Me & Mine

22. The Lion Queen

The bell rings and the class slowly empties. It's fourth period and today has been a whirlwind of smiling friends, public displays of affection and general happy things. And now that we're closing the Fitzgerald theme of our English lessons, I'm feeling pretty good about the essay I wrote last week. I smile at Max as he leaves the classroom, and Harley can't help but chuckle. "I'm liking this whole Fax thing," she whispers, putting her books back in her back. "Fax?" I raise my eyebrows at her and blink.

"Yeah, Fay and Max, Max and Fay. Fax," she muses, "it's your shipname."

I shake my head. "That's got to be the worst shipname ever."

Harley chuckles and rests her hand on my shoulder. "It could be worse," she says, "imagine if you had dated a Bart."

I smile and roll my eyes as she leaves. I take my essay from my bag and walk over to the teacher's desk in the front of the class. "Miss Fowler?" The woman looks up to me and smiles. I hand her my essay.

"Ah yes," she says, "your extra credits essay. Great, Fay. I look forward to reading it."

"Thank you," I smile and turn on my heels.

"Just one more thing," Miss Fowler says, and I turn back immediately. That rarely meant good things in teacher-language. "Excuse my boldness, but I took a look at your transcript," Miss Fowler walks over to me and leans against her desk, "and you don't need extra credits for English. At all."

I look down at my feet and smile. "Yeah," I say softly, "I guess I don't."

"Don't worry," Miss Fowler smiles, "I'm more than happy to read your work and grade it. I was just curious as to whether you already decided on what colleges you want to apply to?"

I shrug and look at her. She is rather young, her dark hair framing a thin face. She wears glasses, big round ones, but they don't look silly. They fit her. She is a warm woman, someone that makes you feel right at home.

"Uhm," my eyebrows pull together as I think about her question. I always have had a plan, but since Amory and I left the City I had been more focused on surviving than my future. I shrug and clear my throat. "I have always wanted to go to Columbia," I say softly, unsure whether that is still what I want or not.

"But?" Miss Fowler looks at me and I don't know how to answer that question. "I don't know," I say, "I guess I haven't thought about it in a while."

"I think you should," Miss Fowler says, tapping her hand on my essay, "Columbia has one of the best English departments in the US. If this essay is anything like I expect it to be, you should consider applying early."

I smile, not from the nerves or the complement, but from the vote of confidence. It has been a while since a teacher showed genuine interest in me or my future. "I will," I say, "thank you again." Miss Fowler nods and I quickly make my way to my Physics class.

I get to class just in time before the second bell and Harley saved me a seat. Amory is sitting right behind me and I turn around in my chair to face him. "Hey," I say. Amory looks up and his lips curl up in a small smile. "Hey," he says, "how did it go with Miss Fowler?"

"Good," I say softly, "great actually. She asked me about college."

"Really?" Amory lays down his pen and crosses his arms. I nod. "Yeah, she told me I should consider Columbia," I bite my lip for a second and see the smile disappear from my brother's face.

"Do you-" Amory scratches his head and sighs, "do you still want to go there?"

"I don't know, I mig-"

"Berkeley has a better English department," Amory doesn't even let me finish my sentence, "Harvard too, you know."

I sigh and shrug. "Yeah," I breathe, turning back again. My heart feels heavy and my breathing strained. I shake my head. What did I expect? Amory will never go back to the City.