POWER BACK

Chapter 23: Oh What a Night

Oh What a Night

December

We've been on break the last couple of weeks, but now that Christmas is over, I'm ready to go back, mostly because I miss seeing Peyton every day. I guess I could ask her out, but I don't feel right about that not knowing where Bree stands.

Bree has been acting stranger than ever. She's a total shut-in. She won't leave her house, says she's too tired. Apparently, she's been trying to get all her make-up work done while also looking into colleges and submitting applications. She wants to study at Vanderbilt because it's one of the top music schools in the country. But it's hella expensive, so she's been wading through all the financial aid and scholarship application stuff with her Gram's help. Since neither of her parents seems to be able to hold down a job, she's a good candidate for a full ride. I called to wish her Merry Christmas, and she babbled on and on about it.

"So anyway, I really need a 1,500 on the SAT, but my scores from October suck. My superscore is a 1,350, which is pretty good. The problem is the math section, and it's kinda too late to take it again since the application deadline is January first."

I was sitting out by the creek watching the water toss and swirl. We just had a big rain, so it was running pretty fast. I like the way the water flows over the rocks and sinks down and back up. While I was following that, I was also trying to follow the flow of her thoughts but wasn't quite sure what she meant. "What's a superscore?"

"Oh, my best scores on math and reading/writing combined from different test days. Last spring, I got a 600 on math and a 650 on reading. Then over the summer I got a 590 on math, but my reading score was 730. Then this fall, I got a 620 on math and a 700 on the other. It's so frustrating. I'm not sure if I should even send my scores. They're not required, but I need to send them by January first if I do. I got all my other stuff in except the prescreening video for my music major. And the SAT score. So do you think I should send it?"

She sounded a little manic.

"Send what?"

"My SAT scores. How'd you do on your SATs?"

I picked up a flat gray rock and flicked it, side arm, to see if it skipped. It didn't. Current was too strong. "I didn't take the SAT yet."

"Seriously? Aren't you going to college?"

"I guess."

"I mean, it's kind of a time-sensitive thing," she said. "Where do you want to go?"

"Sam maybe?"

"You want to go to Sam Houston State?" She sounded slightly disgusted.

"Yeah, it's close by. I could live at home and save my parents some money."

I heard her typing in the background. "Their deadline is August first. What's your GPA?"

"Not sure...I think it's a two-something."

"Ugh. That's terrible. You really need to pull that shit up this spring, but I think you can still get in even without an SAT. It's not like Sam is super selective."

Just the way she said "selective" let me know she wasn't impressed.

"Low pressure. I like it."

"So you're not going to try to play?" She asked.

Now she's starting to sound like my dad. "I dunno. Probably not."

She exhaled. "Well, Jake's doing pretty well. You never thought about TCU?"