Mismatched Socks

Renée - Chapter 19: Flying colours

I pace around in my room. Mathieu and James sit on my bed, watching me. In a few minutes I get to see my grades. To my surprise I don't have any fails yet. The exams in January went surprisingly well. 'What are you going to do this summer?' James asks to break the heavy silence. 'Don't know,' I say and bite on my finger nail.

Mathieu lays an arm around his boyfriend and kisses the top of his head. 'Did you hear anything from Stanford yet?' my brother asks curiously. 'I totally forgot I applied for the biology program!' I say in surprise. They laugh and I start to panic a little bit. 'If your grades are good now too, you might have a chance.' Mathieu smiles at me reassuring. 

'Now, doesn't she need a bachelor's degree first?' James asks thinking. 'James, I did the three years of biology in one,' I say. 'My God! How did you do that and still have a life?' James asks surprised. 'Renée's brain consumes the information without having to really study for it. And besides, it was a special program for the smart kids,' Mathieu chuckles. 'At least tell the truth when you explain,' I says and look at James. 'The last two years I already took some classes online, so I could do my "three years in one",' I explain. 'Smart,' James nods.

My phone makes a sound and I look at my scream. 'My grades are online!' I almost shout and click on the notification. 'Oh!' I exclaim and look at my final grades. 'What is it?' James asks and stands up to look at my screen. 'Wow!' he mimics my expression. 'Is it bad?' Mathieu asks worried. 'No, not bad at all. I got A's.' 'The B's she got are on art,' James adds.

'Indeed wow!' Mathieu stands up and hugs me. 'I'm proud of you,' he says. 'Thanks,' I say still in awe. The door bell rings and I hear my dad open the door. 'Sophia! Come on in!' he says happily and lets my girlfriend inside. 'Renée! Sophia is hier !' I put my phone away and go downstairs. Mathieu and James follow me. 'Hi!' I say and hug Sophia happily.

'Did you get your grades?' she asks curiously. 'I passed with flying colours,' I smile and kiss her cheek. 'Congratulations!' she says. Sophia, Colin and James got their grades yesterday. Colin has some bad grades from in January. James passed and Sophia has one bad grade. Either way, I am proud of the three of them. 'Thanks.'

My dad joins us and stands there awkwardly, I think he is deciding in what language he's going to speak. 'I am meeting a few colleagues. I'll be back late,' he says and kisses my and Mathieu's cheek before leaving. 'Bye,' my brother and I say.

James whispers something in Matt's ear and they chuckle. 'We are going out too. Have fun you two!' Matt says. They leave while talking about something they saw on TV. I look at Sophia and smile. 'I got my bachelor's degree in Biology,' I says happily and jump a little up and down smiling. Sophia frowns. 'Oh? I never told you?' I asks. Sophia shakes her head and I start explaining the situation. I leave the part of Stanford out of it for now.

'Wow! Congratulations! When is the graduation?' she asks. 'I am not going.' 'Why not?' 'Are you kidding me? I am not standing in front of hundreds of people to get a piece of paper,' I say. Sophia chuckles and kisses my forehead. 'At least we can celebrate,' she says and then kisses my lips.

We open a bottle of cider to celebrate and go to the garden. I take a seat on the grass and Sophia sits next to me. 'Dad is considering adopting a dog,' I say. Sophia smiles. 'He seems to do so much better since he divorced your mom,' Sophia says and tucks some loose hairs behind my ear. 'We are all doing better.'

I take a sip from the cider and give the bottle to Sophia. She takes sip and frowns. 'What are you going to then? Take another course or just finish art?' I bite my lip. I don't want to tell her. I don't know if I am accepted by Stanford. It would be a dream come true, it doesn't matter if I want to work with animals or not. I love studying biology.

'Do you want some cookies? My aunt visited last week and has brought her famous Italian cookies with her,' I say. Startled by how I change the subject Sophia nods. 'Sounds good,' she says. I go back inside and take the box of cookies from the kitchen counter.

When I enter the garden again, I stop for a moment. A soft breeze makes Sophia's hair blow. She closes her eyes and enjoys the sun and the breeze. How could I ever leave this beautiful girl? Not necessarily if I would ever go to Stanford. But what if I don't go back to university and just go work. There isn't a zoo in the neighbourhood, I would have to move – and follow a zookeeper's course.

'Are you just standing there, eating the cookies?' Sophia laughs. Because of the puzzling thoughts, I started to eat a cookie. 'Sorry,' I mutter and go sit next to my girlfriend so I can share the cookies. We enjoy my aunt's cookies and the comfortable silence.

              'So, I was thinking,' Sophia says and waits for my attention to be on her. 'What if we went to Italy?' she asks. 'With my parents. They are visiting my family,' Sophia adds. 'It sounds lovely,' I say and kiss her cheek. She chuckles. 'When?' I ask. 'They leave in three days... I know it's short notice. Sorry.' 'I'll have to check with my father. I know, I know, I am an adult and can make my own choices, but-' 'You don't need to explain yourself. I also still ask my parents for permission,' Sophia interrupts me.

              'I'll ask him tomorrow. But normally he is fine with it.' Sophia smiles and kisses me. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her back. Our kiss ends as in a few little kisses and a hug. Sophia releases me from the hug and kisses my forehead before leaning her forehead against mine. 'I have to tell you something. And you need to take your time to react to it,' she says. 'Okay.'

              'I... I l-' 'Renée! Where is everyone? How where your grades?' Juliette interrupts Sophia as she walks into the garden. Sophia awkwardly gets off of my lap and sits next to me as Juliette comes closer. 'Papa is out with colleagues and Matt and James are also out,' I say. 'Oh. What about your grades?' she asks and takes a seat next to me as she takes a cookie out of the box. 'Passed with flying colours,' I smile.

              Juliette smiles and gives me a gently push. 'You are too smart. Did you hear from Stanford yet then?' she asks. My eyes widen and I try not to make eye contact with Sophia. I shake my head. 'Well, they have to accept you now. Especially when they have the opportunity to have one of the youngest PhD students in a long time,' Juliette says proudly and takes another cookie.

              'Stanford?' Sophia asks like I have betrayed her. 'Yeah. Didn't she tell you?' Juliette asks. I silently look at the grass between my fingers. 'OMG, you didn't tell her Renée?' Juliette asks surprised. 'I kind of forgot about it until Matt brought it up earlier,' I say and look at my sister. 'God, you would forget your own head if it wasn't attached to your body,' Juliette laughs awkwardly.

              'Again: Stanford?!' Sophia exclaims. 'Okay... I'll let you two talk.' Juliette leaves. I could scream at her for blabbing. Sophia looks at me with raised eyebrows. 'I errr... I told you about that I got my bachelor's degree in Biology.' Sophia nods. 'That's one thing you need before you can get a PhD...' 'At Standford?' she exclaims again. 'I signed up before the schoolyear even started.'

              Sophia sighs. 'You could've told me. I would have been a little more prepared,' she says disappointed. 'Well, I only got a shot at if I passed every exam without a do-over.' 'Which you did. So you could've mentioned it.' 'Like I said, I forgot about it.' Sophia stands up and sigh annoyed. 'What do you even need a PhD for?' 'I want to. I love studying biology. Isn't that allowed?' I asks as annoyed as her and stand up too.

              'Yes, that is allowed. But why Stanford?' she sighs desperately. 'Because it is the best program.' 'For how long would you be gone? If you get accepted?' 'At least five years,' I mumble. 'But I can come back in the holidays?' I suggest. Sophia hugs me and whispers: 'We'll see what we do when you know if you got in.' I hug her back and nod.

              Would she break up with me over this? That's just silly. Right?

     

Translations in order:

'Sophia is here!'

Wordcount: 1534