i'll write for you

Chapter II

I pack my clothes into a suitcase, while my friend Carla sits on the side of my bed, helping me pick out some outfits. She seems to be more excited than me. I stop and look at her.
"Carla, what if my book doesn't win? What if I'll never get published?"
Carla let's a pair of shorts down abruptly, her eyebrows rising.
"Really? You're going to spend your summer in L.A. and that's what you're worried about?"
I sigh. Maybe she's right. But i still have to win, so the thought disappears immediately.
Carla somehow notices and continues: "Who even is that boy? Is he even that good?"
"I don't know. I mean- yeah, I guess he is, since the judges couldn't decide between us two." I say, my hands automatically sorting pairs of socks into my suitcase.
"Please, Izzy, can you, for once in your life, not stress about something? You're going to L.A. So shut up about your publication opportunities. You have to learn to be grateful for wins like these. I'd say small wins, but nothing you win is ever small."
I guess she's right about the stressing thing. I shouldn't stress so much, it could affect my writing. Maybe i have to relax and take it easy.
"Who's going to that creative writing course, anyway? Rich people?" she asks, running her hand along the frayed edges of a summery skirt.
"Kind of. Except I'm not rich."
"Everyone will know about you, there. The professors are going to love you. Maybe the other rich kids. too. Maybe even...what was his name?"
Oh, God...
"Carla, not again."
"What?" she says, grinning, her eyes avoiding mine.
"Not everything has to be romance." I continue, still searching for her gaze.
"It might be, though. You never know."
I roll my eyes and pretend to not have heard her.
Because she's right. It might be.
But certainly not my opponent.