A Dangerous Deal

Prologue

 Senior year. Prom, applying for college, figuring out how your relationship is going to work in college, getting scholarships, graduating. For most seniors, this is the dream and what makes senior year so exciting. At this time of our lives it's all we can think about, it's what's seen as normal. If you were thinking about anything else well, you're wrong; an outcast.

For me, this was the case. I didn't fit in with the normal agenda because I didn't get the choice of having one. While everyone else gets the privilege to think about these decisions I'm here having my entire life planned out without any say in the matter. Prom? I don't get to go because it could affect my future and potentially my social standing in how the whole family sees me. Figuring out my relationship? As if I was ever allowed to have one. It would have affected my grades and then I wouldn't get into a top-tier college. Scholarships? I wasn't even allowed to apply for them because that would have made us look broke. The only thing that is normal for me is graduating high school, even though the only reason I'm allowed to go is that I'm the valedictorian. My whole life is one straight line, if the line should ever bend then my life is completely over and I'll be shunned from the rest of my family.

This much pressure on a barely legal adult is a lot. I've been dealing with this immense pressure since the moment I was born, but now that my future is riding on the line it somehow is worse for me. My parents never leave me alone about it, even at the dinner table I can't have a word with them without it turning into a lecture about how it could potentially ruin my future. The lectures always end with "And if you ruin your future, just know you are never to set foot in this house again and you will never be allowed back in this family." Imagine having that talk with an 11-year-old child who hasn't even hit puberty yet.

All this pressure suddenly hit me like a truck when I realized graduation is only two weeks away. It's not finals I'm worried about(I always ace those), it's the fact that in two weeks any sort of freedom I thought I had is officially gone. My adult years until the day I die are planned out before me. I'm not allowed to change this path, nor am I allowed to even discuss other options with my parents.

It hits fifth period: gym class. It's the day when we as a whole have to run the mile. I get an out every semester because I say that I have asthma and then show a fake doctor's note. My parents raised someone who was supposed to be smart and then never expected me to lie; foolish. So, just like every semester, that fake doctor's note worked with zero questions. I decided to go hide under the bleachers because the weight of graduation and after graduation was sinking deeper and deeper by the second. The crushing weight became too much to bear and before I knew it I was sobbing with my head buried in between my knees. I've never been one to cry over anything. It showed weakness. But, now seemed like an appropriate time to cry. Once graduation was over, I would physically not have the time to cry so I needed to get it out while I could.

After sobbing for five minutes I hear a voice beside me speak up, "Hey, are you alright over here?" He said, trying to sound as gentle as possible.

"Please just go away, I'm fine," I say, head still buried in my legs. I could tell snot was dripping down my face but I didn't care. It wasn't like he could see it.

"Now, I would just go away but I kinda have this thing where I don't let girls cry on their own." He says and I hear the grass rustle as he goes to sit down.

"Does that pick-up line actually work on girls? That was extremely cheesy. I hope you know that." I say, my voice is still extremely shaky from crying.

"Usually works, yeah. Since it didn't work on you I genuinely mean it. I don't like seeing people cry in general. Besides, wouldn't it feel nice to talk about your problems to a stranger? You don't ever have to see me again and you feel better. A win, win don't you think?" There was a slight mischievous tone in the way he said that.