The New Student

College

He put a hand on the wall and sighed. "Let's talk about this later outside." He waved goodbye to my parents and exited, my hand clenched in his.

"Hey," I said. "Let go of my hand."

"What did you mean? You don't want kids?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

"Whatever. Let's go home."

The ride back home was quiet and awkward and when he dropped me off at home I left with a simple "Goodnight."

We never spoke of the conversation we had talked about on Andrew's birthday afterwards and whenever the subject came up, it was immediately diverted to another, like college. In fact, all of my college applications were DONE! I merely had to wait for the acceptance or rejection letters while only having to pass high school. Being a senior was great.

It was April 1st when I got my first letter from the University of Pennsylvania. ACCEPTANCE! I was so happy until I realized that it was April Fools Day...there was no way that the university would lie to me right...?
Nah, that'd be stupid.

The next couple of days, I received several more letters. Acceptance to Notre Dame, Brown, Dartmouth, and Case Western, UCLA, NYU, Harvard, and Stanford!! I was waiting for my letter from MIT...

I got a call from Hansol the night that I received an acceptance letter to MIT! I had just responded to their letter to let them know that I would be attending their school as an undergraduate student when I answered him, knowing that it would be about college.

"MARI!" He howled into the phone and I jumped, completely caught by surprise. "I MADE IT!"

"Where? Where Hansol? Which school are you going to go to?"

"I got all of my letters now, but I'll start by telling you which schools I was accepted into. Harvard, Stanford, UPenn (university of Pennsylvania), Notre Dame, UT Austin, and Dartmouth."

I already knew what school he had chosen and it almost brought tears to my eyes. There was no way...

"Mari, I just sent them my letter saying that I would love to attend Stanford as an undergraduate (an undergraduate is a college student in, usually, the first 4 years of college)!"

"I'm so happy for you!" I clutched the phone, my knuckles turning white. I bit my lip, trying to stop my tears from coming to my eyes. Stanford was on the opposite side of the country. We wouldn't be able to see each other at all.

"Mari, where are you going?"

"I-I'm going to MIT."