Love And War (On Hold)

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Three Weeks Later …

J a z ' M a r i e

"If you haven't finished your rhetorical analysis paper, you should be working on it right now. It's a major grade and it's due tomorrow. No exceptions." Mrs.Stiles, my advanced placement English teacher, told the class.

"Damn, I forgot all about that paper. I'm going to fail this class." said Leigh, one of my sorta-kinda friends. We sorta liked each other and we were kinda friends.

"You always do your papers last minute and still get a good grade."

"I'm just lucky like that." Leigh smiled.

I like English and Mrs.Stiles. She's straight-forward and always willing to help you if you asked her. I finished my paper last night, but I could understand why most people weren't done yet. That paper was the struggle. I was up until one in the morning finishing that paper, so I could work on my scholarship applications today.

I couldn't decide which college I wanted to attend and I had to choose within the next three weeks, so I could claim my scholarship. I had great scholarships to Draylan and Kilard U, but I just couldn't decide.

Draylan was a slightly better school than Kilard academically. Draylan has a child care service and an elementary school four miles away that was covered by the shuttle service provided by the school, but the shuttle program cost a bit and Draylan was more expensive than Kilard by two thousand dollars.

Kikard, on the other hand, was less expensive, had a family residence program and a shuttle bus that brought children from the daycare across the street to the campus for a monthly fee. It was a little expensive to pay for the daycare and the transportation. Also, unfortunately, the bus for the nearest elementary school did not stop at the university and the nearest stop was six blocks away, so I would have to drive Lexi to school if I ever got my license … or a car.

And these were the least of my problems. None of these things would matter if I couldn't adopt Lexi. I would turn eighteen in a month, but the state of Texas doesn't believe eighteen year olds are suitable parents, so chances were slim that I would be able to adopt her.

On top of that, there was the fact that I hadn't seen John since he was arrested three weeks ago for driving under the influence.

The bell rang, letting everyone know class was over and to go to sixth period. I gathered all my things, said goodbye to Leigh, and went to my next class.

I breezed through U.S. Government and flew out the door when class ended. I met Talia at the front of the school and we walked to her car.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Talia asked, pulling out of the parking lot.

I shrugged and sighed. "He's just gonna tell me the same things I've already read. I need something else because I'm not getting the answers I want and I don't think I'm going to." I ran my fingers through my hair.

"Don't act like that. I'm not wasting my gas for nothing. Listen to what the man has to say and we'll figure it out from there."

Eleven minutes later, we parked near the entrance to a three story office building and walked up to the receptionist area.

"Hello," she greeted. "How may I help you?"

"I have an appointment with Mr.Thomas."

"Okay. Your name and the time of your appointment?"

"Jazlyn Patton and my appointment is for two-thirty."

She hit a few keys on the computer. "Just sign in here ..." she pointed to the time log clipboard. I wrote my name and the time. "Okay, Mr.Thomas's office is on the second floor, room number 207."