THE THIRD P3RSON

••Chapter 27 Part 2••

I sigh while shaking my head.

"Are you okay?" Ryan asks me.

I mumble, trying to hold back tears. I don't even sound like I'm speaking English. Ryan brings a chair and sits next to me. He pats down my hair and I laugh while wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Just remember," he offers a smile,"You can do this. Just click the last one."

I start to shake my head knowing that a panic attack is on the rise. Ryan gives me a look that makes my negative thoughts from spreading. Grey reaches towards me and takes the Rubix cube out of my hands. He waves Stacy to come up behind me so we'll all see the result.

"Click the last one Julianna. Don't be so hard on yourself. You'll make it in." Grey gives me a pat on the shoulder.

"I don't know if I can, Grey." I try to hide my shaking hands but Ryan helps calm me down. He rubs circles on my back as I tell his uncle,"It's Columbia. It's the last one. I-I don't know..." I was on the verge of tears again. The attack was soon to follow.

Columbia University was in New York City. My mother used to talk about the city life as it were a dream she had once upon a time. She's told me her fantasies of owning an artist loft. She never really went to college. She was a stay at home mom but she always corrected me. It wasn't "stay at home mom" it was "supportive parent who is also a struggling artist". So, yes, I am biased when it comes to being accepted to this college.

"Breathe." Grey tells me and I struggle to take in a deep breath. "You will never know for sure if you don't check. Don't expect the worse."

Clicking the link to see my update was terrifying. This was it.

A video popped up and it's almost my breaking point. An add? Seriously? Right now?

"What is it? What does it say?" Grey asks.

He can't see the screen from where he's standing next to me. I shake my head again, this time I'm annoyed and irritated, while telling them an add popped up.

He shares a look with Stacy. He looks confused when he twists the computer to face him. "No, Julianna. I don't think-"

The computer decides to play music at that point and I'm convinced it's glitching. I focus and realize the song playing is the one they play at graduation. I look at Ryan. We're both confused.

"Did she-" He asks Grey, eyes widening.

I jump up and hip check Grey out of excitement.

CLASS OF 2021!

I scream,cry and break down. I drop to the floor and struggle to find my breath. Everything was a blur.

Ryan crouches down and hugs me. I crush him while crying tears of joy.

"Full ride." I hear Grey tell Stacy. "She got it. She got the full scholarship."

I'm still a mess on the floor and I hear rattling. I look up to see Stacy hugging Grey and then she's shaking the office chair back and forth.

Ryan gives me a look that's hard to interpret through the tears but I knew he was wondering what got into her. I laughed wiping my tears. I stood up and grabbed a tissue from the desk and hoped I didn't have a runny nose.

Yes, I have an ugly cry. This office was basically a "no judge" zone.

"So," I sniffle, laughing."Ryan, you want to tell me where you got accepted."

I notice Grey look at Ryan. He's suddenly serious. I wonder what that was about.

"Class of 2021 in New York's University of Photography." He tells me smiling.

"New York? Awesome!" I launch myself to give him a hug. "That's awesome Ryan!"

Stacy tells us we should celebrate. She was inviting us to pizza at Pizza Hut. I didn't need to step back from my hug from Ryan to know how his eyes lit up. Ryan loves pizza.

I wipe my eyes one more time, knowing I smudged my makeup, and reach to open the door. I jump back when I see Barry in front of us.

"Where you here the entire time, Barry?" I ask him even though I know the answer.

Barry rolls his eyes. "Do you think I was gonna wait? I wanted to know too!"

I pat Barry on the shoulder. "You could've just walked in." I turn to Stacy. "Think you can help with my raccoon eyes?"

She nods. "I was just going to ask."

Stacy helped me fix my makeup after we were both done crying over my letters. Stacy told Grey that Ryan and I should wait for them at the house. Grey shrugged so I gave him one more hug. Then, Barry gave me a congratulatory high five before I left. Ryan walked out with me, telling me he knew I was going to be accepted.

"Sure." I told him sarcastically but I was happy he believed in me even when I didn't have any hope myself.