Legend's Apprentice

Acceptance

Mindy asked me about a project I just completed for earth sciences on plate tectonics as I pulled the stopper out of one end of the short silver tube, and I told her how the presentation went as I pulled out some sheets of paper. I read the top sheet in stupefaction. Then I did it again. Then once more before I actually understood what the letter was telling me. Then I screamed. Mindy ripped the page out of my hand and started to read it as my eyes filled and I slapped my hands over my mouth.

"Dear Alex," she read. "On behalf of the Admissions Committee, it is my pleasure to offer you an early action admission to the MIT class of... You were identified as one of the most promising and talented students in a highly competitive admissions pool. We believe that you and MIT are very well matched-- Oh, Alex, honey, congratulations!" She gave me a big hug and after a bit, when I calmed down, I took a look at the other papers in the tube. There was a poster, a certificate of admissions, a form to accept or decline the offer, a sticker, plus two balloons, a couple of magnets, and some confetti. Mindy laughed and tossed the confetti into the air so that it fell over me. I handed her one of the magnets; she beamed and stuck it on the refrigerator. Then she called Sam and I called Mom. She was at the restaurant; there was a crash when I told her the news and she said that she had knocked over some dishes. I heard her yell the news to the dining room and some cheers; it was too early for people to be there for dinner, mostly the usual crowd there for a break and coffee. Then I called Dad; financial aid information wouldn't be available until all the admissions went out in the spring, but the two scholarships I'd already gotten would cover almost all the costs. I wasn't sure if J was home yet and I couldn't call him in school, so I snapped a photo of my acceptance letter and texted him. Then I called Uncle Bucky, who teared up as he congratulated me. I had to explain early action--it was kind of the first cull of the applicants, and not every university had it. I'd applied for it mainly to get the opportunity for my application to be seen twice since most applications were deferred and reexamined in the spring. They did cut people out of the process at this stage too, and I'd figured that if I sucked, it was better to know sooner rather than later. Then texts to Aslyn, Karen, Rill, and Damian. I emailed Dr Reynaud then sat back, my head spinning. I had til May 1 to accept or not, just like the acceptances that would go out to the other students in the spring, but there was no question. MIT was my first choice. Then I sat up, panicked again. Sometimes universities made admissions errors, so I logged onto their portal to check my record. Yep, the acceptance was noted there. Whew.

Then I checked the rest of my mail, mostly offers to magazine subscriptions. Why anybody thought I would be interested in "Men's Health and Fitness" kind of eluded me. But there was also a letter from a STEM organization where I'd applied for a scholarship. I tore that open and smiled. A $2000 scholarship for next year. This was one of the best days of my life.

Mindy went out to do an errand, and I took a nice hot shower to unwind and recover a bit. Then I called Mom and Dad again to let them know about the new scholarship. J texted back a photo of a thumbs up and congratulations, and there were messages from my friends. Aslyn demanded that I bring the letter to school tomorrow so she could see it too. Karen texted congratulations and attached a video of some of her classmates swing dancing.

I didn't really think I'd be admitted, no matter what anybody said. I still kind of suspected that it was a mistake, so I quickly filled out the form accepting a place in the freshman class and ran it down to the mailbox. Then I sort of just sat in stupefaction until Mindy returned and Sam came home with a celebratory dinner. Mindy had gone to a bakery while she was out and had gotten a cake.

I had a hard time focusing on studying that night. The next day, I had fun telling the guidance counselor and Ms Stewart, who had been so helpful, and my teachers, all of whom were really pleased for me. Aslyn was almost as excited as I was, and she teased me that now they wouldn't have to suffer my angst while waiting in the spring. When I got to work, Dr Reynaud had a cupcake with a sparkler on it to celebrate, and Mr Wayne himself came down to congratulate me; Damian had told him. Damian showed up after work, but I had practice at the embassy and couldn't go to dinner, so he drove me there. Somebody--probably Alfred--had done a great job cleaning the leather interior; there weren't even any stains from the blood that had gotten everywhere the night of the attack. I didn't say anything about that, though. He congratulated me as he pulled up to the embassy and we made plans to go to dinner before I went home for Christmas.

Inside, Loki, Sif and Thor congratulated me, and I also had the other news about my new scholarship to tell Bucky, who said he couldn't be any prouder. I showed him the video Karen had sent, and he laughed. "Been a long time since I went dancing," he said, reminiscing briefly about going dancing with his dates before the war.

"It looks like fun," I said wistfully.

"Don't you know how to jitterbug?" he asked "Or swing?" I shook my head and he grinned. Instead of practicing hand to hand, this time he pulled up a playlist on his phone and taught me how to dance. It was enormous fun and not too hard. The only part that was a little difficult was learning to follow his lead. A lot of the moves seemed to be interchangeable between swing and jitterbug.

"Aunt Becca said you were a good dancer," I said, and he stopped. "She died in 2012, I didn't see her that last year, but before that we always saw her once or twice a year, she'd come to visit during the summer. She had funny stories about you and her other brothers." I could picture her and laughed. "She was a lot of fun."

He smiled fondly. "She always was, even as a kid. The mouth on her... it was a good thing she was so pretty, she got away with a lot. I didn't realize you knew her so well." He stepped, and showed me how to do an aerial. Then Thor and Sif, attracted by the music, came in and wanted to learn too. I picked it up faster, but then I was more familiar with the dance than they were. Still, it was a really fun time.

"You're pretty spry for an old guy," I said to Bucky at the end of the lesson, and he laughed.

"You're a good dancer," he complimented me as he walked me out. He kissed my cheek and handed me a couple of envelopes, which I opened when I got home. One was a congratulatory card from him and Emma. The second congratulatory card was from Mr Stark; when I pulled it out of the envelope, a pendant slithered out. It was a pastel type image of Building 10 with the Great Dome, the most recognizable building on the MIT campus, with a protective layer of resin over the artwork on a dainty chain. I grumbled as I put the pendant on. Now I'd have to thank him. I wrote a thank you card for the gift, not mentioning the recommendation, as I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to know about that.

After all the excitement, finals seemed kind of like an afterthought, but I worked hard to stay motivated. The night before I went home, Sam and Mindy and I exchanged Christmas presents, and I was up early to catch a train. Dad and J picked me up. It was so good to be home. My parents wanted to see the tube, so I'd repacked everything but the acceptance of the offer, confetti and the magnet I'd given to Mindy. Mom asked whether I wanted to frame the admission certificate, but I didn't. It was cool, but with hard work I'd have the real prize in about four and a half years. I slapped the other magnet on the refrigerator door.

It was good to be home; they'd left the decorating of the tree until I got back, and it was the usual display of Dad trying to untangle the lights that had been put away neatly the year before, trying to dissuade Mom from putting up the tacky crafts J and I had made in elementary school, and bickering amiably with J about what ornament went where. This year, Dad had gotten a smoker, so for Christmas dinner, he lightly smoked a roast beef and we had that with Yorkshire puddings, roast vegetables, and a Waldorf salad. I spent a lot more time with J than was usual; he'd had a great year in football and would be a starter next year. My grades came in, straight As, and J did almost as well, with only one B. The parents were very pleased with both of us. On the 30th, Mom drove me to the train, and Bucky picked me up in the city. It was good to be back, and I had my first big New Years Eve party to get ready for.