Mean Girls: Senior Year

Chapter 22

I checked the mailbox on my way in, but na-da!

'' Mom! Did you already get the mail?'' I yelled.

'' Yeah, just arrived before you came home.'' she answered.

'' Anything?''

'' Meh. Not really, couple of bills, one of those little coupon packets, oooh and.... An Envelope From Yale!!!''

'' What?''

'' Are you ready?''

'' Everything's been for this moment, and now its here...''

'' Open it up, baby. Moment of truth.''

I took the envelope with shaking hands, I was...

Scared, duh.

'' Sooooo?'' Mum asked.

'' I got...... waitlisted. It must mean that Katniss got in! This is Karma for what I did when I was twelve.''

'' Honey, don't be ridiculous. Its because you fell short somewhere in these last few weeks.''

'' Mum! I did everything I could.''

'' Look, they didn't outright reject you. There's still a possibility that you could get in.''

'' I don't know, Mum. I got into the University of Evanston. Maybe, I should just.....''

'' University of Evanston is great, but its not Yale. Yale is what we want right?''

'' More than anything.''

'' You can do this. I didn't teach my daughter to give up. Now, we're going to sit down, figure out what went wrong and map out a plan.''

'' Okay..''

'' I know you had a rusty start with the election. And I know you SATs weren't as good as your practice tests but still.... Am I missing anything here?''

'' Nothing, Mom!''

'' Maybe I shouldn't have let you in that party in the first week of school... If *party on school night* is the baseline we set, I can only imagine where your focus went from there...''

'' No! Mum, I did my best. But my *best* weren't good enough. Don't you get it? Everything was fine until you made us move here. If I was still at my old school, this envelope would have had an acceptance letter.'' I glared.

'' Ashley......''

'' I just need to be alone right now!''

I needed some fresh air to clean up my mind so I ended up in the park...

'' We, ignorant of ourselves,beg often our own harms...''

'' Which the wise powers deny us for our own good.''

They're doing*Antony And Cleopatra*.... Just what I need... Another tragedy!

'' Ashley!'' Will called out of nowhere.

I walked up to him.

'' I didn't think I'd see you here.'' he said.

'' Neither did I. I had to get out of the house.'' I said.

'' Those actors aren't bad, huh?''

'' Yeah.''

'' They practice here everyday, rain or shine. Its impressive. But you're as good as they are, you must be crazy not to pursue it.''

'' I wish....'' I drifted away.

'' Hey, are you alright? You look kind of upset.''

'' I'm majorly upset. My whole world just blew up in my face.'' I exaggerated.

'' Hey, it's okay. Do you want to tell me what you mean?''

'' I.....'' I let out a deep breath, '' Got waitlisted by Yale.''

'' Oh.''

'' You don't have to say anything. I already know you think it's shallow...''

'' No-- That's not... I am really sorry. I know how much it meant to you.''

'' It really did.... I never knew anything about my father. All I had was a folder with the first name and bullet list of info...* 6'1. no family history of diabetes. Yale graduate*. My Mum showed it to me when I was five.'' I ended.

'' Wow. That's pretty wild. I can't imagine...''

'' I always felt like I was missing half my identity and Yale was the only silver of that half I could latch onto. That.. I could connect to. I know that might sound silly, but going to Yale? I means everything to me.''

'' It's not silly.'' Will replied.

'' I never told my Mum that part of it. And to make matters worse, she was trying to be supportive and I snapped at her. I feel terrible.''

'' If she's anything like you, I'm sure she'll be understanding. What are you going to do?''

'' I have no clue! For the first time my life, I really don't know.''

'' Well, I know exactly know what to do.''

'' Huh?''

'' To make you feel better! Let's get outta here!''

'' But the play....''

'' I've seen it thousand times and spoiler alert, it turns out terrible with every character. Hnece, we should ditch this.''

'' And go where?''

'' I ordered extra large plain cheese..with extra cheese.'' he said.

'' You remembered what I ordered?''

'' If you don't mind, I told them to put a little cheese onto the cheese...onto the cheese. It's barely a pizza at that point.''

'' I don't mind a bit!''

'' Oh, And I also got a side of mozzarella cheese cause I support *breaded cheese* as a concept. How does that sound?''

'' Sounds like a kind of cheesy.''

'' Did you just drop an uncle joke, Payne?''

'' I'm here all night, folks.'' I waved.

'' Let's grab a table.''

'' I admit apart from the fact that my stomach might explode, I think it was a good idea.'' I say.

'' See? Not all my ideas are pontifical nonsense.''

'' You're self aware than I thought.''

'' I usually don't care what other people think.''

'' I wish I could do that.''

'' You're big brain probably gets in the way. You feel better?''

'' Much.''

'' Good.''

Is a kiss happening? Holy-deep-duh-dish...

I....went for it.

'' Wow.''

'' Wow. I'm um... should probably get back.''

'' C'on. I'll drive you home.''

What an eventful night! From the very low of waitlist to this high! There's this weird feeling in my stomach. And it isn't all the pizza. It feels... awesome.