nothing more.

I realized that we promised to be friends again but we have not been acting like it. We were great before he moved but we are too different now.

This new version of him is not someone I am sure I want to be friends with. Maybe it is time we both accept that there is no reviving this friendship.

It’s already Saturday and I am bored. Aiden and Ava are hanging out with Sierra and both Kenzie and Mason have gone home for the weekend. I decide to get some reading done and maybe check out the town later. I have been here almost a month and I haven’t checked out Wellington, the town, yet.

I have been reading for an hour when there is a knock at the door. I open the door without hesitation.

“What are you doing here?”

“Can we talk?” Dad asks.

He looks like he hasn’t gotten a wink of sleep in days so I take pity on him. I give him the opportunity to talk as we walk around campus.

“I just don’t understand why you are still mad at me. Yes I did try to get you in here but that was for you because I knew how much you wanted it. But that didn’t even matter because at the end of the day they still chose you before my interference.”

“Exactly you knew how much I wanted to get into Wellies. You and mom supported me in whatever I needed to do for my application, you guys were my biggest supporters. Finding out that you went behind my back to strike a deal it…it made all that support feel like an empty gesture. At the end of the day you didn’t really believe I could do it. All my hard work meant nothing and I ended up taking up some kid’s place instead.” I say.

“I am really sorry Tomas, I didn’t look at it that way. I saw you working so hard for this thing and I didn’t want you to be gutted if you didn’t get it. It’s not because I didn’t believe in you. I did, I still do. But sometimes hard work is not enough not because you are not enough but because sometimes the odds are stacked against you. Sometimes these things are rigged and they end up going to people that don’t even need them. I just wanted to give you an extra edge not invalidate your hard work, son.”

“Also you really didn’t take anyone’s spot. Before asking Stephan for that favor I gave him your name and asked what he thought your chances were of getting it. You were already in the top two, the other kid withdrew her application at the last minute because she had won her first choice scholarship. The review committee chose you because of the work you put in and the fact that you actually needed it.”

The relief is immense. Knowing that I actually earned my spot is freeing and lifts a weight I hadn’t realized I had been carrying.

Dad and I decide to explore the town together. After hours of exploring we are exhausted and hungry so I suggest Coreanos. Mason recommended this place, he said they do amazing Korean-Brazilian fusion food.

Neither of us is really familiar with the cuisine of either country so we leave it up to the waiter to recommend something good for us.

As we are leaving the restaurant we are so caught up in raving about the amazing food, we almost collide with other passersbys.

Its Kenzie and her mom. She looks just like the picture they had of her in the newspaper talking about her company’s latest donation. It was to Wellington High School, the local public school, for their STEM program.

“Sorry, we weren’t watching where…Mack?” Dad says.

What I don’t expect is Kenzie’s reply; “Dad?”

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A/N

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- Oli 💌